"I’ll not meddle," she said, and yet she moved on down the road. She met no one, heard nothing save the dismal croakings of the frogs in the marshes. On she went, increasing her speed at every step. Yes, she realized now that she must try to save the girl, for Virginia had done her no personal injury. No, she must abide another time and seek some other means for revenge against the mother. Chance would offer something. Why, the cancer—why hadn’t she thought of that? Wasn’t that enough for any human being to bear? Yes, Jane would get her reward. It was fast on the road. And for Luke’s sake—for the sake of the brave, good-hearted, struggling boy, she would try to save his sweetheart. Yes, that seemed inevitable. The long, white fence of the Chester place suddenly cut across her view. Near the centre Ann descried the tall, imitation stone gate-posts, spanned at the top by a white crescent, and towards this portal she sped, breathing through her big nostrils like a laboring ox. Reaching the gate and opening it, she saw a buggy and a pair of horses hitched near the door. Ann paused among the boxwood bushes and stared in perplexity. What could it mean? she asked herself. Had Colonel Chester suddenly returned home, or was Langdon recklessly planning to flee the country with the thoughtless girl? Mystified, Ann trudged up the gravelled walk, seeing no one, till she stood on the veranda steps. The big, old-fashioned drawing-room on the right of the dark entrance-hall was lighted up. Loud, masculine laughter and bacchanalian voices burst through the half-open windows. Ann went up the steps and peered in at one of them, keeping her body well back in the shadow. There were three men within—two drummers, one of whom was Fred Masters, and Langdon Chester. The latter, calm and collected, and yet with a look of suppressed fury on his face, was reluctantly serving whiskey from an ancient cut-glass decanter. Ann saw that he was on the verge of an angry outburst, and began to speculate on the cause. Ah! she had an idea, and it thrilled her through and through. Quietly retracing her steps to the lawn, she inspected the exterior of the great, rambling structure. She was now sure that the visit of the men had come in the nature of an unwelcome surprise to the young master of the house, and she found herself suddenly clinging to the warm hope that the accident might have saved the girl. "Oh, God, let it be so!" Ann heard herself actually praying. "Give the poor young thing a chance to escape what I’ve been through!"