The man sprang to his feet, and stood for a moment staring in amazement at this unexpected apparition. Then he fell on his knees before her, his eyes fixed adoringly upon her eager face. "Barbara," he whispered, "Barbara! You! You!" It was the girl’s turn to be astonished. She drew back a step, and regarded the speaker with a frown of bewilderment. "Do you not know me, Barbara?" he whispered again. "You can’t have forgotten me, Ralph Trevellyan." "Ralph!" she cried in amazement. "Is it possible?" It was indeed difficult to recognise in this haggard figure the gay debonair youth she had known in former days, her brother’s boon companion, and a favourite playmate of her childhood. "Ralph Trevellyan!" she repeated again doubtfully. Then glancing down quickly at the pistol still in his hand, she cried reproachfully, "Oh, Ralph!" He understood her meaning, and flushed hotly. "And why not, Barbara?" he questioned defiantly. "What else remained to do? I am sick of this life, and here in this cursed forest is neither food nor shelter. It had to be death one way or another, better thus than on the scaffold." "But not now, Ralph," she pleaded; "surely not now." He took her hand and kissed it. "Not now, Barbara, if you have need of me." "Oh! indeed I have great need," she answered quickly. "For I am a fugitive even as thou, a rebel tried and condemned, and but yesterday escaped from Taunton gaol." His face gleamed with anger. "What! Did they dare! The fiends! But tell me how it befell, Barbara." "No, I will have your story first. Tell me—— But stay, I had forgot. You are worn and hungry. Come. I know where there is food in plenty. Come!" So she led him back to the hollow, and on the way he told her his story. How he had been left for dead on the field of Sedgemoor, but was saved by some pitiful peasants, who hid him in their cottage and nursed him back to life. But a few days since, while his strength was still but half-restored, a raid was made upon his hiding-place, he having been betrayed, and he had but just escaped to the wood in safety. There he had lurked for three days, feeding upon berries and such wild fruits as he could find, until at last, his strength well-nigh spent, and his spirit hopeless, he had resolved to give up the struggle and end his life. As he finished his story, to which the girl listened with eager sympathy, they reached the enclosure, and parting the bushes, Barbara led him proudly into the hollow. "Here is our camp, Ralph, is it not a Paradise? And now sit, and I will fetch you food." "But tell me, Barbara," he asked suddenly. "You are not alone here. Surely you cannot have wandered all night alone in this wilderness."