But he was too close, and this time he caught her in his arms, raised her from the carpet, to bear her to the couch that had borne her wounded brother for so long, and there, letting her sink down, dropped upon his knees at her feet. The room was very dim, the electric light being only slightly raised, but he could see her half-closed eyes and trembling lips, as she bent over towards him now till her brow rested upon his shoulder. "This is not death, but life," he whispered passionately. "Tell me, you were going to escape from me?" "Yes." "Where were you going?" "Abroad--Switzerland." "When?" "To-night." "Yes, to-night," he said softly, "and I with you, dearest. Your slave-- yourself--one with you always. Marion, we must never part again." "Never part again," she whispered back, as his lips sought hers. "You have mastered. I can resist no more; take me, dearest--I am yours. But we must go at once. At any moment they may return." "Who may? Your brother and James Clareborough?" "Yes. Come away." "To the world's end with you," he whispered, but she uttered a cry and sprang to her feet. "What is it?" he whispered. "Didn't you hear? Come." She led the way quickly into the hall, and the voices her preternaturally sharpened hearing had detected came from below. Marion caught Chester's hand and ran with him towards the great front door, which they had almost reached, when there was a sharp, quick rattling sound before them and the dull movement of feet upon the stone step. The next moment the door was opening towards them. Hemmed in, with peril on either hand. CHAPTER TWENTY NINE. LIGHT IN DARKNESS. As Chester turned to face what he knew must prove to be a desperate encounter, Marion snatched at his wrist. "Quick!" she whispered, and hurried with him through a door on their right, which led into a library with two windows facing the street; but the shutters were closed and the place was dimly lit by four diamond-shaped holes cut in their top panels, each of which sent a broad white ray across the room, to strike upon the end nearest the door, and to avoid their light Marion led him quickly close up into one corner by the window curtain. They had hardly taken refuge there, to stand close together, when a hand struck the panel a sharp pat, and gave the door, which had gently swung to, a thrust which sent it back against the stop. "Come in here," said James Clareborough in a low, surly voice; and Chester felt his companion shiver, and the blood surged to his brain as he dimly saw the shadowy figures of four men enter the room, three of whom took chairs and threw themselves into them, the other standing against a book-case with a dull patch of light from the window shutters striking full upon his breast, about which his hand kept on playing nervously.