For after days and days of watching, he was once more about to give up in despair and venture, in spite of all rebuffs, upon another call at the house, when in the distance he caught sight of the Clareborough's light victoria approaching, and to his great delight he found that it only contained one occupant. He hesitated for a few moments as to what he should do--wait, or advance to meet it, and decided now upon a bold attack, for every nerve was on the strain. "I will not be put off this time," he said to himself. "She shall acknowledge me." As he approached his heart began to beat fast and he gazed upon the elegantly-dressed figure leaning carelessly back with her face shaded by the tinted parasol she held, and, as yet unobserved, Chester saw that she looked pale, troubled and weary, her half-closed eyes dreamy and thoughtful. Fate favoured him, for there was a block somewhere ahead, and the horses were stopped only a few yards away. He passed under the rail, walked up quickly, still unobserved, till his hand was upon the carriage door. "Marion!" he whispered. She gave a violent start, the blood suffused her cheeks, and then fled, leaving her deadly pale, as she gazed at him with dilating eyes. "I beg your pardon," she said coldly, "you addressed me?" "Yes," he said in a low voice which trembled a little from the excess of his emotion, "but we are alone now, Marion. For pity's sake let there be an end to this." "Ah, I remember," she said in her low, musical tones, "you are the strange gentleman who addressed me before. You are repeating your mistake, sir." "Indeed!" he said reproachfully, as he fixed her eyes with his. "Do you think I could ever be mistaken?" She bowed slightly and drew a little back, glancing hurriedly at the driver, and then looking ahead as if eager for the carriage to proceed. "How can you be so cruel?" he whispered. "Marion, you are maddening me!" He saw her wince, but with wonderful self-command she sat rigid as she said slowly-- "I beg, sir, that there may be an end of this. Can you not see that you are making a mistake, and are insulting an unprotected woman?" She looked him fully in the eyes now with a calm air of wonderment, and for the moment he was in doubt. But the next moment his heart said no, and his pulses increased their beat. No accidental resemblance could have produced that effect upon him. He knew that there was something which he could not explain--a strange vitality or occult force which bound him to her, and, though his eyes might have erred, his nature could have made no such blunder, and he was eager to continue the attack now the opportunity was there.