“I little thought to find you here. I learned something of your trouble, and I have searched everywhere for you in London, Miss Douglas, for the last two months, and it was with reluctance that I relinquished my quest long enough to obey a summons hither,” he said, when he began to recover himself a little. He did not stop to think that she might deem it singular that he, almost a stranger, should be searching so earnestly for her. “How strange,” he went on, “that I should have come hither to save you from even worse than what I feared might have happened to you? It was dreadful for you to be there, and my brain grows dizzy with the thought of what must have been if I had not come! Did you know of that perilous shelf? Has no one told you?” “No, Mr. Dredmond, I only came to Dunforth Castle to-day. I was sad and lonely to-night, and being freed from my duties, I came out for a stroll in the moonlight. I saw this hill, and heard the dashing of the stream, and thinking a delightful view might be obtained from the top, I clambered up. It was like being suddenly awakened from a beautiful dream, when you seized and bore me from the place.” Adrian shuddered. “I expected that both of us would be dashed in pieces when I saw the earth giving way, and heard that dreadful noise,” she added, in trembling tones. “Better that, than that I should not have come at all,” he returned, passionately. His tone seemed to recall her suddenly to herself, and she tried to release her hands, which he still held tightly clasped in his. He was almost unconscious that he still held them, but at the effort she made he looked up at her and saw that her face had grown crimson with blushes, while her eyes dropped shyly beneath his gaze. “I beg your pardon,” he said, releasing them at once, and rising to his feet. “You will think me presuming, but my gratitude that you were safe made me forget myself. Did I understand you that you are staying at the castle?” he asked, changing the subject to relieve his embarrassment. “I am there for a few days.” “Indeed! and so am I,” he replied, much pleased, and forgetting that he had told his grandmother he could not possibly remain longer than over one night. “You are cold,” he added, as he saw her shiver; “shall I take you back now to the castle?” “Thank you; yes.” Then, with a tenderness which thrilled her through and through, yet with a courtly deference which made him seem more grand and noble than ever before, he supported her faltering steps down the steep path, and led her back to the castle. “You have not yet told me, nor will I ask you to-night, how you happened to leave London so suddenly. Wilbur Coolidge told me that I should find you at the ‘Washington,’” he said, as he drew near the door. “Yes, I did tell him that I should be there for a few days, but an accident prevented my ever going to the hotel at all. I am now with Lady Ruxley, at her cottage near Vallingham Hall.”