"Can't you see?" I muttered hoarsely, never withdrawing my eyes from the white, cold face. "She has had a fright, and has fainted!" "But what on earth has brought her here--out at this time of night? And in her slippers, too!" I was on the point of saying that I knew no more than she, but suddenly the truth flashed into my mind. Maud had walked out in her sleep! I had heard her say that for a long time she had been obliged to have her maid in her room at night, and sleep with locked doors; and that when Sir Francis lay dangerously ill not many years ago, nearly every night when she had gone to bed thinking of him, she had risen in her sleep and tried to make her way to his room. Then she must have been thinking of me! A sudden thrill of joy passed through me at the thought, and Marian looked at me in stupefied bewilderment to see the smile which for a moment parted my lips. "She must have come out in her sleep, Marian," I whispered. "There were some men hanging about outside--poachers I suppose--and they have frightened her. Get some brandy, quick! and tell one of the girls to light a fire. We must have some hot water." She hurried away, and the door had scarcely closed when Maud changed her position slightly, and her lips moved. I bent my ear close over her, and this is what I heard: "Hugh! Hugh!" My heart throbbed with a great joy. Suddenly I stooped down and kissed her half-open lips passionately. Then I drew back and stood upright, for I saw that she was fast recovering consciousness. First her breathing became deeper and less fitful. Then, with a little sigh, she opened her eyes and raised herself a little on her elbow. She looked around in blank bewilderment. Then her eyes fell upon me, and the hot colour rushed into her cheeks. "Mr. Arbuthnot! Why, where am I? How did I come here? and those men," she added, with a shudder, "those fearful men; was it all a dream?" She raised her hand to her forehead and looked at me appealingly. I hardened my voice as much as possible, and avoided meeting her eyes. "I think I can explain to you what has happened," I said. "You must have got up in your sleep, and walked down through the copse. There were some men outside; I believe they were going to try and break in here, and one of them must have caught hold of you, for when I heard your scream and ran out, you were struggling in his grasp. I knocked him down, and the other one ran away. Then I carried you here, and here you are. Marian has just gone out to fetch some brandy." Womanlike, her first thought was of her appearance, and she sat up and looked at herself eagerly. Evidently she had fallen asleep before preparing to retire, for the only change in her dress since the evening was that she had exchanged her dinner-gown for a long white dressing-robe, and let down her hair. Nevertheless, she blushed as she sat up, and looked at me, pushing back the waves of hair from her face.