“Marcus Blaydon--I tell you I saw his face. He smiled--such a smile! There is no chance of a mistake. He is alive, and he has returned.” The Framsby Glee and Madrigal Meistersingers were giving a spirited rendering of “Auld Lang Syne.” Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to min’, Should auld acquaintance be forgot And days o’ lang syne? CHAPTER XXVI The moment that she had spoken he flung a protective arm about her--his left arm; his right arm was free, and he had turned his face away from her with a jerk and had alert eyes fixed upon the door. His man’s instinct had forced him into the protective attitude of the primeval man when threatened by a sudden danger of another man or another animal. He had not in that second realized the details of the danger that her words had disclosed; his action was automatic--the inherited instinct of the cave-dweller ancestor. As such its force was felt in every nerve by the woman who was clinging to him. The silence was broken by the dwindling laughter of the dissolving crowds outside the house, where primeval man was carrying on his courting of primeval woman after the manner of their tribe, among the shrubberies. “I knew that you would hold me from him,” said Priscilla. “I knew that I need not fear anything with you near me, my man, my man!” At her words the man, for the first time, was startled. He turned his face toward her, drawing a long breath, and looked into her eyes. In another moment he gave a laugh. “Yes,” she said, smiling and nodding her head, interpreting his laugh by the instinct of the forest. “Yes, let anyone try it.” There was a long interval before his hand fell away from her waist. He felt with that hand for the back of the chair out of which she had risen on his entering the room--his eyes were still upon her face; they were still upon it when his groping had found the chair, and he sat down slowly and cautiously. “My God, my God!” he whispered, and once again there was silence. He could hear that she was shivering as if with cold. There was more than a hint of chattering teeth. “Sit down,” he said, after a long pause. “Sit down and tell me what--what has happened.” She fell shivering into his arms, a dead weight. He thought that she had fainted, but she had strength enough left to reassure him. She was clinging to him and her head was upon his shoulder.