What was it he said in his letter? About his nose and mouth and eyes? They were before her now. That keen, boyish face with its coat of tan,--its broad, whimsical mouth and the white, even teeth that once on a dare had cracked a walnut for her; its rugged jaw and the long, straight nose; its wide forehead and the straight eyebrows; and the thick hair as black as the raven's wing, rumpled by fingers that strove desperately to encourage a recalcitrant brain; and those big, bony hands, so large that her little brown paws were lost in them; and the broad shoulders hunched over the table, supported by widespread elbows that encroached upon her allotted space so often that she had to remind him: "I do wish you'd watch what you're doing," and he would get up and meekly recover the scattered sheets of paper from the floor. Ugly? David ugly? Why, he was BEAUTIFUL! Suddenly her head dropped upon her arms, now resting on David's manuscript; she sobbed. "Oh, Davy,--Davy, I wish you were here! I wish you were here now!" The creaking of the stairs startled her. She half arose and stared at the open door, expecting to see--the ghost! Goose-flesh crept out all over her. The ghost that people said came to-- The very corporeal presence of Courtney Thane appeared in the doorway. For many seconds she was stupefied. She could see his lips moving, she knew he was speaking, she could see his smile as he approached, and yet only an unintelligible mumble came to her ears. "--and so I cut across the field and ventured in where angels do not fear to tread," were the first words that possessed any degree of coherency for her. She hastily thrust the precious manuscript into the drawer. He stopped several feet away and looked about the room curiously, his gaze coming back to her after a moment. The light of the candles was full on her face. "Well, of all the queer places," he said. "What in the world brings you here? I thought no one ever entered this house, Alix." "I have not been inside this house in ten years," she said, struggling for control of herself. "I came today to--to look for some papers that were left here. I was on the point of leaving when you came up." She picked up her gloves from the table. "It's cold here. Do you think it was wise for you to sit here in this chilly--Gad, it's like an ice-house or a tomb. Better let me give you my coat." He started to remove his overcoat. There was an anxious, solicitous expression in his eyes. "No,--no, thank you. I am quite warm,--and I shall be as warm as toast after I've walked a little way. I must be going now, Mr. Thane." She took a few steps toward the door. "Are you going away without blowing the candles out?" he inquired. She halted. She felt herself trapped. She did not want to be alone in the dark with him.