She stood beside the upright staff from which the pier lights swung--the white lantern between the two red ones--looking out across the lake. The lights outlined her tall figure distinctly. She peered about anxiously several times, and I heard the impatient tap of her foot on the planks. In the lake sounded the faint gurgle of water round a paddle, and in a moment a canoe glided to the pier and a man stepped out. He bent down to seize the painter, and I half turned away, ashamed of the sheer curiosity that had drawn me after the Sister. Nuns who chafe at their prison-bars are not new, either to romance or history; and this surely was no affair of mine. Then the man stood up, and I saw that it was Gillespie. He was hatless, and his arms were bared. He began to speak, but she quieted him with a word; and as with a gesture she flung back her brown hood, I saw that it was Helen Holbrook. "I had given you up," she said. He took both her hands and held them, bending toward her eagerly. She seemed taller than he in the lantern light. "I should have come across the world," he said. "You must believe that I should not have asked this of you if I had not believed you could do it without injury to yourself--that it would impose no great burden on you, and that you would not think too ill of me--" "I love you; I am here because I love you!" he said; and I thought better of him than I had. He was a fool, and weak; but he was, I believed, an honest fool, and my heart grew hot with jealous rage as I saw them there together. "If there is more I can do!" "No; and I should not ask you if there were. I have gone too far, as it is," she sighed. "You must take no risks; you must take care that Miss Pat knows nothing." "No; I must see father. He must go away. I believe he has lost his senses from brooding on his troubles." "But how did he ever get here? There is something very strange about it." "Oh, I knew he would follow us! But I did not tell him I was coming here--I hope you did not believe that of me. I did not tell him any more than I told you." He laughed softly. "You did not need to tell me; I could have found you anywhere in the world, Helen. That man Donovan is watching you like a hawk; but he's a pretty good fellow, with a Milesian joy in a row. He's going to protect Miss Pat and you if he dies at the business." She shrugged her shoulders, and I saw her disdain of me in her face. A pretty conspiracy this was, and I seemed to be only the crumpled wrapping of a pack of cards, with no part in the game. Gillespie drew an envelope from his pocket, held it to the white lantern for an instant, then gave it to her. "I telegraphed to Chicago for a draft. He will have to leave here to get it--the bank at Annandale carries no such sum; and it will be a means of getting rid of him." "Oh, I only hope he will leave--he must--he must!" she cried.