"You?" she asked, surprised. "No, nothing." "But there's not the slightest colour in your face. And you are trembling, Miss Cumberland!" She did not seem to hear him. "Will he stay?" she asked of herself. "Will he leave before the morning?" "I shall see that he stays," said the doctor. "I will stay here outside the door and see that he does not leave, if you wish." Once more she smiled in that baffling manner. "Could you keep the wind from blowing, Doctor Byrne? If I thought that he could be kept----" she stopped. "He has forgotten us. He has forgotten all of us except Dad. And if Dad cannot keep him, nothing will keep him. It's useless for you to wait here. Good night again, Doctor Byrne." He watched her up the stairs. By the dim light he saw her hand catching at the balustrade as if she were drawing herself up, step by step. When she reached the landing and turned half towards him, he saw that her head was fallen. "Not a glance, not a thought for me," murmured the doctor. "But if the stranger _does_ leave----" Instead of finishing the muttered sentences, he drew a chair back against the wall and sat down with folded hands to wait. CHAPTER XXI MAC STRANN DECIDES TO KEEP THE LAW It was hours later that night when Haw-Haw Langley and Mac Strann sat their horses on the hill to the south. Before them, on the nearest rise of ground, a clump of tall trees and the sharp triangle of a roof split the sky, while down towards the right spread a wide huddle of sheds and barns. "That's where the trail ends," said Mac Strann, and started his horse down the slope. Haw-Haw Langley urged his little mount hurriedly alongside the squat bulk of his companion. He looked like the skeleton reality, and Mac Strann the blunt, deformed shadow. "You ain't going into the house lookin' for him, Mac?" he asked, and he lowered his voice to a sharp whisper in spite of the distance. "Maybe there's a pile of men in that house. It's got room for a whole army. You ain't going in there by yourself, Mac?" "Haw-Haw," explained the big man quietly, "I ain't going after Barry. I'm going to make him come after me." Haw-Haw considered this explanation for a dazed moment. It was far too mysterious for his comprehension. "What you goin' to do?" he asked again. "Would you know that black hoss agin if you seen him?" asked Mac Strann. "In a thousand." "That hoss has had a long ride; and Barry has put him in one of them barns, they ain't no doubt. Most like, the dog is with the hoss." "It looks a considerable lot like a wolf," muttered Langley. "I wouldn't choose meetin' up with that dog in the dark. Besides, what good is it goin' to do you to find the dog?" "If you hurt a man's dog," explained Mac Strann calmly, "you're hurting the man, ain't you? I'm going to hurt this man's dog; afterwards the dog'll bring the man to me. They ain't no doubt of that. I ain't goin' to kill the dog. I'm goin' to jest nick him so's he'll get well and then hit my trail."