"Steve!" he cried excitedly, perfectly sober now, "what is it? What does it mean? They've gone!" "I knew it," cried Crellock with a furious cry. "I might have seen it if I had not been a fool. Come down quick! They've not gone far." Candle in hand, Hallam came staggering down the stairs with his eyes staring and his face blotched with patches of white. "They've gone," he stammered hoarsely. "What for? Where have they gone?" "Out into the dark night," cried Crellock furiously. "There is only one way that they could go, and we must have them before they reach the town." "Town!" faltered Hallam; "town!" for in the horror of his waking and the conscience hauntings of the moment, he seemed to see two ghastly white faces looking up at him from the black waters of the harbour. "Yes, come along, follow me as quickly as you can," roared Crellock; and going swiftly through the dining-room he crossed the verandah and dashed out into the thick darkness that seemed to rise up as a protecting wall on behalf of those whom he pursued. VOLUME FOUR, CHAPTER SIXTEEN. THE FLIGHT. "I am so weak, my child," sighed Mrs Hallam, "that my heart fails me. What shall I do?" Julia stood over her dressed for flight, and a chill of despair seized her. "Oh, mother, try--try," she whispered. "I am trying, Julie. I am fighting so hard, but you cannot realise the step I am trying to take; you cannot see it, my child, as it is spread before me." "Let us stay then," whispered Julie, "and to-morrow I will appeal to Sir Gordon to come to our help." "No," said Mrs Hallam, firmly, as if the words of her child had given her strength, "we can ask help of no one in such a strait as this, Julie; the act must be mine and mine alone; but now the time has come, my child, I feel that it is too much." "Mother!" sobbed Julie, "that man horrifies me. You heard all that my father said. I would sooner die than become his wife." Mrs Hallam caught her arm with a sharp grip, and remained silent for a few moments. "Yes," she said at last, "and much as I love you, my own, I would sooner see you dead than married to such a man as he. You have given me the courage I failed in, my darling. For myself, I would live and bear until the end; but I am driven to it--I am driven to it. Come." They were standing in the dark, and now for the time being Mrs Hallam seemed transformed. Gathering her cloak about her, she went quickly to the door and listened, and then turned and whispered to Julia. "Come at once," she said. "Follow me down." Julia drew a long breath and followed her, trembling, the boards of the lightly-built house cracking loudly as she passed quickly to the stairs. And again in the silence and darkness these cracked as they passed down. In the hall Mrs Hallam hesitated for a moment, and then, putting her lips to Julia's ear: "Stop!" she whispered.