of all this, I am better--I am better. Some sudden inspiration has flashed the truth upon me, that I might, find that relief which a knowledge of her unfaithfulness alone can render me." "It must have been even so," rejoined Mrs. Headley; "for, certainly, the fact of yourself and Von Voltenberg being allowed to escape by hostile Indians, who could so easily have shot you down, or taken you prisoners, had they been really so inclined, appears to me to be incredible." "And yet, if it was planned," pursued Ronayne thoughtfully, "what opportunity of communication had they to arrange their measures? Wau-nan-gee has, we know, long been absent for weeks, or certainly not once within the fort." "Ronayne," said Mrs. Headley, significantly, "I speak to you of these things freely as to one so much younger than myself. Have I not just said that I saw Wau-nan-gee most distinctly at your door as I entered--nobody but ourselves know that he has got in, much less in what manner." "I understand you, my dear Mrs. Headley; you would infer that he has stolen in at some obscure part of the fort, and under cover of the darkness; but even if so, am I not always at home?" "Never on guard, Ronayne; or am I mistaken," she added with a faint smile, "in supposing that the officer on duty passes the night with his men?" "By heaven it is so," returned the Virginian vehemently, and striking his brow with his open palm, "this intimacy is of long standing. Though pretending absence, Wau-nan-gee has been ever present. My guard nights have been selected for those interviews. The poison of his young love has been infused into the willing woman's ear and heart, and now that I recollect it, often on my return home have I seen her, pale, dejected, and full of thought--he has entreated her to fly with him--to suffer him to be the sole, the undivided sharer of her love--she has hesitated, struggled, and finally consented. By the same means by which his entrance has been effected, the trunks of Hardscrabble have been removed, and all was prepared for her evasion yesterday, had she not been baffled in her object by your sudden appearance. Oh, I see it all!" CHAPTER IX. "Ronayne, Ronayne!" resumed Mrs. Headley, after the strong excitement of her feeling had been in some measure calmed, "how rapidly you arrive at conclusions. Much of what you say is probable--for your sake, I would it were all so, but let us be guided in our judgment by circumstances and facts alone. If it had at first been arranged that the plan adopted with such success to-day, why the visit to, and detention in, the vault of the summer-house where every preparation had been made for a long concealment?"