Where had she been?
Over and over Mellen asked himself this question, as he sat minute after minute, pondering over the most bitter thoughts that ever haunted a man's brain.
It might have been an hour after, when he saw a man coming up from the direction of the village, walking forward with great rapid strides. Instantly his suspicions fell upon this new object. He was always keen-sighted enough, but just then the thought in his mind made his vision still quicker and more clear.
Without pausing for an instant's reflection he darted down the hill—as he approached the figure it disappeared. On into the woods Mellen followed the intruder, and before he could look around grasped his arm with a clutch so firm that there was no shaking it off.
"Rascal!" he cried, "what are you doing here? Answer me, or I'll shake you to pieces!"
The man struggled violently, but Mellen was like a giant in his passion, and swung him to and fro as if he had been a child.
"Let me alone!" cried the man. "I ain't a doing no harm!"
"What are you prowling about my house for, then? Do you know that I am master here? I shall take you indoors, and keep you till I can send for a constable. Take care, no resistance; what is your business here?"
"I wasn't prowling round," pleaded the man, gasping for breath in Mellen's hard grasp; "I thought these woods was public property."
"Then you shall be taught. You had some errand here—speak out, or by the Lord I'll kill you!"