Listening and watching for the next thing.

“Oh!” she murmured, pressing one hand against her side, “but this suspense is dreadful—​too dreadful to bear. Where can Philip be, and father too? He ought not to leave me thus.”

She remained with her eyes fixed on the black vault of heaven; her heart beat audibly.

“Heaven protect and preserve me,” she ejaculated—​“preserve me and mine!”

As the clock struck twelve she heard the faint ring of a horse’s hoof. It came nearer.

“It is he. It is Philip,” she exclaimed.

She listened more intently. The sound rang harshly on her ears—​she felt sick and faint.

A horse passed the window, snorting savagely. It appeared to her to be like some war charger whose rider had been stricken down in the field of battle.

She uttered a scream which rang like a clarion note in the midnight air. Then she called aloud for assistance.

“Joe—​Stephen—​help—​help!” exclaimed the unhappy girl.