Good God! can it be that it is all over between him and Ruth ?" The blood rushed to his head, and his heart began to beat wildly.

He walked on in silence, seeing nothing, hearing nothing.

Raymond and the poachers were alike forgotten.
It was not until a couple of men joined them silently in the woods, and others presently rose up out of the darkness, to whisper directions and sink down again, that Charles came to himself with a start, and pulled himself together.
The party had halted.

It was pitch-dark, and he was conscious of something towering up above him, black and lowering.

It was the ruined house of Arleigh.
"You and Brooks wait here, and keep well under the lea of the house," said Ralph, in a whisper.