"Clara!"

She whirled about. At sight of the young gentleman, who had stepped
forth, she went pale, then red, then pale again.

"Eliot--Mr. Bradford!" she exclaimed. Then in a husky frightened
whisper: "How did you get in here?"

He sought to take one of her hands, but she put both behind her back.
At this repulse the young gentleman winced, then smiled gravely, then
pleasantly,--and then with a whimsical upward twist to his wide mouth.

"Via the cook," he answered, and told her the rest.

"Did any one else belonging to the house see you?"

"Besides you and my excellent old friend, the cook, no one."

"But don't you realize that this house is one of the most dangerous
places in the world for you?" she cried in a low voice. "Why, Judge
Harvey himself is expected here any minute!"

"Judge Harvey!" The equable young man gave a start. But the next
moment his poise came back.

"And after what I saw only to-day in the papers about Thomas
Preston--! Don't you know you are this moment standing on a volcano?"

"Yes--but what of it?" he answered cheerfully. "It's the most