not hurt you. You are safe, quite safe."

In his eagerness to reassure her he took an unconscious step
forward. Instantly she turned, and, without a sound, fled across
the orchard, through a gap in the northern fence and along what
seemed to be a lane bordering the fir wood beyond and arched over
with wild cherry trees misty white in the gathering gloom.
Before Eric could recover his wits she had vanished from his
sight among the firs.

He stooped and picked up the violin bow, feeling slightly foolish
and very much annoyed.

"Well, this is a most mysterious thing," he said, somewhat
impatiently. "Am I bewitched? Who was she? WHAT was she? Can
it be possible that she is a Lindsay girl? And why in the name
of all that's provoking should she be so frightened at the mere
sight of me? I have never thought I was a particularly hideous
person, but certainly this adventure has not increased my vanity
to any perceptible extent. Perhaps I have wandered into an
enchanted orchard, and been outwardly transformed into an ogre.
Now that I have come to think of it, there is something quite
uncanny about the place. Anything might happen here. It is no
common orchard for the production of marketable apples, that is
plain to be seen. No, it's a most unwholesome locality; and the
sooner I make my escape from it the better."

He glanced about it with a whimsical smile. The light was fading
rapidly and the orchard was full of soft, creeping shadows and
silences. It seemed to wink sleepy eyes of impish enjoyment at