CHAPTER XVI.
THE SECRET OF AUNTIE SUE'S LIFE.
Brian Kent, strolling along the bank of the river in the moonlight, and preoccupied with thoughts that were, at the last, more dreams than thoughts, was not far from the house when a sound from behind some near-by bushes broke in upon his reveries.

A moment, he listened.

Then telling himself that it was some prowling animal, or perhaps, a bird that his presence had disturbed, he went on.

But he had gone only a few feet farther when he was conscious of something stealthily following him.

Stepping behind the trunk of a tree, he waited, watching.