SILENT MURPHY Brant sprang forward, all doubt regarding this young woman instantly dissipated by those final words of mischievous mockery.

She had been playing with him as unconcernedly as if he were a mere toy sent for her amusement, and his pride was stung.
But pursuit proved useless.

Like a phantom she had slipped away amid the underbrush, leaving him to flounder blindly in the labyrinth.

Once she laughed outright, a clear burst of girlish merriment ringing through the silence, and he leaped desperately forward, hoping to intercept her flight.

His incautious foot slipped along the steep edge of the shelving bank, and he went down, half stumbling, half sliding, until he came to a sudden pause on the brink of the little stream.