It was followed by a voice from without, and, with a hysterical cry, Zuleika started to her feet.

The same breathless smile with which she had greeted her brother an hour ago was upon her lips as she gasped:-- "Lord, save us!--but it's dad come back!" I grieve to say that here the doughty redresser of domestic wrongs and retriever of the family honor lapsed white-faced in his chair idealess and tremulous.

It was his frailer companion who rose to the occasion and even partly dragged him with her.

"Go back to the hotel," she said quickly, "and take the sled with you,--you are not fit to face him now! But he does not know ME, and I will stay!" To the staring Zuleika: "I am a stranger stopped by a broken sleigh on my way to the hotel.

Leave the rest to me.