They hardly heard the last of these words, as they turned down the stairway, hurrying, but not fast enough to excite the suspicion of the man behind them.

“Oh, Ruth,” whispered Caroline Smith.  “Oh, Ruth!”

“It was close,” said Ruth Tolliver, “but we’re through.  And, now that I’m about to leave it, I realize how I’ve hated this life all these years.  I’ll never stop thanking you for waking me up to it, Caroline.”

They reached the floor of the lower hall, and a strange thought came to Ruth.  She had hurried home to execute the bidding of John Mark.  She had left it, obeying the bidding of Ronicky Doone.

They scurried to the front door.  As they opened it the sharp gust of night air blew in on them, and they heard the sound of a man running up the steps.  In a moment the dim hall light showed on the slender form and the pale face of John Mark standing before them.

Caroline felt the start of Ruth Tolliver.  For her part she was on the verge of collapse, but a strong pressure from the hand of her companion told her that she had an ally in the time of need.

“Tut tut!” Mark was saying, “what’s this?  How did Caroline get out of her room—­and with you, Ruth?”

“It’s idiotic to keep her locked up there all day and all night, in weather like this,” said Ruth, with a perfect calm that restored Caroline’s courage almost to the normal.  “When I talked to her this evening I made up my mind that I’d take her out for a walk.”

“Well,” replied John Mark, “that might not be so bad.  Let’s step inside and talk it over for a moment.”

They retreated, and he entered and clicked the door behind him.  “The main question is, where do you intend to walk?”

“Just in the street below the house.”

“Which might not lead you across to the house on the other side?”

“Certainly not!  I shall be with her.”

“But suppose both of you go into that house, and I lose two birds instead of one?  What of that, my clever Ruth?”

She knew at once, by something in his voice rather than his words, that he had managed to learn the tenor of the talk in Caroline’s room.  She asked bluntly:  “What are you guessing at?”

“Nothing.  I only speak of what I know.  No single pair of ears is enough for a busy man.  I have to hire help, and I get it.  Very effective help, too, don’t you agree?”

“Eavesdropping!” exclaimed Ruth bitterly.  “Well—­it’s true, John Mark.  You sent me to steal her from her lover, and I’ve tried to steal her for him in the end.  Do you know why?  Because she was able to show me what a happy love might mean to a woman.  She showed me that, and she showed me how much courage love had given her.  So I began to guess a good many things, and, among the rest, I came to the conclusion that I could never truly love you, John Mark.

“I’ve spoken quickly,” she went on at last.  “It isn’t that I have feared you all the time—­I haven’t been playing a part, John, on my word.  Only—­tonight I learned something new.  Do you see?”