He must have ridden all the way to Brennerstadt, for he was not at Ritzen.  Ritzen was not a place to hide in.  Would she find him at Brennerstadt?  There were only two hotels there, and Kieff had said he would stop at one of them.  She did not trust Kieff for a moment, but some inner conviction told her that it was his intention that she should find Guy.  He did not expect her influence to overcome his.  That she fully realized.  He was not afraid of being superseded.  Perhaps he wanted to demonstrate to her her utter weakness.  Perhaps he had deeper schemes.  She did not stop to imagine what they were.  She shrank from the thought of them as purity shrinks instinctively from the contemplation of evil.  She believed that, if once she could meet Guy face to face, she could defeat him.  She counted upon that understanding which had been between them from the beginning and which had drawn them to each other in spite of all opposition.  She counted upon that part of Guy which Kieff had never known, those hidden qualities which vice had overgrown like a fungus but which she knew were still existent under the surface evil.  Guy had been generous and frank in the old days, a lover of fair play, an impetuous follower of anything that appealed to him as great.  She was sure that these characteristics had been an essential part of his nature.  He had failed through instability, through self-indulgence and weakness of purpose.  But he was not fundamentally wicked.  She was sure that she could appeal to those good impulses within him, and that she would not appeal in vain.  She was sure that the power of good would still be paramount over him if she held out to him the helping hand which he so sorely needed.  She had the strength within her—­strength that was more than human—­and she was certain of the victory, if only she could find him quickly, quickly!

As she sat there waiting feverishly to start, her whole being was in a passion of supplication that she might be in time.  Even in her sleep she had prayed that one prayer with a fierce urging that had rendered actual repose an impossibility.  She had never in her life prayed with so intense a force.  It was as if she were staking the whole of her faith upon that one importunate plea, and though no answer came to her striving spirit, she told herself that it could not be in vain.  In all her maddening anxiety and impatience she never for a moment dwelt upon the chance of failure.  God could not suffer her to fail when she had fought so hard.  Her very brain seemed on fire with the urgency of her mission, and again for a space the thought of Burke was crowded out.  He occupied the back of her mind, but she would not voluntarily turn towards him.  That would come later when her mission was fulfilled, when she could look him in the face again with no sense of a charge neglected, or trust betrayed.  She must stand straight with Burke, but she must save Guy first, whatever the effort, whatever the cost.