; it makes confusion, and is thrown out as soon as the eye of the Master falls upon it. Alice revived. "Did I speak?" she asked. "No,--you said nothing." "I am glad. I feared I had been foolish. It was a mere passing faintness." Mrs. Sandford thought it was the _cause_ of the faintness that was passing, but she prudently kept her discovery to herself. CHAPTER XXVIII. Fletcher rose next morning betimes, after a night of fitful and unrefreshing slumber. In his dreams he had sought Bullion in vain; that substantial person seemed to have become a new Proteus, and to escape, when nearly overtaken, by taking refuge in some unexpected transformation. Sometimes the scene changed, and it was the dreamer that was flying, while Sandford, shod with swiftness, pursued him, swinging a lasso; and as often as the fierce hunter whirled the deadly coil, Fletcher awoke with a suffocating sensation, and a cold sweat tri