But I wish that young Master had never set foot in the Connors orchard , or in this house . Margaret , Margaret , it 's hard that your child should have to be paying the reckoning of a sin that was sinned before her birth . '' Kilmeny walked through the lane slowly and absently like a woman in a dream . When she came to the gap in the fence where the lane ran into the orchard she lifted her wan , drooping face and saw Eric , sitting in the shadow of the wood at the other side of the orchard with his bowed head in his hands . She stopped quickly and the blood rushed wildly over her face . The next moment it ebbed , leaving her white as marble . Horror filled her eyes , -- blank , deadly horror , as the livid shadow of a cloud might fill two blue pools . Behind Eric Neil Gordon was standing tense , crouched , murderous . Even at that distance Kilmeny saw the look on his face , saw what he held in his hand , and realized in one agonized flash of comprehension what it meant . All this photographed itself in her brain in an instant . She knew that by the time she could run across the orchard to warn Eric by a touch it would be too late . Yet she must warn him -- she MUST -- she MUST ! A mighty surge of desire seemed to rise up within her and overwhelm her like a wave of the sea , -- a surge that swept everything before it in an irresistible flood . As Neil Gordon swiftly and vindictively , with the face of a demon , lifted the axe he held in his hand , Kilmeny sprang forward through the gap . `` ERIC , ERIC , LOOK BEHIND YOU -- LOOK BEHIND YOU ! '' Eric started up , confused , bewildered , as the voice came shrieking across the orchard . He did not in the least realize that it was Kilmeny who had called to him , but he instinctively obeyed the command . He wheeled around and saw Neil Gordon , who was looking , not at him , but past him at Kilmeny . The Italian boy 's face was ashen and his eyes were filled with terror and incredulity , as if he had been checked in his murderous purpose by some supernatural interposition . The axe , lying at his feet where he had dropped it in his unutterable consternation on hearing Kilmeny 's cry told the whole tale .
But before Eric could utter a word Neil turned , with a cry more like that of an animal than a human being , and fled like a hunted creature XXXXX the shadow of the spruce wood .
BEHIND across as before into of on over that to