had said, "some one young" would be an acquisition, and then he wondered
how old Hesketh, who seemed about a hundred, could own a niece to whom
that definition applied. A grand-niece perhaps he had meant. Then,
too, would she prove an acquisition? And a vision rose up within his
mind of some awkward, half-educated girl brought up on just such a place
as this, unused to the refinements of life, proportionately without
ideas, and possibly given to affectation. Nor was Greenoak in a
position to enlighten him upon the point, knowing nothing of old
Hesketh's relations.

The next morning Dick Selmes was up before sunrise, and, taking his gun,
went off on foot to a _hoek_ where he knew he should find a troop of
wild guinea-fowl. He was successful, too, and as the splendid game
birds dropped, one after another--for he had managed to break up the
troop, and they were thus lying well--the keen and unmitigated enjoyment
of the sport for the next half-hour was such as to leave no room for any
outside thought or speculation. Picking up the seven of them he could
find--two were runners, and of course without a dog were hopelessly
lost--he started back homeward.

Now, seven full-grown guinea-fowl slung round one constitute no light
load over three miles of rough and stony ground, and by the time Dick
Selmes reached the house he had had more than enough of such exercise.
When he did so reach it he became alive to the fact that a Cape cart,
outspanned, with its harness hung over the splashboard, stood before the
door. Now his curiosity would be satisfied.

Flinging down the birds, he entered the living-room. It was occupied by
one person, a female, and she vigorously dusting.

She turned as he entered. Heavens! What was this? Red hair, a broad
face thickly sown with large freckles, a wide mouth, and forty if a day!
So this was old Hesketh's niece. "Some one young" had been his
definition of her, and it was she who was to make things lively by
reason of the said juvenility!

"As ugly as sin," was his mental verdict. But aloud, politely, "Good
morning. I must introduce myself. My name is Selmes; but--I don't
think your uncle was expecting you quite so early."

The other stared.

"Ma what? Eh, but the laddie's clean daft--or is it only haverin' he
is? Not but it's a braw bit laddie too"--with an approving glance at
Dick's handsome face and tall proportions.

"Oh, Lord!" thought the latter, with a mental shudder.