here are much more important things. You didn't find
Cyril?"

"I followed him across three provinces and lost him in the end."

"Ah!" she said. "How unfortunate, how terribly disappointing! But tell me
all you did; I'm not asking from mere curiosity." She hesitated. "I think
you owe me that."

He told her the story of his wanderings and what he had learned about
Kermode's adventures. She listened with eager attention, and laughed now
and then.

"It's convincing on the face of it," she declared. "One feels that
everything is exactly what Cyril Jernyngham must have done. Will you tell
his father?"

"No," Prescott answered gravely. "He wouldn't believe the tale."

"But I feel it can't be doubted, after what I have heard of Cyril's
character and his conduct in England."

"You have an open mind. I think you hate injustice; you try to be fair.
That, I guess, is why you came to see me."

Muriel glanced at him sharply, and then smiled.

"I suppose it was; I felt that you have been badly treated. But I only
meant to stay a minute or two, and you seem to be busy."

He did not deny it. Conscious as he was of her charm and his longing for
her, he feared to detain her lest he should be driven into some rash
avowal.

"I'm very grateful for your confidence," he answered slowly.

"Well," said Muriel, "I must go." She rose, but stood still a moment.
"Mr. Prescott, it hurts me to see suspicion fall on my friends. You must
clear yourself somehow."

"Ah," he said moodily, "how am I to set about it?"

"For one thing, you must not go away again. That would look bad." She
hesitated. "And, from a few words I heard, I fear it would bring the
police after you."

"It seems very probable; I'll stay while I'm allowed," he said with some
bitterness and turned toward the door with her. Then a little color crept
into his face as she held out her hand. "Miss Hurst," he added, "you are
a very staunch friend."

Muriel smiled.

"It really looks as if staunchness were one of my virtues; but you see I
venture to act on my opinions without paying much attention to what other
people think. After all, that would be foolish, wouldn't it?"

Then she got into the sleigh and left him wondering what she could have
meant. He knew her friends regarded him as a man of inferior station,
who, if cleared from suspicion, might perhaps be tolerated so long as he
recognized his limitations and did not presume. Had Muriel wished to hint
that she diffe