e conveyed the impression that she was softening things
down. There can be no doubt that he was wild. That might, perhaps, be
forgiven, but one or two of the stories I've heard about him filled me
with disgust."

Her husband looked thoughtful. He had not noticed that Muriel was sitting
just outside the open window, though Mrs. Colston, being in a different
position, had done so. She thought their voices would reach the girl, and
if anything strongly in Cyril's disfavor cropped up during the
conversation it might be as well that she should hear it. Mrs. Colston
was willing that he should be reconciled to his relatives, but a reformed
rake was not the kind of man to whom she wished her sister to be
attracted. One could not tell whether the reformation would prove
permanent.

"After all, I never heard any really serious offense proved against him,"
Colston rejoined. "It's sometimes easy to acquire a reputation without
doing anything in particular to deserve it. People are apt to jump at
conclusions."

"When there's a general concurrence of opinion it's wiser to fall in with
it. But what did he say about his father's suggestion that he should go
home?"

"Asked for a day or two to think it over; I fancied that he wished to
consult somebody. Then he promised to give me an answer."

"On the whole, I think they need have no hesitation about taking him back
now," Mrs. Colston responded; and Muriel agreed with her. "There's
another point," she added. "How long shall we stay here?"

"I don't know. I've a growing liking for Cyril, the place is pleasant,
and though things are rather rudimentary, the air's wonderfully bracing.
He urged me to stay some little time, and I felt that he wished it."

Mrs. Colston considered. She was enjoying her visit; everything was
delightfully novel and she felt more cheerful and more vigorous than she
had done for some time. But Muriel seemed to find the prairie pleasant,
and there was a possibility of danger there.

"We might, perhaps, remain another week," she suggested.

As it happened, Colston's suspicion that his host wished to consult
somebody was correct, for Prescott was then driving in to the settlement
to lay his visitor's message before the man it most concerned. He found
him lounging in the hotel bar, and, drawing him into the general-room, he
sat down opposite him in a hard wooden chair. The apartment had no floor
covering and was cheerless and dirty; there was not even a table