ot two laborers to take him
down the line on a hand-car. After that he had some distance to walk and
arrived at Kenwardine's powdered with dust. It was a hot night and he
found Kenwardine and three or four others in the patio.

A small, shaded lamp stood upon the table they had gathered round, and
the light sparkled on delicate green glasses and a carafe of wine. It
touched the men's white clothes, and then, cut off by the shade, left
their faces in shadow and fell upon the tiles. A colored paper lantern,
however, hung from a wire near an outside staircase and Jake saw Clare a
short distance away. It looked as if she had stopped in crossing the
patio, but as he came forward Kenwardine got up.

"It's some time since we have seen you," he remarked.

"Yes," said Jake. "I meant to come before, but couldn't get away."

"Then you have begun to take your business seriously?"

"My guardian does."

"Ah!" said Kenwardine, speaking rather louder, "if you mean Mr. Brandon,
I certainly thought him a serious person. But what has this to do with
your coming here?"

"He found me work that kept me busy evenings."

"With the object of keeping you out of mischief?"

"I imagine he meant something of the kind," Jake admitted with a chuckle.
He glanced round, and felt he had been too frank, as his eyes rested on
Clare. He could not see her face, but thought she was listening.

"Then it looks as if he believed we were dangerous people for you to
associate with," Kenwardine remarked, with a smile. "Well, I suppose
we're not remarkable for the conventional virtues."

Jake, remembering Dick had insisted that Kenwardine was dangerous, felt
embarrassed as he noted that Clare was now looking at him. To make things
worse, he thought Kenwardine had meant her to hear.

"I expect he really was afraid of my going to the casino," he answered as
carelessly as he could.

"Though he would not be much relieved to find you had come to my house
instead? Well, I suppose one must make allowances for the Puritan
character."

"Brandon isn't much of a Puritan, and he's certainly not a prig," Jake
objected.

Kenwardine laughed. "I'm not sure this explanation makes things much
better, but we'll let it go. We were talking about the new water supply.
It's a harmless subject and you ought to be interested."

Jake sat down and stole a glance at Clare as he drank a glass of wine.
There was nothing to be learned from her face, but he was vexed with
Kenw