et, he climbed, dripping as he
was, into a car.

CHAPTER XXIX

A FUTILE SCHEME

There was bright sunshine at Bonavista when Nasmyth, who had been told
at the station that Acton had arrived from Victoria the day before,
limped out from the shadow of the surrounding Bush, and stood still a
moment or two, glancing across the trim lawn and terrace towards the
wooden house. The spacious dwelling, gay with its brightly painted
lattice shutters, dainty scroll-work, and colonnades of wooden
pillars, rose against the sombre woods, and he wondered with some
anxiety whether Mrs. Acton had many guests in it. He had no desire to
fall in with any strangers, for he was worn out and aching, and he
still wore the old duck clothing in which he had left the canyon. It
might, he fancied, be possible to slip into the house and change
before he presented himself to Mrs. Acton, though he was by no means
sure that the garments in the valise he carried in his hand were dry.
He could see nobody on the terrace, and moved forward hastily until he
stopped in consternation as he crossed one of the verandas. The
sunlight streamed in, and Mrs. Acton and Violet Hamilton sat upon the
seat which ran along the back of it. The girl started when she saw
him, and Nasmyth stood looking down on her, worn in face and
heavy-eyed, with his workman's garb clinging, tight and mire-stained,
about his limbs. There was, however, a certain grimness in his smile.
He had seen the girl's start and her momentary shrinking, and it
occurred to him that there was a significance in the fact that it had
not greatly hurt him.

"I must make my excuses for turning up in this condition," he
apologized. "I had to start for the railroad at a moment's notice, and
it rained all the way, while, when I reached it, the train was in the
depot. You see, my business is rather urgent."

Mrs. Acton laughed. "Evidently," she said. "I think we were both a
trifle startled when we saw you. I should be sorry to hear that
anything had gone seriously wrong, but you remind one of the man who
brought the news of Flodden."

Nasmyth made a quick gesture of denial. "Well," he announced bravely,
"our standard is flying yet, and I almost think we can make another
rally or two. Still, I have come for reinforcements. Mr. Acton is
in?"

"He is. As it happened, he came up from Victoria yesterday. I believe
he is discussing some repairs to the steamer with George just now.
I'll send you out a