plate of something and a glass of wine. You can't
have had any lunch."

Mrs. Acton rose, and Nasmyth, who sat down, looked at Violet with a
smile. She was evidently not quite at ease.

"You really haven't welcomed me very effusively," he remarked.

The girl flushed. "I don't think I could be blamed for that," she
returned. "I was startled."

"And perhaps just a little annoyed?"

The colour grew plainer in Violet's cheeks. "Well," she averred, "that
isn't so very unnatural. After all, I don't mind admitting that I wish
you hadn't come like this."

Nasmyth glanced down at his attire, and nodded gravely. "It's
certainly not altogether becoming," he admitted. "I made that hole
drilling, but I fancied I had mended the thing. Still, you see, I had
to start on the moment, and I rode most of twenty-four hours in the
rain. I suppose"--and he hesitated while he studied her face--"I might
have tidied myself at the depot, but, as it happened, I didn't think
of it, which was, no doubt, very wrong of me."

"It was, at least, a little inconsiderate."

Nasmyth laughed good-humouredly, though he recognized that neither his
weariness nor the fact that it must manifestly be business of some
consequence that had brought him there in that guise had any weight
with her. He had, after all, a wide toleration, and he acknowledged to
himself that her resentment was not unreasonable.

"I've no doubt that I was inconsiderate," he said. "Still, you see, I
was worried about our affairs in the canyon."

"The canyon!" repeated Violet reproachfully. "It is always the canyon. I
wonder if you remember that it is at least a month since you have
written a line to me."

Nasmyth was disconcerted, for a moment's reflection convinced him that
the accusation was true.

"Well," he confessed, "I have certainly been shamefully remiss. Of
course, I was busy from dawn to sunset, but, after all, I'm afraid
that is really no excuse."

The girl frowned. "No," she said, "it isn't."

It was a slight relief to Nasmyth that a maid appeared just then, and
he took a glass of wine from the tray she laid upon a little table.

"To the brightest eyes in this Province!" he said, when the servant
had gone, and, emptying the glass, he fell upon the food voraciously.

It was unfortunate that in such unattractive guise he had come upon
Violet, and the fashion in which he ate also had its effect on her. In
the last thirty hours he had had only one hasty meal, and h