s the lady of the miniature--perhaps." This
mound was also covered with pine-needles, as if Nature were helping some
one to forget.

The silence of this spot, the murmuring of the wind among the branches
high above, all tended to a somewhat mournful revery; and she wondered
how this empty grave had been cheated of its tenant. With reverence she
gazed upon the primitive wooden cross, evidently put together by
inexperienced hands. Then she looked upward, as if to question the
voices in the boughs above. But of the empty grave and its companion the
whispering pines told nothing.

Approaching footsteps gave no sound in this forest, and she was startled
by a cough behind her. It was only Pats, not wishing to startle her by a
sudden presence. His face seemed flushed, and even thinner than before;
and about his mouth had come a drawn and sensitive look. But her eyes
rested coldly upon him as they would rest upon any repugnant object that
she despised, but did not fear.

Smiling with an effort, he said: "Excuse my following you, but it is
nearly one o'clock and time for food. I am sure we can find something in
that cottage."

"I am not hungry."

"Did you have breakfast on the boat?"

"No."

"Then you _must_ be hungry."

"I do not care to eat." And she turned away.

"Excuse me, Miss Marshall," and he spoke more seriously, "pardon my
giving you advice, but you have had a hard morning and you will feel
better, later on, for a little food. As for me, I have had nothing since
yesterday, and shall collapse without it. Suppose I go to the house and
scrape up some sort of a lunch. Won't you come there in a few minutes?"

Her eyes travelled frigidly from his face to his feet. But before she
could reply, he added:

"Besides, the owner may come back, now, at any minute, and if he finds
us together it will save time in our getting off."

Turning away to resume her walk she answered, indifferently: "Very well,
I will be there soon."

[Illustration]

VI

THE SECRET OF THE PINES

At one o'clock the lunch was served.

Pats had placed before the lady a portion of a ham, a plate of crackers,
some marmalade, and a bottle of claret.

"There are provisions in the cellar," he said, "to last a year: sacks of
flour, dried apples, preserved fruits, potatoes, all sorts of canned
things, and claret by the dozen."

As he spoke, he laid his hand upon the back of the chair that held the
miniature,--the seat opposite her ow