sympathetic eyes looked into his, and the boy nodded gravely.

'You can swear I'll stick up fer her,' he said.

Dick, whilst feeling quite a profound sorrow for Christina Shine, derived
no little satisfaction from the position in which he found himself as the
champion of oppressed virtue and the leal friend of a devoted young
couple, the course of whose true love was running in devious ways. This
was a role he had frequently played in fancy; but it was ever so much
more gratifying in serious fact, and he took it up with romantic
earnestness, a youthful Don Quixote, heroic in the service of his
Dulcinea.

At dinner he favoured his mother with the latest news from the mine and
glowing opinions on its prospects; and Mrs. Haddon, more than ever
suggestive of roses and apples, beamed across the table upon her
wonderful son, perfectly happy in the belief that Frank Hardy would
presently be released, that their fortunes were practically made, and
that she was the mother of the most astonishing, the cleverest, the
bravest, and the handsomest lad that had ever lived. Dick's claims to
beauty were perhaps a little dubious, but it must be admitted that local
opinion, as expressed in local gossip a thousand times a day, went far to
justify Mrs. Haddon's judgment on all the above points.

Dick escaped immediately after dinner, and went straight to Shine's
house. Fortunately the troopers, in response to information received,
were searching a worked-out alluvial flat about a mile off, and Downy was
pursuing a delusive clue as far as Cow Flat, so his visit excited no
particular attention.

The appearance Chris presented when she admitted him shocked the boy, and
stirred his heart with tenderest pity. Her eyes were deep-set in dark
shadows, her cheeks sunken, and there was a peculiar drawn expression
about her mouth. She who had always been a miracle of neatness was
negligently dressed, and her beautiful hair hung in pathetic disorder.
She seated herself and drew Dick to her side.

'Dick,' she said, 'I am in great trouble.'

'Yes,' he answered, 'I know--I'm sorry.'

'And you are my only friend.'

'No fear, Harry Hardy'd do anythin' for you.'

'He cannot, Dick; it is impossible. He is generous and noble, but he
cannot help me. Dick,' she drew him closer to her side, and held his hand
in hers, 'tell me why you would not speak about the gold-stealers and
that crime below. Was it because of me--because you wanted to spare me?'