as busy, and the girl slipped away
to a room that was seldom occupied and sat there in the gathering
darkness staring at the fire. The story was, she strove to persuade
herself, utterly impossible, for she had probed the man's character
thoroughly, and seen that it was wholesome through all its
crudities--and yet it was evident the horrible tale must have some
foundation, because otherwise refutation would be so simple.

Almost incredible as it was, the belief that it was borne out by fact
was forced upon her, and too dazed to reason clearly she shrank with an
overwhelming sense of disgust. She had, it seemed, wilfully deceived
herself, and the man was, as she had fancied at the beginning, without
sensibility or refinement, brutal in his forcefulness, and swayed by
elementary passions. Then she writhed under the memory of the
occasions on which she had unbent somewhat far to him, and the
recollection of two incidents in the sickroom stung her pride to the
quick; while when the booming of a gong rolled through the house, she
rose faint and cold with an intensity of anger that for the time being
drove out any other feeling. It would have gone very hardly with Alton
had chance afforded her the means of punishing him just then.

As fate would have it the opportunity was also given her, for that
evening Deringham, who had heard nothing of the story, was able to
secure a few minutes alone with his daughter. He was, she noticed,
looking unusually pale and ill, and that reminded her that he owed all
his anxieties to Alton.

"Our kinsman is going back to Somasco very shortly, and then on into
the ranges. I wish he could be prevented," he said.

The girl laughed a little. "I think it would be difficult to prevent
Mr. Alton doing anything he had decided on."

"Yes," said Deringham. "He can be exasperatingly obstinate, but--and I
put it frankly--he might listen to you. The journey he contemplates
would be apt to prove perilous at this season."

Alice Deringham looked at her father with a smile the meaning of which
he could not fathom. He did not know that she had of late been
disturbed by unpleasant suspicions concerning his connection with
Hallam.

"I fancy you are mistaken. You are of course influenced by a desire
for his safety?"

Deringham winced, for he recognized the tone of sardonic scepticism,
but he was horribly afraid of Hallam, and could not afford to fail.

"Well," he said, with a gesture of wearin