o talk on Boland's part of
their coming here, was there Michael?"

"None at all, sir, but there was that in the man's eye, and that in his
tone, which made me sure he thought Miss Llyn and you would meet."

"That would be strange, wouldn't it, in this immense continent!" Dyck
remarked cynically.

"She knew I was here before she came?"

"Aye, she knew. She had seen your name in the papers--English and
Jamaican. She knew you had regained your life and place, and was a man
of mark here."

"A marked man, you mean, Michael--a man whom the king has had to pardon
of a crime because of an act done that served the State. I am forbidden
to return to the British Isles or to the land of my birth, forbidden
free traffic as a citizen, hammered out of recognition by the strokes of
enmity. A man of mark, indeed! Aye, with the broad arrow on me, with the
shame of prison and mutiny on my name!"

"But if she don't believe?"

"If she don't believe! Well, she must be told the truth at last. I
wonder her mother let her come here. Her mother knew part of the truth.
She hid it all from the girl--and now they are here! I must see it
through, but it's a wretched fate, Michael."

"Perhaps her mother didn't know you were here, sir."

Dyck laughed grimly. "Michael, you've a lawyer's mind. Perhaps you're
right. The girl may have hid from her mother all newspapers referring
to me. That may well be; but it's not the way that will bring
understanding."

"I think it's the truth, sir, for Darius Boland spoke naught of the
mother--indeed, he said only what would make me think the girl came with
her own ends in view. Faith, I'm sure the mother did not know."

"She will know now. Your Darius Boland will tell her."

"By St. Peter, it doesn't matter who tells her, sir. The business must
be faced."

"Michael, order my horse, and I will go to Spanish Town. This matter
must be brought to a head. The truth must be told. Order my horse!"

"It is the very heat of the day, sir."

"Then at five o'clock, after dinner, have my horse here."

"Am I to ride with you, sir?"

Dyck nodded. "Yes, Michael. There's only one thing to do--face all the
facts with all the evidence, and you are fact and evidence too. You know
more of the truth than any one else."

Several hours later, when the sun was abating its force a little, after
travelling the burning roads through yams and cocoa, grenadillas and
all kinds of herbs and roots and vagrant trees, Dyck Calho