s hard on Calhoun."

"Is it? It's years since he was tried and condemned. Two days cannot
matter now."

"Perhaps not. Last night the woman said to me: 'I'm glad I'm going to
die.'" Then he added: "Calhoun will be more popular than ever now."

The governor winced.

CHAPTER XXV. THEN WHAT HAPPENED

An hour after Noreen Boyne had been laid in her grave, there was a
special issue of the principal paper telling all the true facts of the
death of Erris Boyne. Thus the people of Jamaica came to know that Dyck
Calhoun was innocent of the crime of killing Erris Boyne, and he was
made the object of splashing admiration, and was almost mobbed by
admirers in the street. It all vexed Lord Mallow; but he steeled himself
to urbanity, and he played his part well. He was clever enough to see it
would pay him to be outwardly gracious to Calhoun. So it was he made a
speech in the capital on the return of the general commanding and the
troops from subduing the Maroons, in which he said: "No one in all the
King's dominions had showed greater patriotism and military skill
than their friend Mr. Dyck Calhoun, who had been harshly treated by a
mistaken Government."

A few hours later, in the sweet garden of the house where Sheila and
her mother lodged, Calhoun came upon the girl whose gentle dignity and
beauty seemed to glow.

At first all she said to him was, "Welcome, old friend," and at last she
said, "Now you can come to the United States, Dyck, and make a new life
there."

Presently he said: "I ought to go where you wish me to go, for you came
to me here when I was rejected of men. I owe you whatever I am that's
worth while, if anything I am is worth while. Your faith kept me alive
in my darkest days--even when I thought I had wronged you."

"Then you will come to Virginia with me--as my husband, Dyck?" She
blushed and laughed. "You see I have to propose to you, for you've
never asked me to marry you. I'm throwing myself at your head, sir, you
observe!"

He gave an honest smile of adoration. "I came to-day to ask you to be
my wife--for that reason only. I could not do it till the governor had
declared my innocence. The earth is sweeter to-day than it has been
since time began."

He held out his arms, and an instant later the flowers she carried were
crushed to her breast, with her lips given to his.

A little later she drew from her pocket a letter. "You must read that,"
she said. "It is from the great Alexander Hamil