ng towards him, the object
of his regard. Mounted on a fine dark chestnut she was coming along at a
hand gallop. She waved her hand as she caught sight of him, and he
pulled up to wait for her, watching, with more than admiration, the
magnificent seat she had and the easy grace with which she managed her
horse.

"Oh, Mr. Durham, I'm so glad to see you," she cried as she came up. "I
am in such trouble about that old reprobate. Sure he's gone and I'm just
after riding into town to see if he is getting more of the wretched
drink. If I find him----"

"Brennan will have him if he is in there, Mrs. Burke. You need not be
uneasy. I'll inquire as soon as I return. I am on my way----"

"Oh, but I can't," she interrupted. "What would they say if ever it got
to Ireland that I let the old fool fall into the hands of the police
over a trifle like this--for it's only a trifle they would call it in
Ireland, Mr. Durham. Sure if it were known there, and you may be certain
he'd leave no stone unturned to make it public, they'd boycott me and
all my belongings, if they didn't do something worse."

"Then it would be better for you not to go back there," he said, smiling
at her.

She gave him a sidelong glance with her head on one side.

"Not go back there? And what should I be doing anywhere else with all my
responsibilities waiting over there for me?" she asked coquettishly.

"You may have responsibilities over here as well, some which would----"

"Oh, now, you're making fun of me, Mr. Durham," she exclaimed. "What's a
bit of a place like this with never even a single pig on it, let alone
all the sheep and cattle it ought to have, to keep me from my own home?
When I get stock on the place it might keep me here, but sure where's
the money to come from to buy the creatures if I don't go back and sell
everything I possess to pay for them?"

"Won't you turn back, Mrs. Burke? I was riding out to see you. I want
to--ask you something."

"Ask me something? What, more police questions? No, no thanks, Mr.
Durham. They don't agree with my constitution--nor my temper."

"It is not a police question," he said seriously. "It is to
do--with--with yourself."

A merry peal of mocking laughter answered him.

"Come along now, come to the township with me before they get poor old
Patsy where it would break his honest old heart to be."

She started her horse.

"Come along now," she called over her shoulder, flashing a mischievous
glance ba