ped rapidly. Conway came frequently to talk
with Martin, to remain for supper, to chat with Wanda and her mother.
And then one day, unheralded, unlooked for, Red Reckless came home.

It was the supper hour, just after dark. Father, mother and daughter
were at the table, when there came a quick step upon the veranda, and
the joy which the gay springtime had put into Wanda's heart brimmed up
and spilled over.

"It's Garth," said Martin Leland lightly. "I expected he'd ride over
to-night."

"_It's Wayne_!" cried Wanda, already upon her feet.

"Wayne!" snapped her father, his face suddenly stern. "What are you
talking about?"

"I know his step. It is Wayne!"

Wanda had already run to the door, and flung it wide open. It was very
dark outside. The tall form of a man loomed strangely large, dimly
outlined against the black curtain of the night.

"Welcome home, Wanderer!" Wanda cried gaily.

Wayne Shandon came in, his big boots dusty with his ride, his red hair
catching fire from the light in the room, his eyes laughing, his lips
laughing, his voice laughing when he greeted Wanda with two eager
hands. He was the same Wayne Shandon who had ridden away a year ago,
the same Red Reckless he had ever been.

Mrs. Leland's startled surprise vanished swiftly before her joy in
seeing him. But Martin Leland's face went black, his eyes burned
ominously, it was as though he had been gripped with a choking,
speechless wrath.

"Wayne!" cried Mrs. Leland. "Where in the world have you come from?"

"From a place they call Hell's Annex, seven hundred miles inland from
the South African Coast," he laughed lightly. "My arrival timed just
to the minute for supper!"

He dropped Wanda's hands with a parting squeeze which was frankly
unhidden, strode over to Mrs. Leland whom he kissed resoundingly, and
put out a big, strong hand to Martin Leland.

For just a fraction of a second the two women knew that Leland was
hesitating, for an instant they waited fearfully, for what he might do.
Then he took the hand proffered him, his lips twitched into a hard,
forced smile and he said rather colourlessly,

"Well, Wayne, you've come home at last, have you?"

Wayne's answer was a laugh. He seemed filled with laughter to-night.
Evidently he had noticed nothing strange in Leland's greeting; he was
in the gayest of his gay moods. He had no opportunity to answer
Leland's words, for Julia, who had forgotten her usual slow, ponderous
m