f reddish-gold hair that smoldered above
the clear olive pallor of her skin. With that flawless and brilliant
coloring she was marked for observation--had doubtless been schooled to
a perfect indifference to it, for the slow, almost indolent, grace of
her movements was that of a woman coldly unmindful of the gazes
lingering upon her. She could not have been more than twenty-six or
-seven, but I got an unmistakable impression of weariness or balked
purpose emanating from her in spite of her youth and glorious physique.
I looked up to see her crossing the veranda to join her uncle and
aunt--correct, well-to-do English people that one placed instantly--and
my stare was only one of many that followed her as she took her seat and
threw aside the light scarf that swathed her bare and gleaming
shoulders.

My companion, who happened to be the editor of the local paper, promptly
informed me regarding her name and previous residence--the gist of some
"social item" which he had already put into print; but these meant
nothing, and I could only wonder what had brought her to such an
out-of-the-way part of the world as Port Charlotte. She did not seem
like a girl who was traveling with her uncle and aunt; one got rather
the impression that she was bent on a mission of her own and was
dragging her relatives along because the conventions demanded it. I
hazarded to my companion the notion that a woman like Miss Stanleigh
could have but one of two purposes in this lonely part of the world--she
was fleeing from a lover or seeking one.

"In that case," rejoined my friend, with the cynical shrug of the
newspaper man, "she has very promptly succeeded. It's whispered that she
is going to marry Joyce--of Malduna Island, you know. Only met him a
fortnight ago. Quite a romance, I'm told."

I lifted my eyebrows at that, and looked again at Miss Stanleigh. Just
at that instant she happened to look up. It was a wholly indifferent
gaze; I am confident that she was no more aware of me than if I had been
one of the veranda posts which her eyes had chanced to encounter. But in
the indescribable sensation of that moment I felt that here was a woman
who bore a secret burden, although, as my informing host put it, her
heart had romantically found its haven only two weeks ago.

She was endeavoring to get trace of a man named Farquharson, as I was
permitted to learn a few days later. Ostensibly, it was Major Stanleigh
who was bent on locating this young