that was in at the finish is waggin' their tongues about it bein' a dandy
shindy. Judgin' from the talk, nobuddy got licked--it was a fair dhraw.
But I sh'ud judge, lookin' at Corrigan's face, that it was a darlin' av a
scrap."

She was silent, gazing contemplatively out of the car window. Corrigan had
returned, after escorting her to the car, to engage in a fight with
Trevison. That was what had occupied him; that was why he had gone away
without seeing her. Well, Trevison had given him plenty of provocation.

"Trevison's horse knockin' Corrigan down was what started it, they've been
tellin' me," said Carson. "But thim that know Trevison's black knows that
Trevison wasn't to blame."

"Not to blame?" she asked; "why not?"

"For the simple rayson thot in a case like thot the mon has no control
over the baste, ma'am. 'Firebrand' told me only yisterday mornin' thot
there was no holdin' the black whin somebuddy tried to shoot wid him on
his back."

The girl remembered how Trevison had tried to speak to her immediately
after the upsetting of Corrigan, and she knew now, that he had wanted to
explain his action. Reviewing the incident in the light of Carson's
explanation, she felt that Corrigan was quite as much at fault as
Trevison. Somehow, that knowledge was vaguely satisfying.

She did not succeed in questioning Carson further about Trevison, though
there were many points over which she felt a disturbing curiosity, for
Agatha came in presently, and after nodding stiffly to Carson, seated
herself and gazed aloofly out of a window.

Carson, ill at ease in Agatha's presence, soon invented an excuse to go
out upon the platform, leaving Rosalind to explain his presence in the
car.

"What on earth could you have to say to a section boss--or he to you?"
demanded Agatha. "You are becoming very--er--indiscreet, Rosalind."

The girl smiled. It was a smile that would have betrayed the girl had
Agatha possessed the physiognomist's faculty of analyzation, for in it was
much relief and renewed faith. For the rider of the black horse was not
the brutal creature she had thought him.

* * * * *

When the private car came to a stop, Rosalind looked out of the window to
see the steep wall of the cut towering above her. Aunt Agatha still sat
near, and when Rosalind got up Agatha rose also, registering an
objection:

"I think your father might have arranged to have some _man_ meet this