Only the day previously yet another sorrow had been confided to her. She
had accompanied her dear old friend, her second mother as she called
her, to Dr. Marsh. After the examination the doctor had called her back
into his surgery.

"I give her six months to live," he said; "but you must keep it to
yourself. Old Samuel Quirk has a heart that might stop at any moment. He
must not know."

"I may write to Denis Quirk?" she asked, anxious to share the burden
with someone.

"By all means. But tell him not to come back until I send for him," the
doctor answered.

She had accordingly written to Denis Quirk, confiding the ill news to
him. The prospect of separation from Mrs. Quirk was hard to bear, for
she was a mother, and "Layton," a home, to the girl.

The road from Mrs. Sheridan's farm to the lower bridge now dips down
beside the river, and now rises high above, where it runs through the
Gorge. It was at a spot where the river banks are low that Kathleen
heard her name called from the river. Looking towards the spot whence
the voice came, she saw Gerard seated in a boat that he had moored to
the bank. He had been fishing, pipe in mouth, for with the failure of
the "Observer," he had returned to desultory journalism and idleness.

Kathleen reined her horse in, and he scrambled out of the boat and came
towards her. He was wearing a low-necked shirt; his face and neck were
tanned by the sun, as were the arms, bare to the elbow. Without doubt he
was a handsome man, and the bold, devil-may-care expression on his face
did not make him the less attractive. Kathleen knew that many a girl in
the district, well-to-do and not bad looking, would have welcomed the
attentions of Gerard.

But, ever since his return from Goldenvale, Kathleen had recognised that
the old feeling for him had died out of her heart. He had expected to
resume the old, intimate relations, but she had held him at arm's
length. Two things were accountable for this--a dread of the influence
he had once exerted over her, and resentment of the part he had played
in the downfall of Denis Quirk. Gerard had not accepted the girl's
change of attitude with philosophy, although he had given no sign that
it affected him. He smiled pleasantly as he stood beside her horse's
head, one hand stroking the satiny skin, the other on the bridle rein.

"This is quite a pleasant chance," he said. "We never meet one another
now."

Kathleen murmured something about being s