ng me quite
fairly, is it, to keep me in the dark?"

She saw at once that to fence with him further was out of the question.
Quite plainly he meant to bring her to book. But she felt painfully
unequal to the ordeal before her. She was conscious of an almost
physical sense of shrinking.

Nevertheless, as he waited, she nerved herself at length to speak.

"What makes you think that something happened?"

"It is fairly obvious, is it not?" he returned quietly. "I could not
very easily think otherwise. If you will allow me to say so, your device
was not quite subtle enough to pass muster. Even had you dropped that
bangle by inadvertence--which you did not--you would not, in the
ordinary course of things, have sent me off post haste to recover it."

"No?" she questioned, with a faint attempt to laugh.

"No," he rejoined, and this time she heard a note of anger, deep and
unmistakable, in his voice.

She drew herself together as it reached her. It was to be a battle,
then, and instinctively she knew that she would need all her strength.

"Well," she said finally, affecting an assurance she was far from
feeling, "I have no objection to your knowing what happened since you
have asked. In fact, perhaps,--as you suggest,--it is scarcely fair that
you should not know."

"Thank you," he responded, with a hint of irony.

But she found it difficult to begin, and she could not hide it from him,
for he was closely watching her.

He softened a little as he perceived this.

"Pray don't be agitated," he said. "I do not for a moment question that
your reason for what you did was a good one. I am only asking you to
tell me what it was."

"I know," she answered. "But it will make you angry, and that is why I
hesitate."

He leaned towards her slightly.

"Can it matter to you whether I am angry or not?"

She shivered a little.

"I never offend any one if I can help it. I think it is a mistake.
However, you have asked for it. What happened was this. It was when you
left me to get some water. An old man, a native, came and spoke to me.
Perhaps I was foolish to listen, but I could scarcely have done
otherwise. And he told me--he told me that the accident to the dog-cart
was not--not--" She paused, searching for a word.

"Genuine," suggested Fletcher very quietly.

She accepted the word. The narration was making her very nervous.

"Yes, genuine. He told me that the _saice_ had cracked the shaft
beforehand, that there was no