nted to be nearer her, and, putting out his hand, said:

"There's nothing you could do that's not forgiven. You hold my heart in
the hollow of your hand. What did ye do, child?"

"The other night when I saw you turning Mr. Ravenel the way you wanted
by your flattery and your hypnotic presence, I knew ye wished him to do
something for you. I knew when you told him how clever he was--_cleverer
than you were yourself_--that it must be something very great to make
you admit a thing like that. And when you were not near I warned him
against selling you that land. I said: 'Don't do anything Dermott
McDermott wants you to do to-night." Here she broke into a storm of
weeping. "You see, he's been so kind to me," she explained.

Dermott stood looking at her with pity and admiration as he put his hand
gently on her shoulder.

"Ye did just what was right, little lady; just the thing that any sweet,
grateful woman should have done. You understood what I was doing,
thought a friend might be cajoled wrongly, and warned him against it.
I'm proud of ye for it!" he cried, with enthusiasm. "Proud of you!" he
repeated. "And besides," he added, with a laugh, "it didn't make the
slightest difference. He did it anyhow! We signed the papers to-day!"

"The papers for what?" she demanded.

"For that useless bit of land on the other side of the fork," he
responded.

"Dermott," she said, "you play fair, don't you? You wouldn't take
advantage of any one?"

"Wouldn't I?" he said. "If it were to help you, I'd outwit the deil
himself, Lady Katrine."

VII

KATRINE'S OWN COUNTRY

In the following fortnight Francis and Katrine met but three times.

One day, having grown restless, she went to walk, taking the road from
the plantation back into the mountains. Returning by the ford, she heard
laughter and the ring of horses' hoofs, and by a sudden turn of the road
came directly upon Frank, who, separated from a party, was riding beside
Anne Lennox. At first sight of her whom she knew instinctively to be a
rival, Katrine was reminded of a golden peony, for the pale-yellow hair,
bright hazel eyes shot with yellow light, and thick, creamy skin had
given Anne Lennox from early childhood a noticeable and flower-like
beauty. A long-limbed, slender, full-breasted, laughing woman, with
square shoulders and the carriage of one much accustomed to the saddle,
she looked with curiosity at Katrine, who was standing aside beneath the
elderberry-bus