g them. "But--go and put
on your old clothes. I'm not going to have you running wild in those."

Away they sped rejoicing. The condition was not a hard one. It is only
fair to say, however, that their hymn of praise to the absent Wyvern was
in no way inspired by ulterior motive. Their admiration for him was
whole-souled and genuine.

Lalante looked after them with something of a sigh. They could be happy
enough--a small trifle would accomplish that. But she? However
cheerful and sanguine and comforting she might be in the presence of her
lover, there were times, when alone, that her heart failed her. And now
that presence was withdrawn.

Nearly a month had gone by since her father had fixed an open quarrel
upon him, which quarrel, for all its tragic potentialities, had found a
somewhat tame and commonplace outcome at the time, to all outward
seeming, that is. She had, as Wyvern had foreseen, come out to welcome
him on that eventful morning; and while obliged to bid him good-bye
then, had assured him openly and unmistakably, and in the presence of
her father, that she had no more intention of giving him up than she had
of jumping off the nearest _krantz_; a declaration which caused Le Sage
to snarl and curse. Then Wyvern, having the good sense to see that no
good purpose could be served by further irritating his quondam friend,
had bidden her good-bye--not less affectionately than usual we may be
sure--and had ridden off.

Since then a frost had set in between Lalante and her father, but it was
of his own creation and nursing, for after the first soreness, the girl
had shown him the same affection as before, possibly even more; for,
strange to say, she was capable of seeing the matter from his point of
view; moreover she knew that his own soreness was largely a matter of
jealousy in that he was no longer first. But she would not promise not
to see Wyvern again, and this rankled in Le Sage's mind more than ever,
especially as he felt certain she would find opportunities of seeing
him.

As a matter of fact she did so find them, but they were few and far
between--and only then, when her father's business necessitated his
absence from home. Now of this Le Sage was aware, or at any rate more
than suspicious. He was too proud to question Lalante, she having
frankly declared that she could not defer to his wishes in the matter.
But his hatred of Wyvern became almost an obsession, dangerous alike to
himself a