h her doings of the day before. The
mysteries of spoor, of course, were rather outside her scope.

"Oh, did you?" was all she said. "A little further round, isn't it?"

"Yes, but I had business with him--this and other. Where are the
kiddies, Lalante?"

"Oh, they're larking about down the kloof, catapulting birds, or
something."

"All the better. I want to have some serious talk with you."

"Serious? Don't scare me, old chap, will you?" she answered, going to
him, and taking his face between her long cool fingers. "Because I'm
easily scared, and `serious' sounds so unconscionably alarming."

Le Sage felt more than ever disarmed. He was glowing angry with
himself, and in proportion felt the less inclined to be so with her.
His heart swelled with pride and love, as he met the half-laughing,
half-wistful eyes of this beautiful, splendid girl of his. How the
devil could he get out what he wanted to say, he asked himself savagely?
But the thought of Wyvern came to his aid. With him, at any rate, he
felt desperately angry.

"What time did you get back last night?" he said, shortly.

It was Lalante's turn to feel disconcerted.

"Last night? Get back?" she repeated, changing colour ever so slightly.

"Yes. That's what I said," he answered, still more shortly, and
inwardly lashing himself up. "What time?"

"Well, it wasn't so very late," replied the girl, serenely. She had had
time to pick herself up, though it cost her an effort, while wondering
who had given her away; though indeed who could have done so, seeing
that she herself had met her father at the gate before he had spoken to
anybody? "But there was a fine bright moon--almost at the full."

"Well, you have done a thing I entirely disapprove of. You had no
business to go over there all by yourself like that, at night."

"But I didn't go at night. I went in the morning."

"But you came back at night. At least if you didn't I'm a raw Britisher
at reading spoor. How's that?"

Spoor? Oh, this was what had given her away then. This was a factor
Lalante had wholly omitted to take into account, and even if she had not
she had never reckoned on her father returning by that particular road
at all.

"How's that?" she repeated sweetly. "Why of course that you're not a
raw Britisher at all."

"Surely you must see it isn't the thing for a girl to go and spend the
day with a man at his own place all alone," he fumed. "Can't you see
that?"