ere were no other letters at the time," said Callender dryly. "But
about a month afterwards we DID receive a letter from him enclosing a
draft and a full return of the profits of the invention, which HE HAD
SOLD IN HONDURAS. Ye'll observe the deescrepancy! I then wrote to the
bank on which I had drawn as you authorized me, and I found that they
knew nothing of any damages awarded, but that the sum I had drawn had
been placed to my credit by Mr. Robert Gray."

In a flash the consul recalled the one or two questions that Gray had
asked him, and saw it all. For an instant he felt the whole bitterness
of Gray's misplaced generosity--its exposure and defeat. He glanced
again hopelessly at Ailsa. In the eye of that fresh, glowing, yet
demure, young goddess, unhallowed as the thought might be, there was
certainly a distinctly tremulous wink.

The consul took heart. "I believe I need not say, Mr. Callender," he
began with some stiffness, "that this is as great a surprise to me as
to you. I had no reason to believe the transaction other than bona
fide, and acted accordingly. If my friend, deeply sympathizing with your
previous misfortune, has hit upon a delicate, but unbusiness-like way of
assisting you temporarily--I say TEMPORARILY, because it must have
been as patent to him as to you, that you would eventually find out his
generous deceit--you surely can forgive him for the sake of his kind
intention. Nay, more; may I point out to you that you have no right to
assume that this benefaction was intended exclusively for you; if Mr.
Gray, in his broader sympathy with you and your daughter, has in this
way chosen to assist and strengthen the position of a gentleman so
closely connected with you, but still struggling with hard fortune"--

"I'd have ye know, sir," interrupted the old man, rising to his feet,
"that ma frien' Mr. James Gow is as independent of yours as he is of
me and mine. He has married, sir, a Mrs. Hernandez, the rich widow of
a coffee-planter, and now is the owner of the whole estate, minus the
encumbrance of three children. And now, sir, you'll take this,"--he drew
from his pocket an envelope. "It's a draft for five thousand dollars,
with the ruling rate of interest computed from the day I received it
till this day, and ye'll give it to your frien' when ye see him. And
ye'll just say to him from me"--

But Miss Ailsa, with a spirit and independence that challenged her
father's, here suddenly fluttered between