t least, when I managed with some trouble to reach the
place, I knew it was either you or Gladwyne, and I blamed you."

"Well?"

"I've decided," Lisle said gravely, "that you did quite right. It's the
end of that story."

"Then you have abandoned the purpose you had in view?"

"I've been thinking hard, and it seems to me that if Vernon were with me
now, the last thing that would please him would be to see the two women
suffer; he was a big man in every way. There's another thing--he left no
relations to consider."

Nasmyth laid a hand on his shoulder in a very expressive way.

"I felt all along that you'd come to look at it like that!"

"But there's Batley; he has some suspicions."

"I can silence him," promised Nasmyth. "The man has his good points,
after all."

"That's so," Lisle agreed. "Still, I'll come straight across to England
and tackle him if you fail. If it's a question of money, you can count me
in--I've been prospering lately." He rose and knocked out his pipe.
"That's the last word on the matter."

They went back to camp, and starting soon after sunrise the next morning
they reached a settlement on the railroad after a comparatively easy
journey; and that evening Lisle stood with a heavy heart beside the track
while the big cars moved away, his eyes fixed on a woman's figure that
leaned out from a vestibule platform, waving a hand to him.

After that he went back to his work, with Crestwick; and nearly twelve
months had passed when he sent a cable to England and started for that
country a day after receiving the answer. Crestwick insisted on going
with him.

"You'll no doubt want my support again," he grinned. "There's an office I
mean to rob Nasmyth of, if I can."

It was evening when they drove into sight of Millicent's house. Lisle's
heart throbbed painfully fast as he got down, but he was not kept
waiting. Millicent was standing in her drawing-room, and as he came in
she held out her hand to him.

"You answered my message," he said, seizing it. "You must have guessed
what I meant when I asked if I might come across."

"Yes," she confessed softly; "I knew and I told you to come."

He still held her a little away from him as he gave a quick glance at the
refined and artistic appointments of the room.

"There's a good deal you will have to give up," he told her. "You're not
afraid of our new and rugged country? But it has something to offer--and
we need such people as you."

"It's go