nd."

Dinner proceeded quietly enough, Chris having eyes for hardly anything
else beyond the couple in the window. She rose presently, with a little
gasp, and hastily lifted a tankard of iced water from the table. The girl
opposite her had turned pale and her dark head had drooped forward.

"I hope it is not serious," said Chris. "Drink a little of this;
it is iced."

"And they told me they had no ice in the house," the man Rawlins
muttered. "A little of this, Grace. It is one of her old fainting fits.
Ah, that is better."

The man Rawlins spoke with the tenderest solicitude. The look of positive
relief on his face as his daughter smiled at him told of a deep devotion
and affection for the girl. Chris, looking on, was wondering vaguely
whether or not she had made a mistake.

"Lord Littimer obtained our ice," she said. "Pray keep this. Oh, yes,
that is Lord Littimer over there. I am his secretary."

Littimer strolled across himself and murmured his condolences. A little
time later and the four of them were outside in the verandah taking ices
together. Rawlins might have been, and no doubt was, a finished
scoundrel, but there was no question as to his fascinating manner and his
brilliant qualities as a conversationalist. A man of nerve too, and full
of resources. All the same, Littimer was asking himself and wondering who
the man really was. By birth he must have been born a gentleman, Littimer
did not doubt for a moment.

But there was one soft spot in the man, and that was his love for his
daughter. For her sake he had been travelling all over the world for
years; for years he had despaired of seeing her live to womanhood. But
she was gradually growing better; indeed, if she had not walked so far
to-day nothing would have happened. All the time that Rawlins was talking
his eyes were resting tenderly on his daughter. The hard, steely look
seemed to have gone out of them altogether.

Altogether a charming and many-sided rascal, Littimer thought. He
was fond, as he called it, of collecting types of humanity, and here
was a new and fascinating specimen. The two men talked together till
long after dark, and Rawlins never betrayed himself. He might have
been an Ambassador or Cabinet Minister unbending after a long period
of heavy labour.

Meanwhile Chris had drawn Grace Rawlins apart from the others. The girl
was quiet and self-contained, but evidently a lady. She seemed to have
but few enthusiasms, but one of them