ve none but friends here; and if it ever should be known to what
lengths you went to save him, it will only make him more envied and you
more genuinely admired. I question your wisdom, but, upon my soul, I
admire your bravery and spirit. You have cleared him of a terrible
charge."

A most disdainful and impatient shrug of her shapely shoulders was Miss
Beaubien's only answer to that allusion. The possibility of Mr.
Jerrold's being suspected of another entanglement was something she
would not tolerate:

"I know nothing of other people's affairs. I simply speak of my own. Let
us end this as quickly as possible, captain. Now about Saturday night.
Mother had consented to our coming back for the german,--she enjoys
seeing me lead, it seems,--and she decided to pay a short visit to
relations at St. Croix, staying there Saturday night and over Sunday.
This would give us a chance to meet again, as he could spend the evening
in St. Croix and return by late train, and I wrote and asked him. He
came; we had a long talk in the summer-house in the garden, for mother
never dreamed of his being there, and unluckily he just missed the night
train and did not get back until inspection. It was impossible for him
to have been at Sablon; and he can furnish other proof, but would do
nothing until he had seen me."

"Miss Beaubien, you have cleared him. I only wish that you could
clear--every one."

"I am in no wise concerned in that other matter to which you have
alluded; neither is Mr. Jerrold. May I say to him at once that this ends
his persecution?"

The captain smiled: "You certainly deserve to be the bearer of good
tidings. I wish he may appreciate it."

Another moment, and she had left him and sped back to Jerrold's
door-way. He was there to meet her, and Chester looked with grim and
uncertain emotion at the radiance in her face. He had to get back to the
office and to pass them: so, as civilly as he could, considering the
weight of wrath and contempt he felt for the man, he stopped and spoke:

"Your fair advocate has been all-powerful, Mr. Jerrold. I congratulate
you; and your arrest is at an end. Captain Armitage will require no
duty of you until we are aboard; but we've only half an hour. The train
is coming sharp at noon."

"Train! What train! Where are you going?" she asked, a wild anxiety in
her eyes, a sudden pallor on her face.

"We are ordered post-haste to Colorado, Nina, to rescue what is left of
Thornton's men.