st have lingered in talk
with his chauffeur, with whom he had early gone to confer. Reason
offered this explanation, which was plausible, and altogether more
likely than any other; but instinct was deaf to it. Aline wandered
nervously about the house and garden, unable to settle anywhere, and it
was an added vexation to her disturbed spirit that Basil should be
giving himself heart and soul to the entertainment of that dreadful girl
in the summer-house. It was well enough that he should entertain her,
and keep her passive, but Aline would have liked him to be a martyr,
sacrificing his own inclination for his sister's good. She did not wish
to think that there was something about this young, crude creature which
attracted men to her, and caused them to find pleasure in her society.
Aline's head ached, and she could not think consecutively. Again and
again she asked herself, "What shall I do if he has been to see that old
woman and found out about the telegram?" but no clear answer would come.
She could only repeat the would-be consoling words, "But he _hasn't_
been there. It's silly to think of such a thing. He's not that sort of
man."

She was in the summer-house with her brother and Barrie MacDonald when
at last Somerled did come. She called to him gayly as he appeared round
the corner of an immense architectural rose-bush, and he answered
pleasantly. He even met her smile with a smile as friendly to the eye,
and there was no definable change in his look or manner, yet--Aline was
filled with a cold fear which chilled the perfumed August noon. Her
perception of the invisible was as sensitive as the needle of a compass
to the thrill of the magnetic north. Her brain suddenly buzzed as if a
hive of bees had been let loose in her head. A voice seemed to be
yelling in her ears accusations: "What a fool you have been--what a fool
you have been. It's all your fault if he has found out. You needn't have
done the thing. It wasn't necessary."

She feared to meet Somerled's eyes and read condemnation, yet her very
dread forced her to seek them, and learn at once the best or worst,
since suspense was unbearable. It seemed to her that he avoided her
look; that he too was nervous and uncomfortable, while trying to appear
at ease.

For a moment or two he talked of the car, which he had been to see, and
of a sight-seeing expedition round Carlisle which Basil had proposed for
the afternoon. Then he turned suddenly to Barrie: "I've be