d taken to from Solfala, and by whom?

And no less strange perhaps is the absence of all clue to the
burial-ground of this stalwart race; for only a stalwart people could
have built those temple walls and those amazing fortifications. Where
then are the bones of their dead? Strange and incomprehensible as it
may seem, no excavations have yet unearthed human bones, or brought to
light any spot that might be supposed to have been a burial-ground.

To Peter Carew the mystery and the fascination had become such an
ever-present companion in his thoughts, that it was not surprising a
moment should come when he stood among the ramparts and found their
interest for the time being crowded out. The surprising thing was the
source of that crowding out. For it was not even the lengthy report
for the Native Commission to which he was giving such infinite thought
and pains that filled his mind; neither was it anything to do with the
police force he had grown to care for as truly as his old regiment;
nor any far-reaching, visionary dream for the welfare of the country.
Chiefly it was a pair of grave blue-grey eyes, with a gleam in them as
their owner said, "Will you take me if I promise not to ask any silly
questions?" And he had said "Yes." Yet now he was here on the
Acropolis Hill alone.

He stared moodily at the broken walls and pondered within himself. Why
had he not taken her? Or why, since he had chosen not to do so, could
he not put the whole remembrance from his mind? Nay, why did he half
begin to wish that he had not let himself be overruled by his own
counsel of prudence? They would be going so soon now, and it might be
long before he would again be given an opportunity to speak with any
woman of Meryl's charm, or look into any face so full of attraction.
And yet that was just what he wished; was actually the chief reason
for his unsociable resolutions. His own inconsistency puzzled and
worried him, and his eyes as he looked steadily to the horizon had a
lurking cloud in them.

Then quite suddenly and unexpectedly he had turned his gaze to the
temple walls lying far below, and seen the figure seated idly on
fallen masonry, lost in thought.

Then she had not gone with Stanley and Diana? She had remained behind
alone, nettled perhaps by his bearishness, and choosing to be
independent, and still take her stroll to the temple without him.

But it was not the thought of her possible censure that spurred him
unexpectedly to