a new decision. He had accustomed himself to be
indifferent to that in most people. It was a perfectly simple and
direct desire to join her. And because at heart he was a perfectly
simple and direct man, he suddenly left off cogitating and started
down the hill. Perhaps until that moment he had not truly known which
way his desire lay. Perhaps in the first discovery he had purposely
not chosen to give himself time to weigh and probe. Anyhow, he
hesitated no more, until he stood at her side and looked into her
eyes with that direct gaze that Meryl so unexpectedly found
disconcerting. But the sensation passed rapidly, and in its place came
a quiet content. Whether he had avoided her all day or not, at least
he came now entirely of his own initiative, and for the time it was
enough. She was too honest to pretend anything herself, and possessed
too fine a nature to cover what might have held embarrassment by a
coquettish taunt or feigned pique.

"I had given you up," she said; "it seemed probable that you had
spoken unthinkingly when you said you would come."

"I have been working all day at my report," he replied simply.

He seemed a little different somehow, and besides, he had come
entirely of his own free will. She remembered it, and put away all
sense of restraint, fought down and conquered the self-consciousness
that sometimes seemed to grip her when he was taciturn and aloof.

He had placed one foot on a low wall, and leaned back against a tree
in a natural, unrestrained attitude, and quite naturally she seated
herself on the wall before him.

"You found it very engrossing?"

"It is interesting work."

"Has it any special object, or just a general one?"

"A little of both. We want to benefit the natives as a whole and
improve their conditions; and we want also to make some changes in the
native administration of the country."

"And you are fond of the natives? For you at least they are worth
while?"

"Emphatically so."

"To any particular end?"

His face grew grave and thoughtful, but the hardening stayed away
still--the hardening that so often came when either she or Diana,
sought to draw him. Only apparently to men would he speak of his work
and his beliefs.

"It is difficult to say. Probably nothing but time will show us the
true solution of the problem of the black and the white race living
together in one country. But meanwhile the black man is eminently
worth while. With firm and just treatme