m to continue in a comfortable country living, after
his convictions lost faith in the tenets of the English Church; but if
it were so it never troubled him, and he loved his wilderness home
dearly. Ailsa had her story also, but she too, it was evident, had
found a solution that held satisfaction.

After giving Carew his drink she moved away and picked up some
needlework, seating herself near the open door, with sympathy in her
face and in her silence.

"We had a splendid service," she told him. "We did all we possibly
could to show our loyalty. But how little it seemed! The far countries
hurt at a time like this."

He assented in silence, looking out over the lovely landscape as if it
were a sight his soul loved, and she bent lower over her needlework.

"Tell me about your Ingigi trip, unless you would rather wait for
Billy. He will be in directly, and he will want to hear everything."

He glanced towards her a moment, noting half indifferently that she
looked unusually pretty to-day; but he only said a few generalities
about his work, with his eyes again on the landscape. Ailsa sewed on,
not in the least dismayed. It was good enough to have him there,
whether he were communicative or not, and she was glad she chanced to
have put on her new, pretty dress from home. For, of course, all women
liked to look fair in the eyes of Peter Carew, quite indifferent to
the fact that in all probability he scarcely saw them.

But Ailsa Grenville could not have looked other than fair to any man,
though to some she looked so much more besides. Her frank grey eyes,
full of expression, her low, broad forehead and chestnut hair, were so
full of beauty that they seemed to counteract entirely a nose that was
a little too small and a mouth a little too large. One felt that
nature had intended to make her a beautiful woman, and then changed
her mind and allowed a flaw in her beauty, possibly to give her more
character and an attraction of a different order. To the lonely men
within reach of the mission station she was goddess and angel
combined, and knowing it was one of the joys of her uneventful life.

Thus they sat on together in the doorway, speaking quietly of the loss
they had chosen to make their own, in an intimate sense perhaps only
possible to far-off Empire-builders. And while they talked the
missionary himself appeared, and all his face lit up when he saw
Carew.

"By Jove! I'm glad to see you," he exclaimed, tossing his