dy marched directly into the breach.

"If you and John are looking for Natalie," she said, "you'll find her in
the library with Dad. How do you do, John?"

"Pretty well, I thank you, Flibbertigibbet. It is really your husband
whom I came to see, Mrs. Rathbawne. I've a little business with him, so,
for the moment, I'll have to give Natalie the cold shoulder."

"Oh!" said Mrs. Rathbawne, lifting her fat hands. "Of _course_,
Lieutenant-Governor! I understand _perfectly_. Business before pleasure,
_always_. Go right in, won't you, and send Natalie here to me. _I'll_
stay here. Aren't we going to have tea, Dorothy? Oh, _do_ try to sit up
straight, my dear!"

Natalie and her father were bending low over a great portfolio, their
heads close together in the yellow glow of the table-lamp, which was the
only light in the room. Rathbawne looked up with a grim smile, as the
Lieutenant-Governor entered.

"Pottering over my autographs, again, you see," he remarked. "I've been
neglecting them shamefully, of late--eh, Natalie? Didn't have the time.
It looks just now as if I wouldn't have to complain again of lack of
leisure for quite a while!"

"It was that I dropped in to see you about," said Barclay, striving,
with only partial success, to keep the exultation out of his voice. "You
may not be in for so much leisure as you imagine, Mr. Rathbawne. You may
not get much of a holiday, after all."

Without for an instant losing the Lieutenant-Governor's eye, Rathbawne
reached out and touched his daughter on the arm.

"Oh, Dad!" she said reproachfully.

"There's no need for her to go, sir," added Barclay, "unless you wish
it. I bring only good news."

Acquiescing, Rathbawne drew Natalie close to him, passing one arm across
her shoulders, so that his gnarled hand rested firmly on the delicate
fabric of her sleeve. Between these two there had always lain a
sympathy, an affection, a mutuality of comprehension, more like the
relation of husband and wife than that of child and parent.

"Nothing but good news?" answered Rathbawne. "Go on. What is it?"

"News not so much of actual happenings as of potentialities," said the
Lieutenant-Governor. "Last night I had to say to you that in the cause
of right I was as powerless to aid you as a baby. To-night, I have come
to tell you that I am in a position to see justice done, and that I
will."

In detail, his voice ringing with enthusiasm and confidence, he
described the interview of that