, you, here,
would be in their way, and I could not guarantee your safety. Besides,
Virginia is a better place--a safer place than this," he added with
meaning.

"You wish to frighten me out of Jamaica," she replied with pain in her
voice. "Well, I will not go till I have put this place in order and
brought discipline and good living here. I shall stay here in Jamaica
till I have done my task. There is no reason why we should meet. This
place is not so large as Ireland or America, but it is large enough to
give assurance we shall not meet. And if we meet, there is no reason why
we should talk. As for the Maroons, when the trouble comes, I shall
not be unprepared." She smiled sadly. "The governor may not take your
advice, but I shall. And remember that I come from a land not without
its dangers. We have Red Indians and black men there, and I can shoot."

He waved a hand abruptly and then made a gesture--such as an ascetic
might make-of reflection, of submission. "I shall remember every word
you have said, and every note of your voice will be with me in all the
lonely years to come. Good-bye--but no, let me say this before I go: I
did not know that Erris Boyne was your father until after he was dead.
So, if I killed him, it was in complete ignorance. I did not know. But
we have outlived our friendship, and we must put strangeness in its
place. Good-bye--God protect you!" he added, looking into Sheila's eyes.

She looked at him with sorrow. Her lips opened but no words came forth.
He passed on out of the garden, and presently they heard his horse's
hoofs on the sand.

"He is a great gentleman," said Mrs. Llyn.

Her daughter's eyes were dry and fevered. Her lips were drawn. "We must
begin the world again," she said brokenly. Then suddenly she sank upon
the ground. "My God--oh, my God!" she said.

CHAPTER XIX. LORD MALLOW INTERVENES

Two months went by. In that time Sheila and Dyck did not meet, though
Dyck saw her more than once in the distance at Kingston. Yet they had
never met since that wonderful day at Salem, when they had parted, as
it might seem, for ever. Dyck had had news of her, however, for Darius
Boland had come and gone between the two plantations, and had won
Michael Clones' confidence. He knew more perhaps than he ever conveyed
to Dyck, who saw him and talked with him, gave him advice as to the
customs of Jamaica, and let him see the details in the management of
Enniskillen.

Yet Dyck made no