e
they come."

Grace, who was a little taller than Miriam, had thrown one arm round
that young lady's waist, with a view, perhaps, to forming a picture in
which she should not be the secondary figure. In fact, they were both
of them very pretty; but Freeman had become blind to any beauty but
Miriam's. Moreover, he was resolved to have some private conversation
with her during the few minutes that were available. A conversation with
the professor, and some meditations of his own, had suggested to him a
line of attack upon Grace.

"I'm afraid you were disturbed by the earthquake last night?" he said to
her.

"An earthquake? Why should you think so?"

"You look as if you had passed a restless night. I saw Senor de Mendoza
this morning. He seems to have had a restless time of it, too. But he
is a romantic person, and probably, if an earthquake did not make him
sleepless, something else might." He looked at her a moment, and then
added, with a smile, "But perhaps this is not news to you?"

"He didn't come--I didn't see him," returned Grace, wishing, ere the
words had left her lips, that she had kept her mouth shut. Freeman
continued to smile. How much did he know? She felt that it might be
inexpedient to continue the conversation. Casting about for a pretext
for retreat, her eyes fell upon Meschines.

"Oh, there's the dear professor! I must speak to him a moment," she
exclaimed, vivaciously; and she slipped her arm from Miriam's waist, and
was off, leaving Freeman in possession of the field, and of the monopoly
of Miriam's society.

"Miss Trednoke," said he, gravely, "I have something to tell you, in
order to clear myself from a possible misunderstanding. It may happen
that I shall need your vindication with your father. Will you give it?"

"What vindication do you need, that I can give?" asked she, opening her
dark eyes upon him questioningly.

"That's what I wish to explain. I am in a difficult position. Would you
mind stepping down into the garden? It won't take a minute."

Curiosity, if not especially feminine, is at least human. Miriam
descended the steps, Freeman beside her. They strolled down the path,
amidst the flowers.

"You said, yesterday," he began, "that I would say one thing and be
another. Now I am going to tell you what I am. And afterwards I'll tell
you why I tell it. In the first place, you know, I'm a civil engineer,
and that includes, in my case, a good deal of knowledge about geology
and