e
no cause to love your own people; you have abandoned them for us. Go, my
son; and meditate upon my words. I will fetch you from yonder slope in
time for the evening refection."

Hurlstone bowed his head and turned his irresolute feet towards the
upper extremity of the garden, indicated by the priest, which seemed to
offer more seclusion and security than the avenue of pear-trees. He was
dazed and benumbed. The old dogged impulses of self-destruction--revived
by the priest's reproaches, but checked by the vision of his dead and
forgotten father, which the priest's words had called up--gave way, in
turn, to his former despair. With it came a craving for peace and rest
so insidious that in some vague fear of yielding to it he quickened his
pace, as if to increase his distance from the church and its apostle. He
was almost out of breath when he reached the summit, and turned to look
back upon the Mission buildings and the straggling street of the pueblo,
which now for the first time he saw skirted the wall of the garden in
its descent towards the sea. He had not known the full extent of Todos
Santos before; when he swam ashore he had landed under a crumbling
outwork of the fort; he gazed now with curious interest over the hamlet
that might have been his home. He looked over the red-tiled roofs, and
further on to the shining bay, shut in by the impenetrable rampart of
fog. He might have found rest and oblivion here but for the intrusion of
those fellow-passengers to share his exile and make it intolerable.
How he hated and loathed them all! Yet the next moment he found himself
scrutinizing the street and plaza below him for a glimpse of his
countrywomen, whom he knew were still in the town or vainly endeavoring
to locate their habitation among the red-tiled roofs. And that frank,
clear-eyed girl--Miss Keene!--she who had seemed to vaguely pity
him--she was somewhere here too--selected by the irony of fate to be his
confederate! He could not help thinking of her beauty and kindness now,
with a vague curiosity that was half an uneasiness. It had not struck
him before, but if he were to accept the ridiculous attitude forced upon
him by Todos Santos, its absurdity, as well as its responsibility, would
become less odious by sharing it with another. Perhaps it might be
to HER advantage--and if so, would he be justified in exposing its
absurdity? He would have to see her first--and if he did, how would he
explain his real positio