ely to charm a young woman?"

"Will he keep his word and not try to make the running for another
six months?"

"You're as green about love as I am; but even I can answer that. Of
course he'll make the running. He can't help it. It doesn't need
words."

"The idea of another husband would be abominable to Mrs. Pendean for
many years; and no Englishman worthy of the name would dare to
intrude upon her sacred grief."

"I don't know anything about that. I only know that whatever the
amount of grief she feels, she's devilish interested in
Giuseppe--and he's not an Englishman."

They talked for the best part of an hour and Mark perceived that the
old sailor was something of a fatalist. He had already concluded
that his niece would presently wed again and with the Italian. Nor
did the prospect do more than annoy Bendigo from the point of view
of his own comfort. Brendon observed that Mr. Redmayne felt no
personal objection or distrust. Jenny's uncle did not apparently
anticipate that she would live to regret such a second husband;
while Mark, from a standpoint quite independent, honestly felt that
one so volatile and strangely handsome might sooner or later cloud
the young woman's life with tribulation. He knew the quality of his
own love, but perceived the hopelessness at present of showing it in
any way. For at this juncture there appeared no possibility of
serving her. He was, however, a patient man and now summoned hope
that in the future it might yet fall within his reach to be of vital
use, even though it should never lie in her power to reward his
devotion.

He knew himself and he knew that this strange and novel emotion of
love was, at least in his case, a deep, omnipotent thing, beyond and
above any selfish and purely personal desire for happiness. Even
Doria admitted that much probably, though whether, did the test
arise, he would put the woman's prosperity before his own passion,
Brendon took leave to doubt.

He retreated presently as the hour of one approached, but before
doing so, returned to the subject of Robert Redmayne. The elder
spoke the last word and left Mark in grave doubt as to what the
immediate future might bring.

"If," said Bendigo, "my brother has any just excuse for what he did,
or can convince me, for instance, that he took Pendean's life in
order to save his own, then I stick by him and don't give him up
while I can fight on his side. You'll tell me that I'll be in reach
of the law my