wards Banff, in bitterness of soul,
debating with himself whether he could possibly leave the party at once.

When he was well out of sight of the station and the houses, he became
aware of a man persistently following him, and not without a hasty grip
on the stout stick he carried, he turned at last to confront him.

"What do you want with me? You seem to be following me."

"Are you Mr. Arthur Delaine?" said a thick voice.

"That is my name. What do you want?"

"And you be lodging to-night in the same house with Mr. George
Anderson?"

"I am. What's that to you?"

"Well, I want twenty minutes' talk with you," said the voice, after a
pause. The accent was Scotch. In the darkness Delaine dimly perceived an
old and bent man standing before him, who seemed to sway and totter as
he leant upon his stick.

"I cannot imagine, sir, why you should want anything of the kind." And
he turned to pursue his walk. The old man kept up with him, and
presently said something which brought Delaine to a sudden stop of
astonishment. He stood there listening for a few minutes, transfixed,
and finally, turning round, he allowed his strange companion to walk
slowly beside him back to Laggan.

CHAPTER VII

Oh! the freshness of the morning on Lake Louise!

It was barely eight o'clock, yet Elizabeth Merton had already taken her
coffee on the hotel verandah, and was out wandering by herself. The
hotel, which is nearly six thousand feet above the sea, had only just
been opened for its summer guests, and Elizabeth and her party were its
first inmates. Anderson indeed had arranged their coming, and was to
have brought them hither himself. But on the night of the party's return
to Laggan he had been hastily summoned by telegraph to a consultation of
engineers on a difficult matter of railway grading in the Kootenay
district. Delaine, knocking at his door in the morning, had found him
flown. A note for Lady Merton explained his flight, gave all directions
for the drive to Lake Louise, and expressed his hope to be with them
again as expeditiously as possible. Three days had now elapsed since he
had left them. Delaine, rather to Elizabeth's astonishment, had once or
twice inquired when he might be expected to return.

Elizabeth found a little path by the lake shore, and pursued it a short
way; but presently the splendour and the beauty overpowered her; her
feet paused of themselves. She sat down on a jutting promontory of rock,
and lost