given her as a
wedding-present, Diamond, a powerful animal, black save for a white
mark on his head from which he derived his name. She and Diamond
were close friends, and in his company her acute restlessness began
to subside. She rode him out to the _kopje_, but she did not go
round to view the lonely cabin above the stony watercourse. She
did not want to think of past troubles, only to cherish the hope
for the future that was springing in her heart.

She was physically tired, but Diamond seemed to understand, and
gave her no trouble. For awhile they wandered in the sunset light,
she with her face to the sky and the wonderful mauve streamers of
cloud that spread towards her from the west. Then, as the light
faded, she rode across the open _veldt_ to the rough road by which
they must come.

It wound away into the gathering dusk where no lights gleamed, and
a strong sense of desolation came to her, as it were, out of the
desert and gripped her soul. For the first time she looked forward
with foreboding.

None came along the lonely track. She heard no sound of hoofs.
She tried to whistle a tune to keep herself cheery, but very soon
it failed. The silent immensity of the _veldt_ enveloped her. She
had a forlorn feeling of being the only living being in all that
vastness, except for a small uneasy spirit out of the great
solitudes that wandered to and fro and sometimes fanned her with an
icy breath that made her start and shiver.

She turned her horse's head at last. "Come, Diamond, we'll go
home."

The word slipped from her unawares, but the moment she had uttered
it she remembered, and a warm flush mounted in her cheeks. Was it
really home to her--that abode in the wilderness to which Burke
Ranger had brought her? Had she come already to regard it as she
had once regarded that dear home of her childhood from which she
had been so cruelly ousted?

The thought of the old home went through her with a momentary pang.
Did her father ever think of her now, she wondered? Was he happy
himself? She had written to him after her marriage to Burke,
telling him all the circumstances thereof. It had been a difficult
letter to write. She had not dwelt overmuch upon Guy's part
because she could not bring herself to do so. But she had tried to
make the position intelligible to him, and she hoped she had
succeeded.

But no answer had come to her. Since leaving England, she had
received letters from one or two