attention resolutely to her companion
and tried to detach her mind from the man in front. She might as well
have tried to keep her heart from beating.

After they had arrived at the mill Jack quietly took charge of the
disposition of the party. Verinder and Joyce were sent up in the first
bucket. When this was halfway up to the mine the cable stopped to let
another couple enter a bucket. Joyce, fifty feet up in the air, waved
her hand to those below.

"You next, India," ordered her cousin.

The young woman stepped into the bucket. "I'm 'fraid," she announced
promptly.

"No need to be. Captain, your turn."

The eyes of the two men met. Ned Kilmeny guessed instantly that the
other had arranged this so as to get a few minutes alone with Moya. He
took a place beside his sister immediately.

The cable did not stop again until the second pair of passengers had
reached the mine.

Moya, followed by Jack, stepped into the basket, which began to rise
steadily as it moved across the valley.

Kilmeny did not lose a minute.

"Why don't you let me see you alone? Why do you run away from me?" he
demanded.

Little patches of color burned beneath the shadows of her eyes. A sound
as of a distant surf began to beat in her ears.

"What nonsense! Why should I run from you?" she asked, meeting with
difficulty the attack of his masterful gaze.

"Because you're afraid to let me tell you that I love you," he charged.

"Thought it was Joyce you ... fancied," she retorted quietly, her pulse
hammering.

"So it was. I fancied her. I love you. I'm asking you to marry me."

"You don't have to ask me to marry you because you exaggerate the
service I did you."

"I ask you because I love you."

"Thank you very much for the compliment. Sorry I must decline." She did
not dare look at him. Her eyes were fixed on the mill far below.

"Why must you--since you love me?"

The telltale pink stained her cheeks. "You take that for granted, do
you?"

"It's true, I believe. How can I make love to you as other men do? Lady
Farquhar won't let me see you alone--even if you were willing to give me
a chance. In two days you are going out of my life. I must speak the
truth ... bluntly. I love you. It has been that way with me ever since
you came into my life again, little Moya. But I was blind and didn't see
it till ... till I was alone in the mine with death."

"I ... am sorry."

"That is not enough. I'm going to have the truth. You saved m