and
get it over. The wound sooner heals."

She smiled rather wistfully and changed the subject.

"I told Nasmyth that you taught him to see."

"I suppose I did," acknowledged Lisle. "Still, it was only as far as it
concerned the things that I'm acquainted with. I'm not sure that my
meaning's very clear?"

"I understand. You knew what to expect; that carries one a long way. Were
you disappointed in finding it?"

He was a little surprised at her keenness, and rather confused. This was
a question that could not be directly answered.

"What I was more particularly referring to was the meaning of such things
as a broken branch, a gap in a thicket, or a few displaced stones," he
explained. "I taught him what to infer from those."

"Yes," she said; "I understand that you discovered nothing new--I mean
nothing that could throw any further light upon what befell my brother
after the others left him."

He was glad that he could answer her candidly.

"No; we can only suppose that the conclusions the rescue party came to
were correct. But all that we found relating to the week or two before
the separation spoke of the courageous struggle that your brother made
and his generosity in sending the others away."

She bent her head.

"That," she said quietly, "is only what one would have expected. He left
a diary; you must come over and see it."

"I should like to, if it wouldn't be painful to you."

"No," she replied; "I shall be glad to show it to you."

She left him shortly after this and strolled out on to the terrace,
thinking about him. The little she had seen of him had pleased her; he
had earnest eyes and a resolute air, and she liked the men who lived in
the open. He was direct, and perhaps a little rudimentary without being
awkward, which was in his favor, for subtlety of any kind was distasteful
to her. Still, in one respect, she was disappointed--he had in no way
amplified Nasmyth's story, and she had expected to hear a little more of
the expedition from him.

CHAPTER IX

LISLE GATHERS INFORMATION

Nasmyth's dinner was over and he lay, pipe in hand, in an easy-chair in
his smoking-room, with Lisle lounging opposite him. They had been walking
up partridges among the higher turnip fields all day, and now both were
pleasantly tired and filled with languid good-humor. Nasmyth's house was
old--it had been built out of the remains of a Border pele--and the room
was paneled to the ceiling and very simp