?"

Lisle's expression hardened.

"Well," he said, "I'm going to try."

Nasmyth abandoned all attempt to daunt or dissuade him.

"Anyway," he resumed, "when you come over you must stay with me. I'm
sorry we'll have to part company to-morrow. I start east by the first
train."

He strolled out into the moonlight and the keen frosty air. The little
wooden town was soon left behind, and sauntering down the rough wagon
road beneath towering firs, he saw the great hill summits glitter white
against the sky. It was a wonderful country; the grandest he had ever
traversed; but it demanded a good deal from the man who ventured into its
wilds, and he was not sorry that he was turning his back on it.

Then, as he thought of the land he was bound for and recalled the tragic
story of Gladwyne's journey, he once more grew troubled. He realized the
immutable sequence of cause and effect--each action had its result which
must be faced however much one repented and regretted it. The deed, once
done, could not be altered and, what was worse, its consequences reached
out to others. Then he wondered whether Clarence had ever repented, and
admitted, with a recurrence of his indignation against the man, that it
was far from probable. Clarence was one who took life lightly, and
although his means had been small until he came into his cousin's
possessions, he had somehow succeeded in getting what is often considered
the best out of it. Self-denial in any shape was unknown to him.

The next morning Nasmyth took the train for Montreal, and about a
fortnight later alighted at a little station in the north of England as
the early dusk was closing in. It was a quiet evening and the soft
moistness of his native air struck him as something pleasantly familiar
after the keener, drier atmosphere of the Dominion. He was glad to be
back again, but when he looked around, the trap waiting in the wet road
outside the railings was not his own. Neither did it belong to Clarence,
whom he had partly expected; but on the whole Nasmyth was glad of that.
He had not looked forward to the first meeting with Clarence with any
pleasure.

In another moment, a girl came along the platform through the groups of
local passengers, who respectfully made way for her. She was tall, and
her long outer garment failed to conceal her grace of movement and fine
poise, though in the fading light her face was almost invisible beneath a
large hat. The sight of her sent a thri