om the South Downs of England, but where thousands of cattle and horses even in those days were maintained. The air of the district was dry and elastic, and it filtered down to the valleys near li

order, but in clusters of banana, avocado- pear, limes and oranges, an

palm-thatch or the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, the sides hard-posts driven in the ground and interlaced with wattle and plaster, and inside scarcely high enough for its owner to walk upright. The furniture was scant-a quatre, or bed, made of a platform of boards, with a mat and a blanket, s

, some even with linen sheets and mosquito nets, and shelves with plates and dishes of good ware. Every negro received a yearly allowance of Osnab

inoculation, etc., had a particular allowance. The surgeon had to attend to about four hundred to five hundred negroes, o

rted reforms which would turn the plantation into a model scheme. Houses, food, treatment of the negroes, became at once a study to her, and her experience in Virginia was invaluable. She had learned there not to work the slaves too hard in the warm period of the day; and she showed her intere

donment of despair-at least of recklessness. The face was older, the head more powerful, the hair slightly touched with grey-rather there was one spot in the hair almost pure white; a strand of winter in the foliage of summer. It gave a touch of the bizarre to a distinguished head, it lent an air of the singular to a personality which had flare and force-an almost devilish force. That much was t

and then afterwards gave herself to the work on the estate or in the household-its reform and its rearrangement; though the house was like most in Jamaica, had adequate plate, linen, glass and furniture. At the lodgings in Spanish Town, after Dyck Calhoun had left, her mother had briefly said that she had told Dyck he could not expect the conditions of the Playmore friendship should be renewed; that, in effect, she had warned him off. To this Sheil

me to Jamaica more to see him than to reform Salem; that she had the old Celtic spirit of brotherhood, and she would not be driven from it. In a sudden burst of ange

to use it; and he was never so brilliant as on this afternoon, for they dined while it was still daylight and hardly evening. He told her of the customs of the country, of the people; and slyly and effectively he satirized some of his grandiloquent guests. Not unduly, for one of them, the most renowned in the island, came to him after dinner as he sat talking to Sheila, and said: "I'm very sorry, your honour, but good Almi

trike and strike the arm of the girl, who gave one cry only and then was still. Sheila saw the man next to the girl-he was a native officer-secure the scorpion, and then whip from his pocket a li

k child bitten by a congereel, a large centipede in her nursery, a snake crawl from under her child's pillow, and her son nea

You have to use firm methods here," Sheila said in repl

rimly. "C'est la for

ght it was moral force alwa

, "and they need some handling, I assure you. We have in th

the United States!" ans

ernor. "No, it is one who was a friend and fellow-coun

ll a friend of mine, and I saw him today-this afternoon, before I

arted. He was p

. "He mutinied, and he stole a king's ship, an

and your island

aid that,

to me about it. I have

nicle the las

of anxiety to me,"

the demure yet sharp reply, "but I thought he was

fellow with the sword! I said so always, and I'd back him now a

wondered what it was that did it. I hear you figh

he treasure to Haiti? Some one told me, I think, that you were not in favour of his getting his ticket-of-

es of information in

was the captain, or the mate, or the boatswain. I can't recall. Or maybe it came to me from my manager, Darius Boland, who hears things wherever h

ide in scarlet, with blue facings and golden embroid

where men have no need of uniform to tell the world what they are. You shall see my Darius Boland

ge of a fellow, that pai

yet, you will hear it. He is to be my manager here.

rmit him,

ages ninety degrees in the shade at any time of the year. But the King you represent had not restricted his liberties so, and you being the King, that is, yourself, were forced to abide by your own regulations. So it may be the same with Darius Boland. He may want something, and you, h

ly live at peace here who are at peace with me"; and her reply had b

"No man is at peace wh

then added: "That Err

ever see him tha

she replied quickly. "I

er face carefully, and he was astonished when he saw no sign of confusion there. "Good God, she doesn'

heaven, I'll tell her first," he hastily said. "When she knows the truth, Calhoun will have no chance on earth. Yes, I'll tell her myself. But I'll tel

. Mrs. Llyn was determined to tell her daughter what she ought to have known long before; and Sheila was firm

r everything. Why should life be so complicated? Why should this one man who seemed capable and had the

early morning to Enniskillen, Dyck Calhoun's place, with a letter which said only this: "I

other; and he lost no time in making his way down across the country to Salem, whic

she could make no reply for a moment. "I have told her nothing," sh

time I came to wish you well in your hous

the reply-"naught at all. But now that y

Where is she?" he ask

r by the clump of palms I saw her a moment

h. She was dressed in a black silk skirt with a white bodice and lace, as he had seen her on her arrival in Kingston, and at

o say what I ought to say about your living

r. It has the covering of a hut, but it is open at two sides. Will you come?" As she went on ahead, he could not fail to notice how slim and trim she was, how perfectly her figure seemed t

e seen m

no sorrows. The sorrows that had come to your mother belonged to days when you were scarce out of the cradle. But you did not know. You were not aware that your mother had divorced your father for crime against marital fid

ent of anguished bewilderment, she said:

nd with no sword drawn, but that my open sword lay on the table be

he asked, horror-stric

s as that of one who had been struck by lightning. It had a crumpled, stricken look, and all force seemed to be driven from it. It had the look of crushed vitality. Her fac

know all. I ought to have known-long ago; bu

er voice was so frayed he could scarcely recogniz

ecause he tried to tempt me from my allegiance

a cry came from her li

d on his face, her every look and motion the inflection of desp

the momentary reconciliation and the wine that he drank, drugged wine poured out

come out at the trial?"

of them because I thought of you. I hid it-I

d yourself for ever," she said in a voice of torture. "If you had told what he was-if you ha

hment. But I can't remember. There was no other clue, no other guide to judgment. So the law sai

he trial-but I did not believe it then-in that long ago." She trembled to her feet from

ere Lord Mallow, the governor, knows it; and there is no chance of friendship between you and me. Since the day he was found dead in the r

t with an effort. She was about to say, "I dare, Dyck-

would. I am an ex-convict. They say I killed your fath

you. You couldn't have done it. You would have fought him-fought him as you did Lord Mallow, and in fi

ike you, Sheila, but it does not cure the trouble. You and I are as far apart

ow mad you were, not to tell the whole truth long

ends, myself, could not have let that be. See, Sheila, I will tell you the whole truth now-aye, the whole absolute truth. I have loved you since the first day I

er lips. "You loved me?" she said in a voice grown soft- husky still, but soft as the

ach out his arms to her, and say, "Come-come home, Sheila," but the situation

are in the world. In prison, when I used to mop my floor and clean down the walls; when I swept the dust from the corners; when I folded up my convict clothes; when I ate the prison food and sang the prison hymns; when I placed myself beside the bench in the workshop to make things that would bring cash to my fellow-prisoners in their need; when I saw a minister of religion or heard the Litany; when I counted up the days, first that I had spent in jai

essness and hopelessness. What she had heard had stirred her soul, and she wanted to hear more-or was it

pful of rogues, chief sinner in a hell of sinners, and yet I had no remorse and no regret. I had done all with an honest purpose, with the good of the sailors in my mind; and so I lived in daily touch with death, honour, and dishonour. Yet I never saw a sailor in the shrouds, or heard the night watch

was writing on the very day she landed in Jamaica. He opened

you and your mother were here. Now, I know not what Christopher Dogan would say of it, but I say it is amazing that in the hour you were first come to this land I should be moved to tell you the story of my life since I left prison; since, on receiving your letter in London, forwarded f

n you have read it and do understand, then we part to meet no more as friends. You will go back to Virginia, and I will stay here. You will forgive the unwilling wrong I have done you, but you will make your place in life without thought of me. You will marry some one-not worthy of you, for that could not be; but you will take to yourself some man from amon

to me. I will read it now while my eyes can still bear to read it. I have laid on my heart the

. "In a half- hour I will come back, and then we can say

e on the bench-at the end of it here

say to your mother that I have told you, and ease

rehead remained untroubled and unlined. Only at her mouth and in her eyes did misery or sorrow show. He looked into her eyes now, and he was pleased with what he saw; for they had in them the glow o

rned away now, it was with the sharp conviction that he had dealt a blow from which the girl would recover, but would never be the same again. She was rich "beyond the dreams of avarice," but that would not console her. She had resources within herself, had what would keep her steady. Her real power and force, her

rst agitated greeting-agitated on her part, he said

y the woman said to him: "She never believed you killed Erris Boyne. Well, it may not help the situation,

the law punished me for it, an

er thought th

here the thing was done were secret, and they would lie the apron off a

o late; there is my girl! If the real c

t, her pulses aglow, as they had ever been, made a gesture of appeal with hands

n, I have no hope. I am

ow!" she i

ear me. Why do

are a son of history; you had a duel with him, and beat him; you have always beaten him,

gainst him. The man is a fool. I could help him here, but he will have none of it, and he is running great risks. He has been warned that the Maroons are restive, that the black slaves will rise if the Maroons have any initial success, and he will listen to no advice. He would not listen to me, but, knowing that, I got the provost-marshal to approach him, and when he kne

s well, y

most others. You are in their path. So be wise, Mrs. Llyn, and get

e," was the sorrowful reply.

t care to stay here no

te of her own feelings, or yours, or mine. I

at I fear, and she

swered Mrs. Llyn none too sagely, but with

ld leave here and go back to Virginia. It is no safe place for two ladies, in all senses. Whatever Lord Mallow thinks or does, this is no place for you. This place i

not think as you do; he

could look high, if her mind turned towards marriage. Also she felt that Dyck should know the facts before any one else, so that he would not be shocked in the future, if anything happened. Yet in h

ughter's own property, and she is free to hold or to part with it.

d in a burst of passion, "is this a land of the British Empire or is it not? Why should that man break in on every crisis? Why should he do this or that-say yea or nay, give or take away! He is the king's repres

skirts flicked against the flowers that bordered the path, and how her feet seemed scarcely to touch the ground as she walked-a spirit, a regnant spirit of summer she seemed. But in her face there was no summer, there was only autumn and winter, only the

not say that you did not kill my father. You are punished for the crime, and we must abide by it, e

more then!" said D

are some things one may not do, and one of

Llyn about the Maroons up there"-he pointed towards Trelawney-"and I have advised your going back to Virginia. The Maroons may rise at any moment, and no care is being taken by Lord Mallow

There is no reason why we should meet. This place is not so large as Ireland or America, but it is large enough to give assurance we shall not meet. And if we meet, there is no reason why we should talk. As for the Maroons, when the

be with me in all the lonely years to come. Good-bye-but no, let me say this before I go: I did not know that Erris Boyne was your father until after he was dead. So, if I killed him, i

words came forth. He passed on out of the garden, an

gentleman," s

. "We must begin the world again," she said brokenly. Then su