By Right of Purchase

th the old house of Barrock-holme. He had been a week there now as the guest of Lieutenant Denham, whose acquaintance he had originally made out on the wide prairie in Western Canada, and for who

plish it, for Branscombe Denham of Barrock-holme was not troubled by many s

and habitable still; the rest of the low building stretched round three sides of a quadrangle, with a dry moat across the fourth, beyond which lawn and flower-garden lay shielded from t

f lonely moorlands and bleak Scottish hills which stretched, shining warm in the paling sunlight, along the northern horizon. It reminded him of his own country, which was even more wild and desol

e edge of the ravine which had borne bitter fruit in the days of foray, and-for the men of Barrock-holme could strike back tellingly then-the quadrangle had been filled with Scottish cattle. They were grim, hard men, and what he had heard of their do

Denham came along the terr

tle wave of a particularly well-shaped hand the white-clad figures t

well. In fact, I don't play any of you

eyes, and distinguished by a finicking, almost feminine daintiness in dress and person, though he was proficient in most ma

r beginner show quite as good form at billiards as you do. I'll play you fifty

learning your amusements a trifle expensive, and I'm not sure they're worth it. You see, I'm not going to stay

aken a little out of you, the acquisition of knowledge is usually more or less

er, if you'll mak

inkle in his eyes, and l

t significant, and I have a notion your nerve's too good. Of course, it isn't

why you wanted to pl

might be considered offensive, but nobody seems to mind how you express yourself, although your observations aren't

e of dryness, "if you would take it

would have grinned. "Not in the least! In fact, I

l have a chequ

d, a little sardonic smile crept into his eyes. He was known in his own country as a shrewd man, and was quite aware that he ran s

l who has just come into th

her pretty, though. While the governor and I are Denhams, she takes after the other

as he could see it, her face beneath the big white hat was attractive, too; but it was her pose that vaguely impressed him. There was a suggestion of strength and pride in it that was by no means noticeable in the case of either her father or Jimmy Denham. The appearance of the man with whom she tal

entleman?"

the usual something in the city. Comes down for a week or two at the partridges, ostensibly, at least, though it's quite possible there will be a dog or two, and, per

ce was cold and somewhat colourless, with dusky hair low on the broad forehead, unusually straight brows, and dark eyes; a beautiful face it seemed to him, but one that had a vague suggestion of weariness in it just then. Carrie Denham, he thought, in no way resembled her easy-going brother

rown-eyed, English type, showed undoubted force. He was, she fancied, a man accustomed to exert authority, but not exactly what in the most restricted English sense of the word would be called a gentleman. At

pleasant," she said. "In weather like this the bi

," said

n. His sister glanced at the fleshy Aylmer

not trouble. I am not going to stay here. Have

and went out through the archway together. Then Leland stopped a moment and flashed a questioning glance at Carrie Denham, for the strip of pathway outside the wall was, perhaps, two feet wide, and he could look almost straight down

l the path grew broader beyond a bend of the wall. Then looking round he saw, as he half-expected, that the pas

ere not afrai

e no disclaimer, which, for no app

ourse, another

id Leland. "Do you really

r face almost startled the man. The coldness and reserve had go

at you think of it. Under the circumstances, it might be better to go on

where a tiny stream came trickling out of a hollow shrouded with sombre firs. A few stones had evidently once been laid in t

long while, but I don't l

e men

at him, but his face was expressi

sually a way; but the trouble is that I am a stranger. If I were in my

s that suggested ironical appreciation of his bo

not," she said. "We are a

, "I guess we must

to her. She noticed as she sprang from stone to stone how hard it was and how firm his grasp. It seemed t

ed the well, which Leland promptly decided was not very much to look at. It lay at the head of a little green hollow, a wall of fissured limestones sprinkled with mosses and tufted with h

re here, you may as well notice that the water has rather curious properties. If you wi

ery like silver lace. The stem was also crusted with a white deposit, and it cost him a little effort to

wig?" he said, and she noticed for the first time his Wes

made you

ely. "Well," he said with a little depr

more frequently than I do now. I should, however, like to p

l, I should scarcely have fancied you would have felt it yet. Anyway, that's not the question; and, pe

companion without a word. Following through a gap, she came upon him as he picked up a rabbit from the grass. The little creature's eyes were protuding in an agony of strangulation, and a th

"This is not a thi

her, and make others do it, than to do what she was told. It was a minute o

in a burrow," he said. "It would have pleas

interest. "I believe it is th

s who allow that abominable cruelty to go on. The little beast might have str

anly gentleness while he slackened the torturing wire. It was made even more impressive when, on suggesting hanging for the man who had laid the snare, something in his face and voice left her with the conviction that

he?" s

d Jimmy with his near

that a

ourself. I spent a month shooting round his place in Western Canada, and made him promise

s he do o

a. His father was, I believe, an Englishman, but he died when Leland was young, and the farm and the stock-run have doubled in the hands of the son.

t somewhat thoughtfully to her room. On the wh