The Lady of North Star

as served by an Indian youth, he was too much amazed to attempt conversation. Miss Gargrave

I am new to this district. I was trans

not know of

d something of it; but the truth

e are so far out of the track of things th

ould continue to live in the wilderness; but he repr

did not think there was such a room as this a

ish, of cours

"I come from Kenda

s an accent of sur

1

dal?" he inqu

the neighbourhood. Are you any relation

uardian," he sm

et your uncle," she said slowly. "I should scarcel

rises. My sergeant at Edmonton was the heir to an Irish peerage, and

. "He did not seem to me the

ow," interrupte

does not greatly matter; as before I came out here we quarrelle

el?" inquired the man on the other side of the ta

o administer a snub, when he caught Miss Gargrave's eyes fixed upon

the other. "I forgot I h

vate matter; but there can[14] be no harm in saying that my uncle had

s, and looked at Miss Gargrave to whom the explanation had re

she said, and then turned the conve

ith all the many hazards of the North, is infinitely preferable to stewing in chambers wa

hat," she commented, and for a momen

there when she had passed him in the road, the corporal found himself wonderin

this neighbourhood on

een following a man for a month and have tra

y in winter," said the

15] Territory by our men. Did you ever hear how Constable Pedley took the lunatic missionar

s an epic. The constable lost his

s mark on him. And if I had got my man my return journey would have been much harder than the

ad lost your man," sai

m finally," answered

inquired Miss Gargrave, and to the corporal as he turned to her i

w that he was a particularly desperate character, but he certainly was not scrupulous, and he was suspe

" asked Mis

w, but he has been known thro

r his reply there was a strained uneasy silence. The corporal removed his eyes from his hostess's face and glanced round the table. Mr. Rayner was fingering the stem of a wine-glass nervously, whilst Miss La Farge was looking from him to Miss Gargrave with puzzled eyes. Evidently she was conscious that something unusual w

r-fellow in the past tense, and you say that he has esc

trees off the main road to the Lodge," answered the

o the corporal to be a little flat. "And we have been sitting here, gassing, whilst-" He broke

1

road, and the rifle in her hand, he found in this faint further support for the suspicion which had occurred to him when he had stood by the supine body of Koona Dick. Living in the wilds, it was scarcely likely that the news of a dead man would affect her thus, if that news were without special significance for her. Death in the Northland-death sharp and sudden was not so uncommon as all that. Moving accidents by flood and field, by wild beasts and wild

Dick lying there[18] in the shadow of the pines with his blood staining the snow, and was she merely frightened; or was her knowledge of a more intimate and guilty character? He could

will have to excuse her for this evening; but that is no reason why you should not finish your dinn

," answered the corporal quietly, then

rather shocking to think that whilst we were sat

" answered the other in

gs." A second later he asked, "Did I understand you t

ound him lying there in the snow, and only a few mi

re directed against[19] this man Koona Dick? I myself fired at a timber-wol

e?" asked Corporal

o! O

he fraction of a second, but the policeman marked it, and suspected th

ne on the heels of the o

sted Rayner. "Up here when it is st

ong to be deceived in a small matter of that sort. The second shot was as real as the first. And there is

t was a woman?" he asked. "It may have been the dea

e corporal. "Yet it seemed to me l

have heard a hare scream like a child in agony.[20] The cry you heard may have been no more than that of

In his heart he did not accept the

ced often of late, sounds seem to take strange qualities. The loneliness accentuates them, and if one has any reason for suspectin

her should be so persistent in the matter; "but you fo

hat?" inquired

s; indeed, it was the last thought in my mind. That fact makes

r towards the other, and rising from the table crossed the

e, before going to l

when he had lit it he looked at the other-and said thoughtfully. "I

the matter. As I dare say you will have heard, Rolf Gargrave was immensely rich, and he made his daughter his heiress,

he make a condition of

to England to be educated, he desired to protect her against society influences; and he believed that a few years in the North here, in touch with primitive life, would give her

to my thinking it has grave dangers also. When Miss Gargrave returns to civilization, the reaction from the har

nd wondered what relation he stood to their hostess. It was a question that could not be asked openly, but remembering how once or twice the girl's Christian na

al Bracknell, we will go

y reached the point where the narrower path that he had followed branched off, noticed what had escaped him before, namely that the path was evidently continued on the other side of the road also. Rayner did not hesi

ft going towards the house, I

doubts were strengthened by the fact that till a moment before he had not known that the path was continued across the main road. Thinking there was only one path, there was no reason why[23]

impress of a heavy body in the snow, and footmarks all round it. He stared at the trampled snow in amazement, then he examined the snow in the shadow of the trees. Its surface in the immediate neighbourhood was unbroken, save by the print of a single pair of moccasined fe

ayner in an odd voice

orporal laconically. "The body we came to