"Nobody," said Barbara, with a tinge of color in her face. "At least, any one else would have been distinctly out of place." Brooke tightened his grasp on the hand she had laid in his, for which there was some excuse, since the stone she stood upon was round and smooth, and it was a long step to the next one. "You knew I was here?" he said. "Yes," said Barbara, quietly. Brooke felt his heart throbbing painfully. "And you could have framed an excuse for staying away?" The girl glanced at him covertly as he stood very straight looking down on her, with lips that had set suddenly, and tension in his face. The moonlight shone into it, and it was, she noticed, quieter and a little grimmer than it had been, while his sinewy frame still showed spare to gauntness in the thin conventional dress. This had its significance to her. "Of course!" she said. "Still, it did not seem necessary. I had no reason for wishing to stay away." Brooke fancied that there was a good deal in this admission, and his voice had a little exultant thrill in it. "That implies--ever so much," he said. "Hold fast. That stone is treacherous, and one can get wet in this river, though it is not the Quatomac. Absurd to suggest that, isn't it? Are not Abana and Pharpar better than all the waters of Israel?" Barbara also laughed. "Do you wish the Major to come back for me?" she said. "It is really a little difficult to stand still upon a narrow piece of mossy stone." They went across, and Major Hume stared at Brooke in astonishment when Cruttenden presented him. "By all that's wonderful! Our Canadian guide!" he said. "Presumably so!" said Cruttenden. "Still, though, my wife appears to understand the allusion, it's more than I do. Anyway, he is my kinsman, Harford Brooke, and the owner of High Wycombe." Brooke smiled as he shook hands with the Major, but he was sensible that Barbara flashed a swift glance at him, and, as they moved towards the house, Hetty broke in. "You must know, Mr. Cruttenden, that your kinsman met Barbara beside a river once before, and on that occasion, too, they did not come out of it until some little time after we did," she said. "That," said Cruttenden, "appears to imply that they were--in--the water." "I really think that one of them was," said Hetty. "Barbara had a pony, but Mr. Brooke had not, and his appearance certainly suggested that he had been bathing. In fact, he was so bedraggled that Barbara gave him a dollar. She had, I must explain, already spent a few months in this country." Brooke was a trifle astonished, and noticed a sudden warmth in Barbara's face. "If I remember correctly, you had gone into the ranch, Miss Hume," he said, severely. "No," said Hetty. "You may have fancied so, but I hadn't. I was the only chaperon Barbara had, you see. I hope she didn't tell you not to lavish the dollar on whisky. No doubt you spent it wisely on tobacco."