It took long to discuss the excellent fare provided by Miss Rawson; and then, in the golden afternoon, people grew drowsy, smoked, talked, told stories, or teased and joked among themselves. In the midst of it all the thought of her letter darted into Rona's mind. Her conscience smote her. She told herself that she was a selfish, unfaithful friend, a girl whom, were she to read about her in a book, she would unhesitatingly condemn. With the excuse of hunting for flowers, she slipped away, and seeking shelter from the burning sun, wandered into the inclosure where the ruins stand, and sat herself down by a wall, among the grass. She thought of David as she had last seen him. For the past two years she had hardly thought of him at all. Now it seemed as if his very voice spoke--"You will be true to me? You won't fail me--will you?" The hot blood dyed her face. She was not conscious of unfaithfulness, in the sense of having preferred anyone else to David. But she was conscious of a complete change of mind with regard to him. She wished he had not written. But the letter must be opened. She drew it from her pocket with reluctant fingers, and broke the seal. "Savlinsky Copper Mines, "Barralinsk, "Siberia, via Moscow. "MY DEAR RONA,--I have not written to you for many, many weeks, and this for two reasons. The first of these is that, since you told me of your change of feeling towards me, I have found it very difficult to know what to say to you. The other concerns my own personal safety. "I do not know whether it will interest you. Since your letter I have several times thought that my best course would be to disappear and let you hear no more of me. But the desire in me for a kind word from you is too strong for that. "If you are not interested, simply do not read this. "As I have told you, for a period of nearly two years I was let alone by the Brotherhood so completely that I began to think that I had shaken them off. Most of the men who had had to do with me were killed during the Russian Revolution. But one man, a Pole called Cravatz, bore me a special grudge. He has tracked me in all my movements, and at last, when he found me in Siberia, settled in a position of responsibility and trusted everywhere, he found means to communicate with me. The Governor of this Province of Barralinsk is obnoxious to the Brotherhood. He was in command of a regiment in St. Petersburg during the rising, and it was believed that he had urged the severe treatment of rebels. Knowing him as I do, I think this most unlikely; but however, he is on the proscribed list. Cravatz brought me the official command from the Brotherhood, that I was to be the instrument of their vengeance upon this man. That means that I am under orders to commit a murder. If it is not done by the last day of August my own life will not be safe for an instant.