other footsteps than my own in my house."

"There are beautiful ladies in these parts," said Audrey. "There is the
one that gave me the guinea for my running yesterday. She was so very
fair. I wished with all my heart that I were like her."

"She is my friend," said Haward slowly, "and her mind is as fair as her
face. I will tell her your story."

The gilded streak upon the earth beneath the beech had crept away, but
over the ferns and weeds and flowering bushes between the slight trees
without the ring the sunshine gloated. The blue of the sky was wonderful,
and in the silence Haward and Audrey heard the wind whisper in the
treetops. A dove moaned, and a hare ran past.

"It was I who brought you from the mountains and placed you here," said
Haward at last. "I thought it for the best, and that when I sailed away I
left you to a safe and happy life. It seems that I was mistaken. But now
that I am at home again, child, I wish you to look upon me, who am so much
your elder, as your guardian and protector still. If there is anything
which you lack, if you are misused, are in need of help, why, think that
your troubles are the Indians again, little maid, and turn to me once more
for help!"

Having spoken honestly and well and very unwisely, he looked at his watch
and said that it was late. When he rose to his feet Audrey did not move,
and when he looked down upon her he saw that her eyes, that had been wet,
were overflowing. He put out his hand, and she took it and touched it with
her lips; then, because he said that he had not meant to set her crying,
she smiled, and with her own hand dashed away the tears.