He kissed her again with great tenderness. "You'll come just whenever you
feel like it, my dear," he said. "And God bless you!"




CHAPTER VI

THE WAY TO HAPPINESS


On account of its comparative proximity to the gold mine, Trelevan,
though of no great size, was a busy place. Dot had stayed at the hotel
there with her brother on one or two occasions, but it was usually noisy
and crowded, and, unlike Adela, she found little to amuse her in the type
of men who thronged it. Fletcher Hill always stayed there when he came to
Trelevan. The police court was close by, and it suited his purpose; but
he mixed very little with his fellow-guests and was generally regarded as
unapproachable--a mere judicial machine with whom very few troubled to
make acquaintance.

Fletcher Hill in the rôle of a squire of dames was a situation that
vastly tickled Adela's sense of humour. As she told Jack, it was going to
be the funniest joke of her life.

Neither Hill nor his grave young fiancée seemed aware of any cause for
mirth, but with Adela that was neither here nor there. She and Dot never
had anything in common, and as for Fletcher Hill, he was the driest stick
of a man she had ever met. But she was not going to be bored on that