the pain was almost intolerable.

"Oh, spare me that!" she said, quickly and passionately, and drew her
hand away.

The next moment she was running blindly through the passage, scarcely
knowing which way she went, intent only upon escape.

A man at the foot of the stairs stood aside for her, and she fled past
him without a glance. He turned and watched her with keen, alert eyes
till she was out of sight. Then, without haste, he took his way in the
direction whence she had come.

But he did not go beyond the threshold of the little dusty conservatory,
for something he saw within made him draw swiftly back.

When Fletcher Hill went to the court that day, he was grimmer, colder,
more unapproachable even than was his wont. He had to deal with one or
two minor cases from the gold mine, and the treatment he meted out was
of as severe an order as circumstances would permit.




CHAPTER IX

THE MINE


The Fortescue Gold Mine was five miles away from Trelevan, in the heart