"Sitting in the moonlight like a school-girl!" he sneered. "I should think you might have got over your romance by this time."
She did not answer; he approached, and held the light close to her face, with a sneering laugh.
"Who has been here to-day?" he asked. "Now, don't tell that lie you have ready on your lips. I know there was a party of men here about sunset."
"Some people who wished to stay all night," she replied.
"Why didn't you keep them?"
"I did not suppose you would like it, as I knew you would be back with a party from the mines."
"How innocent she is!" he exclaimed, laughing again. "By the powers, Sybil, I have made a mistake! I ought to have put you on the stage. That sort of talent would have made a fortune for us both."
"It is not too late," she said, with a certain eagerness.
"Oh, isn't it? Well, we can talk about that some other time. Just now I want to know what brought that Laurence here?"
She tried to look at him with astonishment, but, actress as she was, her craft failed for once; the lids drooped over her eyes and her lips refused to utter the words she struggled to force upon them.