"Well," said Forel, once more watching him, "I believe the lawyers wrote for her, but she seems to have a horror of the place, and Hettie dare scarcely mention it to her. I'll tell you nothing more until you've had dinner."
Forel adhered to his resolution, and it was more than an hour later when he returned to the subject as they sat, cigar in hand, on the verandah, watching the lights of the vessels blink across the inlet. "We are going to keep Miss Deringham as long as we can," he said. "She has no kinsfolk she thinks much of in England, and Hettie is very fond of her. Did I tell you that Thorne called upon her?"
"No," said Alton, with a curious vibration in his voice. "Well," said Forel, "I meant to. No doubt he felt it his duty, but Hettie seemed to fancy there was something else. Still, I think she was mistaken, because he said good-bye to us when he went away, and we heard since that he had sailed for another station."
"He was a good man," said Alton gravely.
Forel glanced at him curiously. "Women are subject to such fancies, and Hettie had another once," he said. "In fact, I think she was quite sorry when it apparently came to nothing."
Alton laughed mirthlessly. "Wasn't it a trifle foolish of Mrs. Forel? Miss Deringham is a lady of position in the old country, and I a bush rancher, standing on the brink of ruin, and a cripple."
"Of course," said Forel, "you know best. Still, I can't help fancying you are unduly proud of your affliction, because it is scarcely perceptible to other people, while Miss Deringham has not a great deal to maintain her position with. You see the death duties are heavy in the old country, and from the letters she has shown me Deringham appears to have involved the estate considerably during his stewardship."
Alton laid down his cigar. "It seems to me that we are taking a liberty in discussing Miss Deringham's affairs," he said dryly.
"Well," said Forel, with a little smile, "you have a good deal to tell me."
Alton nodded. "I went back to the mine after Damer's death," he said. "Got there just before sun up, and we had our stakes in before Hallam's men quite realized what we were after. Of course there was a circus, but we had expected it and fixed things accordingly. Hallam's men went out and I came down to see the Crown people in Victoria. Two or three of the others, however, called on the nearest recorder's at the same time as me. We came down in the same cars, you see."