"I am not," said Jacinta. "I have no doubt your aunt will come out to see me presently."
Muriel looked a little puzzled. "You will not mind my going?"
"Of course not," and Jacinta laughed somewhat curiously. "I have, as you see, a work on Mexico to keep me company."
Muriel left her, and she lay still in the chair listening to the fountain and gazing straight in front of her, until Mrs. Hatherly came down the veranda stairs alone half an hour later. She sat down and looked at Jacinta steadily.
"I suppose you know why I have come to Laguna to-day?" she said.
"Yes," said Jacinta quietly. "Still, I hadn't the faintest notion a little while ago. I shall try to bear anything you may think fit to say to me. Mr. Austin, I understand, is a friend of yours."
The little lady smiled, for she saw that Jacinta was clever enough to make no excuses, and she appreciated her candour as well as her good sense.
"Well," she said, "I want you to tell me why you sent him to Africa."
"For one thing, because Muriel was once very kind to me. Mr. Jefferson was down with fever, and I fancied that, in any case, he could do a good deal more with a comrade there. Still, that was not all. There were other reasons."
"Naturally. It is gratifying to discover how far a man's devotion will carry him."