"No one sent me. If Mr. Marsh will stop his chatter, I can make myself understood."
"Don't listen to her—"
Cherry turned upon him swiftly. "You've got to face it, so you may as well keep still."
He fell silent.
"We heard that Mr. Marsh was going away with you, and I came out to ask him for enough money to support his child while he is gone."
"His child!" Wayne Wayland turned upon his daughter's fiance with a face of stern surprise. "Willis, tell her she is lying!"
"She's lying!" Marsh repeated, obediently; but they saw the truth in his face.
Cherry spoke directly to Miss Wayland now. "I have supported this little fellow and his mother for a year." She indicated the red-haired youngster in Constantine's arms. "That is all I care to do. When you people arrived, Mr. Marsh induced Chakawana to take the baby up-river to a fishing-camp and stay there until you had gone. But Constantine heard that he intended to marry you, and hearing also that he intended leaving to-night, Constantine brought his sister back in the hope that Mr. Marsh would do what is right. You see, he promised to marry Chakawana long before he met you."
Mildred could have done murder at the expression she saw in Cherry's face. This woman she had scorned had humbled her in earnest. With flashing eyes she turned upon her father.
"Since you were so prompt in announcing my engagement, perhaps you can deny it with equal promptness."