The hint of a confidence or understanding between them which the man's
tone conveyed irritated the girl, but she saw that her father did not
resent it. "Yes," he said. "If I think I can benefit by your
co-operation in any way I will not fail to let you know."

Hallam went in, and Deringham leaned upon the verandah balustrade
smoking tranquilly while the shadows that left the rolling mist behind
crept higher and higher up the climbing pines until at last they
touched and smeared into dimness the ethereal snow. Then the girl rose
with a shiver and turned towards her father as Horton lighted the big
lantern at the door. Deringham's face was, she fancied, a trifle
haggard.

"I wonder why you have borne with that man so long," she said.

Deringham smiled a little. "There are many kinds of men, and
presumably all of them are useful in their place," said he.




CHAPTER V

THE HEIR OF CARNABY

The sun was dipping towards the black ridge of firs on the shoulder of
a hill when Deringham and his daughter rode down the winding trail into
the Somasco valley. The girl gazed about her with eager curiosity, but
the man who rode in silence apparently saw nothing, and it was only
when his horse stumbled into a rut that he glanced round for a moment