he said. "Now we shall never understand each other unless you will
talk quite straight with me."

Alice Deringham had not lost her discretion in her anger, and, since
there was no avoiding the issue, decided it would be preferable to
blame him for the lesser of his offences.

"Then," she said coldly, "it was somewhat difficult to appreciate the
humour of the trick you played upon us. You may, however, have
different notions as to what is tasteful in the Colonies."

Again the darker colour showed in Alton's bronzed forehead, but he
spoke gravely. "I don't think that's quite fair," he said. "I am what
the Almighty made me, a plain bushman who has had to work too hard for
his living to learn to put things nicely, but I never came down to any
meanness that would hurt a woman, and there isn't any need for a dainty
English lady to point out the difference between herself and me."

"There may be less difference than you seem to fancy," said the girl a
trifle maliciously. "You are Alton of Carnaby."

"Pshaw!" said the man with a little gesture of pride and impatience,
which Miss Deringham was forced to admit became him. "I'm Alton of
Somasco, and nobody gave it me. I won it from the lake and the forest
that comes crawling in again--but I'm getting off the trail. I didn't
know your father was coming here, and hadn't any notion who you were."

"That's curious, because he wrote to tell you," said the girl.

Alton flushed a little, for he was somewhat quick-tempered, and too