before the landing of the new Governor. But his very reticence and
something in his expression made Joan suspect that he was puzzled and
excited, and would have been glad had she volunteered any information
about Lady Tallant's companion. Joan, however, kept perverse silence.
In truth, she felt considerably nervous over the prospect. What was
going to happen when Colin McKeith set eyes on Bridget?

Joan Gildea was a simple woman though circumstances had made her a
shrewd one, and she had all the elementary feminine instincts. She
believed in love and in strange affinities and in hidden threads of
destiny--all of which ideas fitted beautifully on to Bridget O'Hara's
personality, but not at all on to that of Colin McKeith.




CHAPTER 8



The first dinner-party given by Sir Luke and Lady Tallant at Government
House included Mrs Gildea and Colin McKeith.

These two met in the vestibule as they emerged respectively from the
ladies' and gentlemen's cloak-room. Both held back to allow certain
Members of the Ministry to enter the drawing-room before them, which
gave opportunity for an interchange of greetings.

'Well!' both said at once, and the tones in which the monosyllable was
uttered and the glances accompanying it held volumes of hidden meaning.