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vigilant, despotic, the men on the place were all in awe of him he did not rule by love! But between him and his stepfather there was a good deal of affection, mainly on the part of the elder man. He had been very fond of Alick’s mother, and, finding in the boy the very qualities he lacked himself, admired him tremendously, gave him a free hand, and unbounded respect for his brains and keen grasp of affairs. Towards his second wife, Markham Learmonth extended a kindly tolerance. He had married her chiefly because he hated the house without a woman in it, and because she seemed to want it. From the first she had resented Alick’s position, and now there was a definite if unacknowledged feud between them. They never quarrelled—they simply ignored each other; but her one wish was to be rid of him, and this was not likely to be accomplished until he married and preferred a house of his own. So far he had shown no symptoms of marrying. He made more or less love to practically every girl he met, as Rosa very well knew, but that was all. It was also probable, as he was more than her match in cunning and penetration, that he was aware of her wishes; but nothing was ever said, and Markham Learmonth remained placidly ignorant of any particularly hostile feeling between his wife and stepson. They did not get on specially well perhaps, but then Rosa was such an odd creature—one could not tell whom she would or would not like. It was a pity she had not learnt to appreciate Alick, but at least she did not try to interfere with him in any way. So things were peaceable enough. Markham was so far from being aware of the smouldering fire of jealousy in his wife’s heart that in all probability he would not have recognised it, had it suddenly flared up. He was an unobservant, kindly disposed person himself, and blind to other people’s prejudices, as a rule.

During the next four or five days Pamela, whose first enthusiasm upon arriving in California had been slightly