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214 Unconsciously it revealed to him the fact that he, whose few flowers, as he thought, had caused her such delight, was object of much interest to her. Love begets love. Travers, with pain and mortification, experienced the fact, in slight degree. Gwyneth was first and all to him in the universe—ever in his thoughts—but somehow, as he moved moodily about his lonely lodge on the hillside, the face of the bonny, brown-eyed maiden of Heatherside would obtrude itself unsummoned upon his imagination.

Gwyneth, as she returned at the close of the afternoon to her desolate home, said to herself—

"I need know no more. He discarded me for her. There can be no mistake now."

Her father had arranged that Alec and his wife should live with his daughter and care for her. Throughout a sleepless night the heartbroken girl formed her plans. Fortunately Mrs. McDowl was away, nursing a settler's wife. Alec's duties involved his absence. When the good couple returned at nightfall, they found on the parlour table a note from their ward stating that, feeling life in the old home intolerable without her father, she had resolved upon leaving for a while. Would they care for her domestic charges, and excuse her hurried departure? This episode, associated as it was with Travers' treatment of the village belle, did not improve the discipline of the settlement. The girl could not be traced beyond Gumford, where she had taken train for Melbourne. Travers, anxious for the fate that might befall the friendless maiden in the great city, after struggling long with the sense of duty that would keep him at his post, finally left the settlement to discover, if it were possible, traces of his lost love in the mazes of the metropolis.