"
Kieff's laugh had a sound like the slipping of a stone in a slimy
cave. "You always had ideas," he remarked. "But they will
scarcely be back from Brennerstadt by the morning. Can't you
devise some means of persuading Burke to extend his visit to the
period originally intended? Then perhaps they might return in
time."
Kelly looked at him sternly. That laugh was abominable in his
ears. "Faith, I'll go now," he said. "And I'll go alone. You've
done your part, and I'll not trouble you at all to help me do mine."
Kieff turned to go. "I always admired your sense of duty,
Donovan," he said. "Let us hope it will bring you out on the right
side,--and your friends the Rangers with you!"
He was gone with the words, silent as a shadow on the wall, and
Kelly was left wondering why he had not seized the bearer of evil
tidings and kicked the horrible laughter out of him.
"Faith, I'll do it when I get to Brennerstadt," he said to himself
vindictively. "But it's friends first, eh, Burke, my lad?--Ah,
Burke, my boy, friends first!"
CHAPTER XI
THE SHARP CORNER
Was it only a few months since last she had looked out over the
barren _veldt_ from the railway at Ritzen? It seemed to Sylvia
like half a lifetime.
In the dark of the early morning she sat in the southward-bound
train on her way to Brennerstadt, and tried to recall her first
impressions.
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