sunshade, sat in a sort of nest beneath the gorse. He perceived at once that she was a girl of refinement, and—judging from her dress and appearance—of some position. As to her looks, good or bad, he formed a hasty general impression of a mass of chestnut-hued hair under a large picture hat, of a pair of large brown eyes, of a pretty face, and of an expression which was just then somewhat anxious.
Goulburn, himself the descendant of good stock, instinctively uncovered his head. He was conscious that he began to blush.
"I—I didn't know that any one was there," he said lamely. "I thought I was alone."
"But you are in trouble," she said, returning to her first remark with true feminine persistency.
Goulburn made a feeble attempt to smile, and succeeded in making a wry face.
"Yes," he answered, "I'm pretty badly hit."
"You've lost your money in betting?"
He nodded his head.
"Could you afford to lose it?" she asked, looking at him with interest.
"No!" he replied promptly.
"Then why did you risk it?" she inquired.
"Because I wanted to make it much more, and believed firmly that I should win," he replied.
The girl inspected him narrowly. He was a straight, clean-limbed young man, open of face, bright of eye, and with a certain simple candour about him that appealed more than his generally handsome appearance
