Sweet and serene as was Eveena's smile of welcome, it could not
conceal the traces of more than mere depression on her countenance.
Heartily willing to administer an effective lesson to her tormentors,
I seized the occasion of the sunset meal to notice the weary and
harassed look she had failed wholly to banish.
"You look worse each time I return, Madonna. This time it is not
merely my absence, if it ever were so. I will know who or what has
driven and hunted you so."
Taken thus by surprise, every face but one bore witness to the truth:
Eveena's distress, Eunane's mixed relief and dismay, shared in yet
greater degree by Velna, who knew less of me, the sheer terror and
confusion of the rest, were equally significant. The Martial judge who
said that "the best evidence was lost because colour could not be
tested or blushes analysed," would have passed sentence at once. But
if Eive's air of innocent unconsciousness and childish indifference
were not sincere, it merited the proverbial praise of consummate
affectation, "more golden than the sun and whiter than snow.
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