Lawrence said this in the slightly defiant tone of a man who gives in with a bad grace. He was altogether out of sorts鈥� and unlike himself, but Pedro, like a true friend, took no notice of that.

My father was stopped at this point by our arrival at the house, and the appearance of our friends. But he was too much roused by that time to let the matter drop, so he carried Mrs Daulton off to the library, and learned from her that the child had been lent to her by a priest!

Have you made the end fast?鈥� cried Lawrence, looking up and encountering the anxious gaze of the Indian maiden.