The Heights was the favorite trysting place of lovers, and many were the pleasant spots there.  With evening coming on, it was almost sure to be deserted, though later, if there was a moon, murmuring voices would mingle with the eclipse of the swirling waters in the gully below.

“Yes, it’s a quiet place for a talk,” mused the colonel.

The man and woman passed on.  Behind them came the shadower, and behind him Aaron Grafton.

Up The Heights walked the leading pair, seemingly unaware of the presence of any one but themselves.  Into the shadows they strolled, still stiff and uncompromising, both of them.  At last the woman, halting near the edge of the cliff, beyond which the woods were thicker, faced the man.

“This is far enough,” she said, and she turned so that the fast-fading light of the west was on her veiled face.  She did not raise the mesh.

“Yes, this is far enough, I suppose,” said the man, and there was a sneer in his tones.  “Too far, perhaps.  But—­”

“I did not come here to discuss anything with you but the matter you spoke of in your note,” cut in the woman.  “Did you bring my diamonds as you promised?”

“Yes, I have them.”

His voice was as cold as hers.

“Then give them to me and let me go.  I don’t know why I consented to meet you, except that you said you would give them only to me, personally.  And I don’t, even for that, know why I came here.  I—­”

“Possibly in memory of other days?” the man sneered.

“Never!” she answered bitterly.  “Oh, never that!”

“Well, as you choose,” he went on, with a slight shrug of the shoulders.  “But I have a few things I want to say to you, and I didn’t want the whole village babbling about it.  Too many know me here, so I kept out of sight as much as I could.”

“Say what you have to say, and quickly.  Give me my diamonds, to which I have a right, and let me go.  That is all I ask of you.”

“I’m afraid it can’t be done so quickly as all that,” and the man laughed cuttingly.  “In the first place, I want you to sign a paper.  I have it with me, also a fountain pen.  I’ve a flashlight to let you read what you sign, in case it gets too dark.”

“Do you mean a receipt for the diamonds?”

“Not exactly, Cynthia, I—­”

“Miss Ratchford, if you please!” she exclaimed.  “Miss Ratchford to you, always, after this!”

“Oh, very well!  Now look here!  I’m done with soft words and foolishness!”

He took a sudden step nearer her, and she shrank back.  Colonel Ashley, who had worked himself to a position, where, hidden behind a screen of bushes, he could see and hear, watched closely.

“Foolishness?” the woman questioned.

“Yes, foolishness!  You know the trouble I’m in.  I’ve got to have money!  You can get it for me!”

“I?”

“Yes.  And, by the eternal, you’ve got to!  Do you think I’m going to ruin just because you couldn’t stand a little rough treatment now and then?  Why, better women than you would be glad to come back to me.  I’ll take you back!”