Scenically, the little town of Rushton offered as much pleasure to the eye as it did to one’ s peace of mind. There was a little stream not far from Mr. Cameron’ s house, and farther to the north there was a fresh water creek where he could swim if he had a mind to. To the south there were rolling hills and clumps of trees which made hiding a decided sport He sighed dolefully as the station hauled into view; taking out his gold watch and opening the face, he saw that it lacked five minutes till the arrival of the train. The station- master was on the platform with a flag and after Charles Cameron had tied the reins of his mare to the hitching post, he struck up a conversation with the rather portly gentleman. It served to spend the five minutes amicably enough, until at last smoke towards one side of the railroad tracks indicated the oncoming train on which Douglas Rivers’ little daughter would be arriving. Perhaps, Charles Cameron thought to himself, she had been accompanied by Rivers’ own housekeeper, Mrs. Beddlington, although the latter had not mentioned as much in her letter to him. Certainly if the woman were trustworthy, she would now allow the child to travel by herself, even for such a short journey as from London. Well, that could be seen to when the time came. The immediate thing was to welcome Maude Rivers and try to comfort her over her certain grief through this bereavement and at least try to make a good face of it and give the child a proper home for the summer.

With a great deal of huffing and puffing and squealing of brakes, the engineer drew the train to a halt, and Charles Cameron watched intently as the porters opened the doors and helped down the several passengers who were alighting for a respite. In the first car nearest him, there was a heavily set gentleman with a ruddy complexion and a kind of helmet which suggested that he had seen service in Bombay or elsewhere in Her Majesty’ s sway over the embattled provinces of India. He was smoking a black Indian cheroot, which further authenticated his earlier locale.