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"You are no gossip, Mama Taio," she began. "No one could say that you have ever betrayed a secret."

Taio Vahiné smiled. "You say no more than truth. There must be one woman worthy of trust in every district. An old woman, without family, is best for this. You may speak without fear."

"If I had come to you long ago," Mauri replied, ruefully. "Tirara--nothing is to be gained by thinking of that. I did not come. Not even you did I trust. But now I must speak. You shall tell me what I must do."

Taio Vahiné waited, her small brown hands resting lightly on her knees.

"It is hard," Mauri said, at last. "I am overproud... but the truth must be told.... Mama Taio, you will not have forgotten the two English people who came to Vaihiva to live many years ago? The man who was ill and his young wife? They had their child with them, a little boy of four years. They lived in the house we built for them across the river from our own house."

Taio Vahiné nodded. "I remember them well. Let me think... Makla we called them."