CHARLES REX

 BY ETHEL M. DELL

AUTHOR OF THE TOP OF THE WORLD, THE LAMP IN THE DESERT, THE HUNDREDTHCHANCE, Etc. 

 1922

I Dedicate This Book To G. T. S. In Remembrance of A Winter Day

"When half-gods go, the gods arrive. " R. W. Emerson

Not with the clash of trumpets And clangour of gates thrown wide, As when the eager crowds press round To see the half-gods ride;But like a bird at even Silently winging home, A message came from the darkness To say that the gods had come. 

And the half-gods scoffed in the temple Which custom had bid them hold--Sin and Success and Pleasure And the hideous Image of Gold. Who and what are these strangers? Bid them worship before the shrineWhere we, the gods of the new world, Sit o'er the cards and wine!

So they derided the strangers-- Those gods whom the old folk callCourage and Honour and Faithfulness And Love which is greater than all. But when the night was over And the new day pierced within, The half-gods were gone from the temple, And the gods had entered in. 

CONTENTS

PART I

 I. Ennui II. Adieu III. The Gift IV. Toby V. Discipline VI. The Abyss VII. Larpent's Daughter

PART II

 I. Jake Bolton II. Maud Bolton III. Bunny IV. Saltash V. The Visitor VI. How to Manage Men VII. The Promise VIII. The Ally IX. The Idol X. Resolutions XI. The Butterfly XII. The Ogre's Castle XIII. The End of the Game

PART III

 I. The Virtuous Hero II. The Compact III. L'oiseau bleu IV. The Trap V. The Confidence VI. The Sacred Fire VII. Surrender VIII. The Magician's Wand IX. The Warning X. The Mystery XI. Suspicion XII. The Ally XIII. The Truth XIV. The Last Card

PART IV

 I. The Winning Post II. The Villain Scores III. A Wife Is Different IV. The Idol of Paris V. The Dance of Death VI. The New Lover VII. The Refugee VIII. The Turning-point IX. Larpent X. In the Name of Love XI. The Gift of the Gods

CHARLES REX

PART I

CHAPTER I

ENNUI

"I shall go to sea to-morrow, " said Saltash, with sudden decision. "I'mtired of this place, Larpent, --fed up on repletion. "

"Then by all means let us go, my lord!" said Larpent, with the faintglimmer of a smile behind his beard, which was the only expression ofhumour he ever permitted himself. 

"Believe you're fed up too, " said Saltash, flashing a critical look uponhim. 

Captain Larpent said nothing, deeming speech unnecessary. All time spentashore was wasted in his opinion. 

Saltash turned and surveyed the sky-line over the yacht's rail withobvious discontent on his ugly face. His eyes were odd, one black, onegrey, giving a curiously unstable appearance to a countenance whichotherwise might have claimed to possess some strength. His brows wereblack and deeply marked. He had a trick of moving them in conjunctionwith his thoughts so that his face was seldom in absolute repose. It wassaid that there was a strain of royal blood in Saltash, and in the daysbefore he had succeeded to the title when he had been merely CharlesBurchester, he had borne the nickname of "the merry monarch. " Certainwild deeds in a youth that had not been beyond reproach had seemed towarrant this, but of later years a friend had bestowed a more gracioustitle upon him, and to all who could claim intimacy with him he hadbecome "Charles Rex. " The name fitted him like a garment. A certainarrogance, a certain royalty of bearing, both utterly unconscious andwholly unfeigned, characterized him. Whatever he did, and his actionswere often far from praiseworthy, this careless distinction of mienalways marked him. He received an almost involuntary respect where hewent. 

Captain Larpent who commanded his yacht _The Night Moth_--most morose andunresponsive of men--paid him the homage of absolute acquiescence. Whatever his private opinions might be, he never expressed them unlessinvited to do so by his employer. He never criticized by word or look. Saltash was wont to say that if he decided to turn pirate he believedthat Larpent would continue at his post without the smallest change offront. To raise a protest of any sort would have been absolutely foreignto his nature. He was made to go straight ahead, to do his duty withoutquestion and with perfect self-reliance. 

On the present occasion, having cruised from port to port in theMediterranean for nearly six weeks, it was certainly no ill news to himto hear that Saltash had at last had enough. The weather was perfect, tooperfect for a man of his bull-dog instincts. He was thoroughly tired ofthe endless spring sunshine and of the chattering, fashionable crowdsthat Saltash was wont to assemble on the yacht. He was waiting with aniron patience for the word that should send them forth over the greatAtlantic rollers, with the ocean spray bursting over their bows and thesting of the ocean wind in their faces. That was the sort of life thatappealed to him. He had no use for civilization; the froth of society hadno attraction for him. He preferred a deeper draught. 

Saltash was thoroughly cosmopolitan in his tastes; he liked amusement, but he abhorred boredom. He declared that for him it was the root of allevil. He was never really wicked unless he was bored. And then--_quevoulez-vous_? He did not guide the star of destiny. 

"Yes, " he said, after a thoughtful silence, "we will certainly put to seato-morrow--unless--" he turned his head and threw a merry grin at hiscompanion--"unless Fortune has any tricks up her sleeve for me, for I amgoing ashore for one more fling to-night. "

Larpent smoked on immovably, his blue-grey eyes staring out to the vividsky-line, his sunburnt face quite imperturbable. 

"We shall be ready to start as soon as you come aboard, my lord, " hesaid. 

"Good!" said Saltash lightly. "I may be late, or--more probably--veryearly. Leave the gangway for me! I'll let you know when I'm aboard. "

He got up as if he moved on springs and leaned against the rail, lookingdown quizzically at the man who sat stolidly smoking in the deck-chair. No two people could have formed a stronger contrast--the yacht's captain, fair-bearded, with the features of a Viking--the yacht's owner, dark, alert, with a certain French finesse about him that gave a strange charmto a personality that otherwise might have been merely fantastic. 

Suddenly he laughed. "Do you know, Larpent, I often think to myself whatodd tricks Fate plays? You for instance--you, the captain of a privateyacht when you ought to be roving the high seas in a Flying Dutchman! Youprobably were a few generations ago. "

"Ah!" Larpent said, through a cloud of smoke. "Life isn't what it was. "

"It's an infernal fraud, most of it, " said Saltash. "Always promising andseldom fulfilling!"

"No good expecting too much, " said Larpent. 

"True!" said Saltash. "On the other hand it isn't always wise to be tooeasily satisfied. " His look became suddenly speculative. "Have you everbeen in love, Larpent?"

The big man in the deck-chair made a sharp movement and spilt somecigar-ash on his coat. He sat up deliberately and brushed it off. Saltashwatched him with mischievous eyes. 

"Well?" he said. 

Larpent leaned back again, puffing forth a thick cloud of smoke. "Once, "he said briefly. 

"Only once?" gibed Saltash. "Man alive! Why, I've had the disease scoresof times, and you are half a generation older than I am!"

"I know, " Larpent's eyes dwelt unblinking upon the sparkling blue of thewater beyond the rail. "You've had it so often that you take it lightly. "

Saltash laughed. "You apparently took it like the plague. "

"I didn't die of it, " said Larpent grimly. 

"Perhaps the lady did!" suggested Saltash. 

"No. She didn't die either. " Larpent's eyes came slowly upwards to themocking eyes above them. "For all I know she may be living now, " he said. 

Saltash's grin became a grimace. "Oh, heavens, Larpent! And you've hadindigestion ever since? How long ago is it? Twenty years?"

"About that, " said Larpent. 

"Heavens!" said Saltash again. "I should like to see the woman who couldhold me after twenty years!"

"So should I, " said Larpent dryly. 

Saltash snapped his fingers. "She doesn't exist, my good fellow! But ifshe did--by Jove, what a world it would be!"

Larpent grunted sardonically. "It wouldn't be large enough to hold you, my lord. "

Saltash stretched his arms wide. "Well, I'm going ashore to-night. Whoknows what the gods may send? Wish me luck!"

Larpent surveyed the restless figure with a sort of stony humour. "I wishyou a safe return, " he said. 

Saltash laughed and went away along the deck with a monkey-like springthat was curiously characteristic of him. There was nothing of thesailor's steady poise about him. 

The little Italian town that clung to the slopes that rose so steeplyfrom the sea shone among its terraced gardens like a many-coloured jewelin the burning sunset. The dome of its Casino gleamed opalescent in itscentre--a place for wonder--a place for dreams. Yet Saltash's expressionas he landed on the quay was one of whimsical discontent. He had comenearly a fortnight ago to be amused, but somehow the old pleasures hadlost their relish and he was only bored. 

"I'm getting old, " he said to himself with a grimace of disgust. 

But he was not old. He was barely six-and-thirty. He had had the world athis feet too long, that was all. 

There was to be a water-side _fête_ that night at Valrosa, and thepromenade and bandstand were wreathed with flowers and fairy-lights. Itwas getting late in the season, and it would probably be the last. Saltash surveyed the preparations with very perfunctory interest as hesauntered up to the hotel next to the Casino where he proposed to dine. 

A few people he knew were staying there, and he looked forward to a moreor less social evening. At least he could count on a welcome and a rubberof bridge if he felt so inclined. Or there was the Casino itself if thegambling mood should take him. But he did not feel much like gambling. Hewanted something new. None of the old stale amusements appealed to himtonight. He was feeling very ancient and rather dilapidated. 

He went up the steps under the cypress-trees that led from terrace toterrace, pausing at each landing-place to look out over the wonderfulsea that was changing every moment with the changing glow of the sunset. Yes, it was certainly a place for dreams. Even old Larpent felt thecharm--Larpent who had fallen in love twenty years ago for the first andlast time!

An irrepressible chuckle escaped him. Funny old Larpent! The wine of thegods had evidently been too strong a brew for him. It was obvious that hehad no desire to repeat the dose. 

At his last halting-place he stood longer to drink in the beauty of theevening before entering the hotel. The sea had the pearly tint shot withrose of the inside of an oyster-shell. The sky-line was receding, fadinginto an immense calm. The shadows were beginning to gather. The sun haddipped out of sight. 

The tinkle of a lute rose from one of the hidden gardens below him. Hestood and listened with sentimental eyes and quizzically twitching mouth. Everything in this wonder-world was ultra-sweet to-night. And yet--andyet--

Suddenly another sound broke through the stillness, and in a moment hehad sprung to alertness. It was a cry--a sharp, wrung cry from the gardenclose to him, the garden of the hotel, and instantly following it a floodof angry speech in a man's voice and the sound of blows. 

"Damnation!" said Saltash, and sprang for a narrow wooden door in thestone wall a few yards higher up. 

It opened to his imperious hand, and he found himself in a dark littleshrubbery behind an arbour that looked out to the sea. It was in thisarbour that the scuffle was taking place, and in a second he had forcedhis way through the intervening shrubs and was at the entrance. 

"Damnation!" he burst forth again furiously. "What are you doing? Leavethat boy alone!"

A man in evening-dress was gripping a fair-haired lad, who wore thehotel-livery, by the back of his neck and raining merciless blows uponhis uncovered head. He turned, sharply straightening himself, atSaltash's tempestuous entrance, and revealed to the newcomer thedeeply-suffused countenance of the hotel-manager. 

Their recognition was mutual. He flung the boy into a corner and facedhis patron, breathing hard, his black eyes still fiercely gleaming. 

"Ah! It is milord!" he said, in jerky English, and bowed punctiliouslythough he was still shaking with rage. "What can I do for you, milord?"

"What the devil is the matter?" said Saltash, sweeping aside allceremony. "What are you hammering that unfortunate boy for? Can't youfind a man your own size to hammer?"

The Italian flung a fierce glance over his shoulder at his crouchingvictim. "He is worthless!" he declared. "I give him a trial--_bueno_, buthe is worthless. Milord will pardon me, he is--English. And the Englishare--no good for work--no good at all. "

"Oh, rotten to the core!" agreed Saltash, with a humorous lift of thebrows. "But you needn't murder him for that, Antonio. It's hismisfortune--not his fault. "

"Milord, I have not murdered him, " the manager protested with nervousvehemence. "I have only punished him. I have not hurt him. I have donehim good. "

"Oh!" said Saltash, and looked down at the small, trembling figure in thecorner. "It's medicine, is it? But a bit strong for a child of that size. I should try a milder dose next time. "

Antonio laughed harshly. "The next time, milord, I shall takehim--so--and wring his neck!" His laugh became a snarl as he turned. "Getup now, you--you son of a pig, and go back to your work!"

"Easy! Easy!" said Saltash, with a smile. "We don't talk to the Englishlike that, Antonio, --not even the smallest and weakest of them. Let'shave a look at this specimen--with your permission!" He bent over thehuddled figure. "Hold up your head, boy! Let me see you!"

There was no movement to obey, and he laid a hand upon the quiveringshoulder and felt it shrink away convulsively. 

"I believe you've damaged him, " he said, bending lower. "Here, Tommy!Hold up your head! Don't be afraid! It's a friend. "

But the narrow figure only sank down a little lower under his hand. 

"His name is Toby, " said Antonio with acidity. "A dog's name, milord, andit fits him well. He is what you would call a lazy hound. "

Saltash paid not the slightest attention to him. He was bending low, hisdark face in shadow. 

"Don't be afraid!" he said again. "No one is going to hurt you. Comealong! Let's look at you!"

His hold tightened upon the shrinking form. He began to lift it up. 

And then suddenly there came a sharp struggle between his hands aslacking in science as the fight of a wild animal for freedom, and aseffectual. With a gasping effort the boy wrenched himself free and wasgone. He went like a streak of lightning, and the two men were leftfacing one another. 

"What a slippery little devil!" commented Saltash. 

"Yes, " said Antonio vindictively, "a devil indeed, milord! And I willhave no more of him. I will have no more. I hope he will starve!"

"How awfully nice of you, Antonio!" said Saltash lightly. "Being the endof the season, he probably will. "

Antonio smacked his red lips with relish. "Ah, probably! Probably!" hesaid. 

CHAPTER II

ADIEU

It was growing late and the _fête_ was in full swing when Saltashsauntered down again under the cypress-trees to the water's edge. The seawas breaking with a murmurous splashing; it was a night for dreams. 

In the flower-decked bandstand an orchestra of stringed instruments wasplaying very softly--fairy-music that seemed to fill the world with magicto the brim. It was like a drug to the senses, alluring, intoxicating, maddeningly sweet. 

Saltash wandered along with his face to the water on which a myriadcoloured lights rocked and swam. And still his features wore thatmonkeyish look of unrest, of discontent and quizzical irony oddlymingled. He felt the lure, but it was not strong enough. Its influencehad lost its potency. 

He need not have been alone. He had left the hotel with friends, but hehad drifted away from them in the crowd. One of them--a girl--had soughtsomewhat palpably to keep him near her, and he had responded with someshow of ardour for a time, and then something about her had struck a noteof discord within him and the glamour had faded. 

"Little fool!" he murmured to himself. "She'd give me her heart to breakif I'd have it. "

And then he laughed in sheer ridicule of his own jaded senses. Herecognized the indifference of satiety. An easy conquest no longerattracted him. 

He began to stroll towards the quay, loitering here and there as if togive to Fates a chance to keep him if they would. Yes, Sheila Melrose wasa little idiot. Why couldn't she realize that she was but one of thehundreds with whom he flirted day by day? She was nothing to him but apastime--a toy to amuse his wayward mood. He had outgrown his earlierpropensity to break his toys when he had done with them. The sight of abroken toy revolted him now. 

He was impatiently aware that the girl was watching him from the midst ofthe shifting crowd. What did she expect, he asked himself irritably? Sheknew him. She knew his reputation. Did she imagine herself the sort ofwoman to hold a man of his stamp for more than the passing moment? Savefor his title and estates, was he worth the holding?

A group of laughing Italian girls with kerchiefs on their headssurrounded him suddenly and he became the centre of a shower--a storm--of_confetti_. His mood changed in a second. He would show her what toexpect! Without an instant's pause he turned upon his assailants, caughtthe one nearest to him, snatching her off her feet; and, gripping herwithout mercy, he kissed her fierily and shamelessly till she gasped withdelicious fright; then dropped her and seized another. 

The girls of Valrosa spoke of the ugly Englishman with bated breath andshining eyes long after Saltash had gone his unheeding way, for the bloodwas hot in his veins before the game was over. If the magic had been slowto work, its spell was all the more compelling when it gripped him. Characteristically, he tossed aside all considerations beyond thegratification of the moment's desire. The sinking fire of youth blazed upafresh. He would get the utmost out of this last night of revelry. Wherever he went, a spirit of wild daring, of fevered gaiety, surroundedhim. He was no longer alone, whichever way he turned. Once in his madprogress he met Sheila Melrose face to face, and she drew back from himin open disgust. He laughed at her maliciously, mockingly, as his royalforefather might have laughed long ago, and passed on with the throng. 

Hours later, when the _fête_ was over and the shore quite silent underthe stars, he came alone along the quay, moving with his own peculiararrogance of bearing, a cigarette between his lips, a deep gleam in hiseyes. It had been an amusing night after all. 

Crossing the gangway to his yacht--_The Night Moth_--that rocked softlyon the glimmering ripples, he paused for a moment and turned his face asif in farewell towards the little town that lay sleeping among itscypress-trees. So standing, he heard again the tinkle of a lute from somehidden garden of delight. It was as if the magic were still calling tohim, luring him, reaching out white arms to hold him. He made a brief bowtowards the sound. 

"_Adieu_, most exquisite and most wicked!" he said. "I return--no more!"

The cigarette fell from his lips into the dark water and there came afaint sound like the hiss of a serpent in the stillness. He laughed as heheard it, and pursued his way aboard the yacht. 

He found a young sailor, evidently posted to await his coming, snoring ina corner, and shook him awake. 

The man blundered up with a confused apology, and Saltash laughed at himderisively. 

"Wasting the magic hours in sleep, Parker? Well, I suppose dreams arebetter than nothing. Were they--good dreams?"

"I don't know, my lord, " said Parker, grinning foolishly. 

Saltash clapped him on the shoulder and turned away. "Well, I'm ready forthe open sea now, " he said. "We'll leave our dreams behind. "

He was always on easy terms with his sailors who worshipped him to a man. 

He whistled a careless air as he went below. The magic of Valrosa hadloosed its hold, and he was thinking of the wide ocean and buffetingwaves that awaited him. He turned on the lights of the saloon and stoppedthere for another cigarette and a drink, first walking to and fro, finally flinging himself on a crimson velvet settee and surrenderinghimself luxuriously to a repose for which he had not felt the need untilthat moment. 

So lying, he heard the stir and tramp of feet above him, the voices ofmen, the lifting of the gangway; and presently the yacht began to throbas though suddenly endowed with life. He felt the heave of the sea as sheleft her moorings, and the rush of water pouring past her keel as shedrew away from the quay. 

He stretched himself with lazy enjoyment. It was good to come and go ashe listed, good to have no ties to bind him. He supposed he would alwaysbe a wanderer on the face of the earth, and after all wandering suitedhim best. True, there were occasions on which the thought of home alluredhim. The idea of marriage with some woman who loved him would spring likea beacon out of the night in moments of depression. Other men found apermanent abiding-place and were content therewith; why not he? But heonly played with the notion. It did not seriously attract him. He was nota marrying man, and, as he had said to Larpent, the woman did not existwho could hold him. The bare thought of Sheila Melrose sent a mockingsmile to his lips. Did she think--did she really think--that shepossessed the necessary qualifications to capture a man of hisexperience? He dismissed her with a snap of the fingers. Sheila hadpractically everything in life to learn, and he did not propose to be herteacher. 

His cigarette was finished and he got up. The yacht was speeding like awinged thing on her way. There was never any fuss of departure whenLarpent was in command. He stood for a few seconds in indecision, contemplating going up on to the bridge for a word with his captain and aglance round. But some fantastic scruple deterred him. He had made hisfarewell. He did not wish to see Valrosa again. He turned instead andwent to his cabin. 

All the appointments of the yacht were of the most luxurious order. Shepossessed every imaginable contrivance for the comfort of those whovoyaged in her. Her state-cabins were a miracle of elegance and ease. 

Saltash never took a valet when he went for a voyage. The stewardattended to his clothes, and he waited on himself. He liked as much spaceas he could get both on deck and below. 

He pushed open the door of his cabin and felt for the switch of theelectric light. But he did not press it when he found it. Something madehim change his mind. The faint light of stars upon rippling water cameto him through the open porthole, and he shut himself in and steppedforward to the couch beneath it to look forth. 

But as he moved, another influence caught him, and he stopped short. 

"Is anyone here?" he said. 

Through the wash of the water he thought he heard a light movement, andhe felt a presence as of some small animal in the space before him. 

Swiftly he stepped back and in a moment his hand was on the switch. Thelight flashed on, and in a moment he stood staring--at a fair-haired, white-faced lad in a brown livery with brass buttons who stood staringback at him with wide, scared eyes. 

CHAPTER III

THE GIFT

Saltash was the first to recover himself; he was seldom disconcerted, never for long. 

"Hullo!" he said, with a quizzical twist of the eyebrows. "You, is it?And what have you come for?"

The intruder lowered his gaze abruptly, flushing to the roots of his fairhair. "I came, " he said, in a very low voice, "to--to ask you something. "

"Then you've come some distance to do it, " said Saltash lightly, "for Inever turn back. Perhaps that was your idea, was it?"

"No--no!" With a vehement shake of the head he made answer. "I didn'tthink you would start so soon. I thought--I would be able to ask youfirst. "

"Oh, indeed!" said Saltash. And then unexpectedly he laid a hand upon onenarrow shoulder and turned the downcast face upwards. "Ah! I thought he'dmarked you, the swine! What was he drubbing you for? Tell me that!"

A great purple bruise just above one eye testified to the severity of thedrubbing; the small, boyish countenance quivered sensitively under hislook. With sudden impulse two trembling hands closed tightly upon hisarm. 

"Well?" said Saltash. 

"Oh, please, sir--please, my lord, I mean--" with great earnestness thewords came--"let me stay with you! I'll earn my keep somehow, and Ishan't take up much room!"

"Oh, that's the idea, is it?" said Saltash. 

"Yes--yes!" The boy's eyes implored him, --blue eyes with short blacklashes that imparted an oddly childish look to a face that was otherwisethin and sharp with anxiety. "I can do anything. I don't want to liveon charity. I can work. I'd love to work--for you. "

"You're a rum little devil, aren't you?" said Saltash. 

"I'm honest, sir! Really I'm honest!" Desperately the bony hands clung. "You won't be sorry if you take me. I swear you'll never be sorry!"

"What about you?" said Saltash. He was looking down into the upraisedface with a semi-quizzical compassion in his own. "Think you'd never besorry either?"

A sudden smile gleamed across the drawn face. "Of course I shouldn't!You're English. "

"Ah!" said Saltash, with a faintly wry expression. "Not necessarily whiteon that account, my friend, so don't run away with that idea, I beg! I'mquite capable of giving you a worse drubbing than the good Antonio, forinstance, if you qualified for it. I can be a terrifically wild beastupon occasion. Look here, you imp! Are you starved or what? Do you wantsomething to eat?"

The wiry fingers tightened on his arm. "No, sir--no, my lord--not really. I often don't eat. I'm used to it. "

"But why the devil not?" demanded Saltash. "Didn't they feed you overthere?"

"Yes--oh, yes. But I didn't want it. I was--too miserable. " The blue eyesblinked rapidly under his look as if half-afraid of him. 

"You little ass!" said Saltash in a voice that somehow reassured. "Sitdown there! Curl up if you like, and don't move till I come back!"

He indicated the sofa, and quite gently but with decision freed his armfrom the nervously gripping hands. 

"You won't send me back?" the boy urged with quivering supplication. 

"No, I won't do that, " said Saltash as he went away. 

He swore once or twice with considerable energy ere he returned, cursingthe absent Antonio in language that would have outmatched the Italian'sown. Then, having relieved his feelings, he abruptly laughed to himselfand pursued his errand with business-like briskness. 

Returning, he found his _protégé_ in a small heap on the sofa, with hishead deep in the cushion as though he sought escape from the light. Againthe feeling of harbouring some small animal in pain came to him, and hefrowned. The mute misery of that huddled form held a more poignant appealthan any words. 

"Look here, --Toby!" he said. "I've brought you something to eat, and whenyou've had it you'd better get a sleep. You can tell me all about it--ifyou want to--in the morning. "

The boy started upright at his coming. He looked at Saltash in his quick, startled way. It was almost as if he expected a kick at any moment. Thenhe looked at the tray he carried and suddenly his face crumpled; he hidit in his hands. 

"Oh, dash it!" said Saltash. "Let's have a little sense!"

He set down the tray and flicked the fair head admonishingly, with histhumb, still frowning. "Come! Be a sport!" he said. 

After a brief pause with a tremendous effort the boy pulled himselftogether and sat up, but he did not raise his eyes to Saltash again. Hekept them fixed upon his hands which were tightly clasped in front ofhim. 

"I'll do--whatever you tell me, " he said, in a low voice. "No one hasever been so--decent to me before. "

"Have one of those rolls!" said Saltash practically. "You'll talk betterwith something inside you. "

He seated himself on the edge of his bunk and lit another cigarette, hisattitude one of royal indifference, but his odd eyes flashing to and frowith a monkey-like shrewdness that missed nothing of his desolatecompanion's forlorn state. 

"You've been doing this starvation business for some time, haven't you?"he asked presently. "No wonder you didn't feel like work. "

The boy's pinched face smiled, a small wistful smile. "I can work, " hesaid. "I can do anything--women's work as well as men's. I can cook andclean boots and knives and sew on buttons and iron trousers and washshirts and wait on tables and make beds and sweep and--"

"For heaven's sake, stop!" said Saltash. "You make me giddy. Tell me thethings you can't do instead! It would take less time. "

Toby considered for a few moments. "I can't drive cars, " he said atlength. "But I can clean 'em, and I'd love to learn. "

Saltash laughed. "That's the sole exception, is it? You seem to havepicked up a good deal in a short time. Did they teach you all that overthere?"

Toby shook his head. "I've knocked about a good lot, " he said. 

"And know everything evidently, " said Saltash. "What made you think ofcoming on board this yacht?"

The boy's eyes gave him a shining look. "Because she belongs to you, " hesaid. 

"Oh!" Saltash puffed at his cigarette for a few seconds. "You'd made upyour mind to throw in your fortunes with mine, had you?"

Toby nodded. "I wanted to--if you'd have me. "

"Seems I haven't much choice, " remarked Saltash. "And what are you goingto do when you're tired of me? Fling yourself at someone else's head, Isuppose?"

Again he saw the hot colour flood the thin face, but the boyish eyes didnot flinch from his. "No, I shan't do that, " said Toby, after briefreflection. "I'll just go right under next time. "

"Oh, will you?" said Saltash. "And so remain--a blot on my escutcheon forall time. Well now, look here! You say you're honest?"

"Yes, sir, " said Toby with breathless assurance, and sprang up and stoodbefore him with the words, as though challenging criticism. 

Saltash poked at him with his foot, as he sat. "Make me a promise?" heasked casually. 

"Anything you wish, my lord, " said Toby promptly. 

Saltash grinned at him. "Be careful! I see you are of a rash andimpulsive disposition, and I like my slaves to have a little discretion. The promise I want is that whatever happens to you, --however much I kickyou or bash you or generally ill-use you--you'll never jump overboard ordo anything silly of that kind. Is it done?"

Toby was standing before him, facing him with straight, candid eyes. Hedid not seem surprised at the suggestion so coolly made. Saltash notedthat it certainly did not shock him. 

"All right, sir, " he said, after a moment. 

"It's a promise, is it?" said Saltash. 

Toby nodded. "Yes, sir. "

"Good!" said Saltash. He stretched out a hand and took him by one skinnyarm. "Better now?" he asked. 

"Yes, sir. Yes, my lord. Thank you, my lord. " Toby's eyes smiling intohis. 

"Very well. I'll keep you, " Saltash said. "Did anyone see you comeaboard?"

"No, my lord. "

"Then you came with me, see? I brought you--if anyone wants to know. "

"Very good, my lord. Thank you, my lord. "

Saltash made a humorous grimace. "You can call me 'sir' if you like, " hesaid. "It makes no difference. "

"Thank you, sir, " said Toby with a responsive grin. 

"And your name is Toby, is it? Toby what?"

"Toby Wright, sir. " Very promptly the answer came. 

Saltash's eyes scrutinized him with half derisive amusement. "I hope it'sa good fit, " he remarked. "Well, look here, Toby, you must go to bed. Didyou bring any luggage on board?"

"No, sir. 'Fraid not, sir. Very sorry, sir. I came away in a hurry, "explained Toby rather nervously. 

"And stole the hotel livery, " said Saltash. 

"No, sir. Borrowed it, " said Toby. 

"Ho! You're going to pay for it, are you?" questioned Saltash. 

"Yes, sir, some day. First money I get, sir. Don't want to have anythingbelonging to that damn' Italian cur, " said Toby, with much emphasis. 

"Naughty! Naughty!" said Saltash, pinching his arm. "Well, come along, and I'll show you where you can sleep. There's a small cabin out of mydressing-room you can have for the present. I haven't got my valet onboard. "

"Very good, sir, thank you. What time shall I call you, sir?" said Tobybrightly. 

"You needn't call me, " said Saltash. "You can just lie quiet and takecare of that black eye of yours. I'll let you know when I want you. "

"Very good, sir, " said Toby, looking crestfallen. 

Saltash stood up. "And you'll do as you're told--see?--always! That'sunderstood, is it?"

Toby smiled again, eagerly, gratefully. "Yes, sir. Always, sir!" he saidpromptly. "Shall I take off your boots before I go, sir?"

"No. Look after yourself for the present!" said Saltash. "And don't getup to mischief! There's a strict captain in command of this boat, soyou'd better mind how you go. "

The boy looked up at him with eyes of twinkling comprehension. He hadplainly forgotten the despair that had so nearly overwhelmed him. 

"Oh, I'll be very good, sir, " he promised. "I won't get you into troubleanyhow, sir. "

"You--imp!" said Saltash, pulling his ear. "Think I'll put up with yourimpudence, do you? You'll play that game once too often if you're notcareful. "

Toby hastened to adjust his features to a becoming expression of gravity. "I won't, sir. No, I won't. I'll be a good servant to you--the bestyou've ever had. I'll never forget your goodness to me, and I'll pay backsomehow--that I will, sir. "

His boyish voice suddenly throbbed with emotion, and he stopped. Againfor a moment he had the forlorn look of a small animal astray from itsown. 

Saltash patted his shoulder kindly. "All right. That'll do. Don't betragic about it! Come along to your burrow and have a good square sleep!"

He led him away without further words, and Toby went, gratefully andsubmissively. 

A few minutes later Saltash came back with a smile on his ugly face, half-quizzical, and half-compassionate. 

"Rum little devil!" he commented again as he began to undress. "So thegods had a gift for me after all! Wonder what I shall do with it!"

And then abruptly the smile became a mocking grimace that banished allthe kindliness from his face. He snapped his fingers and laughed as hehad laughed a little earlier when his cigarette had fallen into the waterwith a sound like the hiss of a serpent. 

"I--wonder!" he said again. 

CHAPTER IV

TOBY

It was contrary to Captain Larpent's habit to show surprise at any time, whatever the caprices of his patron, but he did look at Saltash somewhatharder than usual when the latter informed him in his breezy fashion ofthe unexpected addition to the yacht's company. He also frowned a littleand smoothed his beard as though momentarily puzzled. 

"You won't want to be bothered with him, " he said after brief reflection. "Better let him sleep in the forecastle. "

"Not for the present, " said Saltash. "I am going to train him, and I'llkeep him under my own eye. The little beggar has had a pretty rough timeof it to judge by appearances. I've a fancy for looking after himmyself. "

"What are you going to make of him?" asked Larpent. 

Saltash laughed carelessly, flicking the ash from his cigarette. "I'lltell you that when I can show you the finished article. I'm keeping himbelow for the present. He's got a prize-fighter's eye which is notexactly an ornament. Like to have a look at him? You're ship's doctor. "

Larpent shrugged his shoulders. "P'raps I'd better. I'm not over-keen onsudden importations. You never know what they may bring aboard withthem. "

Saltash's eyes gleamed mischievously. "Better inoculate the whole crew atonce! He's more like a stray spaniel than anything else. "

"A King Charles!" suggested Larpent, with the flicker of an eyelid. "Well, my lord, let's have a look at your latest find!"

They went below, Saltash whistling a careless air. He was usually in highspirits when not suffering from boredom. 

Someone else was whistling in the vicinity of his cabin, but it was notfrom the valet's cabin that the cheery sounds proceeded. They found himin the bathroom with an oily rag, rubbing up the taps. 

He desisted immediately at their entrance and stood smartly at attention. His eye was badly swollen and discoloured, he looked wretchedly ill, buthe managed to smile at Saltash, who took him by the shoulder and madehim face the light. 

"What are you doing in here, you--scaramouch? Didn't I tell you to liestill? Here he is, Larpent! What do you think of him? A poor sort ofspecimen, eh?"

"What's his name?" said Larpent. 

"Toby Barnes, sir, " supplied the boy promptly. 

"And there's nothing under the sun he can't do except drive cars, " put inSaltash, "and obey orders. "

Toby winced a little. "I'm sorry, sir. Only wanted to be useful, sir. I'll go back to bed if you say so. "

"What do you say, Captain?" said Saltash. 

Larpent bent and looked closely at the injured eye. "The sooner thebetter, " he said after a brief examination. "Stay in bed for a week, andthen I'll look at you again!"

"Oh, not a week!" exclaimed Toby, aghast, and then clapped a hand to hismouth and was silent. 

But his look implored Saltash who laughed and pinched the shoulder underhis hand. "All right. We'll see how you get on. If we meet any weatheryou'll probably be only too thankful to stay there. "

Toby smiled somewhat woefully, and said nothing. 

Larpent stood up. "I'll fetch some stuff to dress it with. Better have itbandaged. Pretty painful, isn't it?"

"No, sir, " lied Toby valiantly. "Don't feel it at all. "

But he shrank with a quick gasp of pain when Larpent unexpectedly touchedthe injury. 

"Don't hurt the child!" said Saltash sharply. 

Larpent smiled his faint, sardonic smile, and turned away. 

Toby laid his cheek with a winning, boyish gesture against the hand thatheld him. "Don't make me go to bed, sir!" he pleaded. "I'll be miserablein bed. "

Saltash looked down at him with eyebrows comically working. "It is rathera hole--that cabin of yours, " he conceded. "You can lie on the couch inmy stateroom if you like. Don't get up to mischief, that's all! I'mresponsible for you, remember. "

Toby thanked him humbly, swearing obedience and good behaviour. Thecouch in Saltash's cabin was immediately under a porthole, and the freshsea-air blew straight in. He stretched his meagre person upon it witha sigh of contentment, and Saltash smiled down upon him. "That's right. You'll do there. Let's see! What did you say your name was?"

"Toby, sir. "

"Toby Barnes or Toby Wright?" said Saltash. 

The boy started, turned very red, then very white, opened his mouth tospeak, shut it tightly, and said nothing. 

Saltash took out his cigarette-case and opened it with greatleisureliness. The smile still played about his ugly features as he chosea cigarette. Finally he snapped the lid and looked down again at his_protégé_. 

"Or Toby nothing?" he said. 

Toby's eyes came up to his, though the effort to raise them drew his facepainfully. 

"Whatever you like, my lord, " he said faintly. "I'll answer to anything. "

Saltash's own face was curiously softened. He looked down at Toby forsome seconds in silence, idly tapping the cigarette he held against thecase. Then: "How old are you?" he asked suddenly. 

"Sixteen, sir. " Toby's eyes with their dumb pleading were still anxiouslyraised to his. 

Saltash bent abruptly and put his hand very lightly over them. "Allright. Don't hurt yourself!" he said kindly. "You're young enough tochuck the past and start again. "

Toby's claw-like hands came up and closed upon his wrist. "Wish I could, sir, " he whispered with lips that quivered. "Haven't had much of achance--so far, sir. "

"All right, " Saltash said again. "It's up to you. I shan't interfere. Don't expect too much of me; that's all I ask! I'm not considered exactlya suitable companion for young things like you. "

He drew his hand away and lighted his cigarette. Toby turned his faceinto the cushion and lay very still. 

Larpent, returning, wondered what his patron had been saying to make theboy's eyes wet with tears, but betrayed no curiosity on the subject. 

"Are you going to let him stay in here?" he asked, as he bound alotion-soaked pad over the damaged eye. 

"For the present, " said Saltash. "Any objection?"

"Not the smallest. " Larpent's tone was absolutely noncommittal. "Make himlie quiet, that's all!"

"He'll do that, " said Saltash with confidence. 

"Good!" said Larpent. "We're in for a blow before we reach Gib or I'mmuch mistaken. "

"Do us all good, " said Saltash with satisfaction. 

Larpent looked grim and said no more. 

"Frightened?" asked Saltash of Toby when he was gone. 

Toby chuckled at the thought. "Not a bit, sir. "

"Good sailor by any chance?" questioned Saltash. 

"No, sir; rotten, sir. " Quite undaunted came the reply. 

"Well, shut your eyes and go to sleep!" commanded Saltash, and spread arug over the small, curled-up figure. 

Toby murmured his thanks and relaxed with a big sigh of content. 

Some hours later, when the blow that Larpent had prophesied had arrivedin earnest and the yacht was pitching on a wild sea in the light of alurid sunset, Saltash came below to change. 

He was met by Toby, ghastly of face but still desperately smiling, whosprang from his couch to wait upon him, and collapsed at his feet. 

"Little ass!" said Saltash, barely preventing himself from tumbling overhim headlong. 

He lifted the light, trembling figure and put it down again upon thecouch. Then he poured out a dose of brandy and water and, holding theboy's head on his arm while the yacht lifted and tossed, compelled him todrink it. 

"Now you lie quiet!" he commanded. "Don't stir an eyelid till I give youleave!"

The porthole was shut, and the atmosphere close and stuffy. Toby putforth an appealing hand and clung to his protector's sleeve. 

"Mayn't I come on deck, sir?" he murmured anxiously. "Please, sir!"

"No, " said Saltash. 

Toby said no more, but his fingers fastened like a bird's claw on theman's arm, and he shivered. 

"You're frightened!" said Saltash. 

"No, sir! No, sir!" he protested. 

"Yes, you are. You needn't bother to lie to me. I always know. " Saltash'svoice held an odd note of comradeship. "Beastly sensation, isn't it? Havesome more brandy!"

Then, as Toby refused, he sat down abruptly on the edge of the couch andthrust an arm out to him. Toby crept to him then like a nervous dog andtrembled against his side. 

"Little ass!" said Saltash again. "Been lying here sweating with terror, have you? There's nothing whatever to sweat about. She's as safe ashouses. "

"Yes, sir. I know, sir, " whispered Toby apologetically. 

Saltash's arm surrounded him with a comforting closeness. "You miserablelittle shrimp!" he said. "How's the head?"

"Better, sir. Thank you, sir, " muttered Toby. 

"Why not tell the truth for once and say it hurts like hell?" suggestedSaltash. 

Toby was silent. 

"Do you know what I'm going to do with you?" said Saltash. 

"No, sir. " Toby stirred uneasily. 

The vessel pitched to a sudden slant and Saltash braced himself, protecting the fair head from a blow against the woodwork behind him. "I'm going to put you to bed in my bunk here, " he said. "You've got tohave a decent night's rest. Did Murray look you out any spare slops? Itold him to. "

"Oh, yes, sir. Thank you, sir. But I couldn't sleep in your bunk, sir, --please, sir--indeed, sir!" Toby, still held by the sheltering arm, waxed incoherent, almost tearful. 

Saltash pulled him up short. "You'll do as I tell you--now and always, "he said, with royal finality. "You've put yourself in my hands, andyou'll have to put up with the consequences. Got that?"

"Yes, sir, " said Toby meekly. 

"Then don't forget it!" said Saltash. 

Toby subsided without further protest. Perhaps the brandy helped to makehim quiescent, or perhaps it was only the realization of his utterweakness and dependence; but from that moment he was as submissive as ifhe had been indeed the small captive animal to which his new owner hadlikened him. At Saltash's behest and with his help, he presently creptback to his own cabin to divest himself of his hotel-livery and don thevery roomy suit of pajamas that Murray the steward had served out to him. 

Then, barefooted, stumbling, and shivering, he returned to where Saltashleaned smoking in the narrow dressing-room, awaiting him. 

Saltash's dark face wore a certain look of grimness. He bent withoutwords and lifted the shrinking figure in his arms. 

Ten seconds later Toby sank down in a berth as luxurious as any evercarried by private yacht. 

He was still shivering though a grateful warmth came about him as Saltashtucked him in. He tried to murmur thanks, but ended with a quivering chinand silence. 

"Go to sleep, you little ass!" commanded Saltash. 

And so at last Toby slept, the deep, unstirring sleep of exhaustion, utterly unconscious of his surroundings, unaware of the man who came inand out watching that unchanging repose, sublimely oblivious of allobservation, sunk in a slumber so remote that it might have been the lastlong rest of all. 

Saltash spent the night on the velvet couch under the closed porthole, dozing occasionally and always awakening with a jerk as the roll of thevessel threatened to pitch him on to the floor of the cabin. It was not acomfortable means of resting but he endured it in commendable silencewith now and then a grimace which said more than words. 

And the little waif that the gods had flung to him slept in his bunk allthrough the long hours as peacefully as an effigy upon a tomb. 

CHAPTER V

DISCIPLINE

The storm spent itself before they reached Gibraltar, and Toby emergedsmiling from his captivity below. He still wore the brown and goldhotel-livery as there was nothing else on board to fit him, but fromGibraltar a small packet of notes was dispatched to Antonio by Saltash insettlement of the loan. 

"Now I've bought you--body and soul, " he said to Toby, whose shining lookshowed naught but satisfaction at the announcement. 

The vivid colours of his injured eye had faded to a uniform dull yellow, and he no longer wore a bandage. When they put to sea again he was nolonger an invalid. He followed Saltash wherever he went, attendedscrupulously to his comfort, and when not needed was content to sitcurled up like a dog close to him, dumb in his devotion but always readyto serve him. 

Saltash treated him with a careless generosity that veiled a good deal ofconsideration. He never questioned him with regard to his past, takinghim for granted in a fashion that set Toby completely at ease. No oneelse had much to do with him. Larpent ignored him, and Murray the stewardregarded him with a deep suspicion that did not make for intimacy. 

And Toby was happy. Day after day his cheery whistle arose over his workwhile he polished Saltash's boots and brushed his clothes, or swept anddusted the state-cabin in which he slept. He himself had returned to hisown small den that led out of Saltash's dressing-room, but theintervening doors were kept open by Saltash's command. They were alwayswithin hail of each other. 

They went into perfect summer weather, and for a blissful week theyvoyaged through blue seas with a cloudless sky overhead. Toby's whiteskin began to tan. The sharp lines went out of his face. His laugh wasfrequent and wholly care-free. He even developed a certain impudence inhis attitude towards his master to which Saltash extended the sametolerance that he might have shown for the frolics of a favourite dog. Heaccepted Toby's services, but he never treated him wholly as a servant. 

It was an odd companionship which only the isolated life they led duringthose few days could have developed along those particular lines. WhenSaltash was bored he amused himself with his protege, teaching himpicquet and chess, and finding in him an apt and eager pupil. There was agood deal of the gambler's spirit in Toby, and Saltash idly fostered itbecause it gave him sport. He laughed at his opponent's keenness, supplied stakes for the game, even good-naturedly let himself be beaten. 

And then one day he detected Toby cheating. It was an end that he mighthave foreseen. He had encouraged the fever, he had practically sown theseeds; but, strangely, he was amazed, more disconcerted than he had beenfor years by the consequences. For it was not his way to disturb himselfover anything. His principles were easy to laxness. But that Toby--theurchin he had sheltered and nursed like a sick puppy--should have donethis thing somehow cut clean through his complacence. 

"I'm going to give you a licking for that, " he said, black brows drawn toa stern line. "You can go below and wait for it. "

Toby went like an arrow, and Saltash spent the next half-hour pacing thedeck, cursing himself, the youngster, and the insane and ridiculous Fatethat had linked them together. 

Then he went below to administer judicial corporal punishment to a humanbeing for the first time in his life. As he himself whimsically expressedit, he had received ample correction during his own chequered career; buthe had never been in a position to correct anyone else. 

He found Toby waiting for him in his shirt-sleeves, rather white butquite composed, his riding-switch all ready to his hand. 

"Ever been flogged before?" he asked him curtly as he picked it up. 

"No, sir, " said Toby, with downcast eyes. 

"Why not?" There was a gibing note in Saltash's voice. "Never qualifiedbefore?"

Toby shot him a swift and nervous glance that was like a flash of blueflame. "No, sir. Never been caught before, " he said. 

Saltash's eyes flickered humour, but he steeled himself. "Well, you'recaught this time--fairly caught. I may not be a specially fit person topunish you for it, but you won't be let off on that account. "

"Go ahead, sir!" said Toby, with his hands twisted into a bony knot infront of him. 

And Saltash went ahead. His heart was not in the business, and as hesmote the narrow bent back it cried shame on him. Toby made no sound, butat the third stroke he winced, and Saltash with a terrific oath in Frenchhurled his switch violently at the opposite wall. 

"There! Don't do it again!" he said, and swung him round to face him. "Sorry? What?"

Then he saw that Toby was crying, and abruptly let him go, striding outthrough the dining-saloon and up the companion-way, swearing strangeoaths in varied languages as he went. 

He was openly rude to Larpent when the latter sauntered up for a wordwith him a little later, but Larpent, knowing him, merely hunched hisshoulders as his custom was and sauntered away again. 

When Saltash went down to dress for dinner, he found his clothes laid outas usual, but no Toby in attendance. His first impulse was to look forhim, but he checked it and dressed in solitude. This thing must beconducted in the approved judicial manner at all costs. 

Larpent was stolidly awaiting him in the saloon, and they sat downtogether. Usually Toby stood behind his master's chair, and the vacantplace oppressed Saltash. He talked jerkily, with uneasy intervals ofsilence. 

Larpent talked not at all beyond the demands of ordinary courtesy. He atewell, drank sparingly, and when not listening to Saltash's somewhatspasmodic conversation appeared immersed in thought. When the meal wasover, he refused coffee, and rose to go on deck. 

Then, abruptly, Saltash stayed him. "Larpent, wait a minute--unlessyou're in a hurry! Have a cigar with me!"

Larpent paused, looking across at the dark, restless face with the air ofa man making a minute calculation. "Shall we smoke on deck, my lord?" hesaid at length. 

Saltash sprang up as though he moved on wires. "Yes, all right. Get thecigars, Murray!" he commanded the steward; and to Larpent as the man wentto obey, "That's decent of you. Thought you were going to refuse. I wasdamned offensive a while back. Accept my apologies! Fact is--I'm fed upwith this show. Sorry if I disappoint you, but I'm going home. "

"You never disappoint me, my lord, " said Larpent, with his enigmaticalsmile. 

Saltash gave him a keen look and uttered a laugh that was also notwithout its edge. "I like you, Larpent, " he said. "You always tell thetruth. Well, let's go! We shan't make Jamaica this trip, but it doesn'tmatter. In any case, it's a shame to miss the spring in England. "

"Or the Spring Meetings?" suggested Larpent, as he chose his cigar. 

"Quite so, " said Saltash, almost with relief. "My old trainer--the manwho bought my racing-stud--always looks for me about now. You ought tomeet him by the way. He is another speaker of cruel truths. "

He thrust a hand through his captain's arm as they left the saloon, andthey went on deck together. Though Larpent never made any sign ofresentment, yet was Saltash never wholly at his ease when he knew that hehad taxed his forbearance until he had made amends. He took the troubleto make himself unusually agreeable as they settled down to their smoke. 

It was a night of glorious stars, the sea one vast stretch of silverripples, through which the yacht ran smoothly, leaving a wide white trailbehind her. Saltash lay in a deck-chair with his face to the sky, but hisattitude was utterly lacking in the solid repose that characterized hiscompanion. He smoked his cigar badly, with impatient pulls. When it washalf gone, he suddenly swore and flung it overboard. 

"Larpent, " he said, breaking a silence, "if you were a damnedrotter--like me--what should you do with yourself?"

Larpent turned his head and quietly surveyed him. "I shouldn't run a homefor waifs and strays, " he said deliberately. 

Saltash made a sharp movement. "Then I suppose you'd leave 'em in thegutter to starve, " he said, with suppressed vehemence. 

"No, I shouldn't. I'd pay someone else--someone who wasn't what youcalled yourself just now--to look after 'em. " Larpent's voice waseminently practical if somewhat devoid of sympathy. "Gutter-snipes aredamned quick to pick up--things they ought not, " he observed dryly. 

Saltash stirred uncomfortably in his chair as though something prickedhim. "Think I'm a contaminating influence?" he said. 

Larpent shrugged his shoulders. "It's not for me to say. All diseases arenot catching--any more than they are incurable. "

"Ho!" Saltash laughed suddenly and rather bitterly. "Are yousuggesting--a cure?"

Larpent turned his head back again and puffed a cloud of smoke upwards. "There's a cure for most things, " he observed. 

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin?" gibed Saltash. 

Larpent was silent for a space. Then: "A painful process no doubt!" hesaid. "But more wonderful things have happened. "

"Pshaw!" said Saltash. 

Nevertheless when Larpent rose a little later and bade him good-night, hereached up a couple of fingers in careless comradeship. 

"Good-night, old fellow! Thanks for putting up with me! Sure you don'twant to kick me?"

"Not when you're kicking yourself, " said Larpent with a grim hint ofhumour. 

He took the extended fingers and received a wiry handclasp that causedhim faint surprise. But then, he reflected as he went away, he had alwaysknown Saltash to be a queer devil, oddly balanced, curiously impulsive, strangely irresponsible, possessing through all a charm which seldomfailed to hold its own. He realized by instinct that Saltash waswrestling with himself that night, but, though he knew him better thandid many, he would not have staked anything on the result. There were twoselves in Saltash and, in Larpent's opinion, one was as strong as theother. 

It was nearly an hour later that Saltash, prowling to and fro in thestarlight, became suddenly aware of a figure, small and slight, withgleaming brass buttons, standing behind his vacant chair. He turnedsharply to look at it, some inexplicable emotion twitching his dark face. Then abruptly he moved towards it, stood for a second as one in doubt, then turned and sat down in silence. 

But as he settled himself he stretched forth an arm with a snap of thefingers, and in a flash Toby was kneeling by his side. The arm closedaround him like a spring, and Toby uttered a low, tense sob and hid hisface. 

Thereafter for a while there was no sound beside the throb of engines andwash of water. Saltash sat absolutely motionless with eyes half-closed. Save for the vitality of his hold, he might have been on the verge ofslumber. And Toby, crouched with his head in his hands, was as a carvenimage, neither stirring nor seeming to breathe. 

The man moved at length, flicking his eyes open as though some unseenforce had prodded him into action. He spoke with a brevity that mighthave denoted some sternness but for the close grip of his arm. 

"Have you been sulking all this time?"

Toby started at his voice and burrowed a little deeper. "No, sir. "

"Well, why didn't you come before?" said Saltash. 

"I was--afraid, " whispered Toby piteously. 

"Afraid! Why on earth?" Saltash's hand suddenly found and fondledthe fair head. His speech was no longer curt, but gentle, with ahalf-quizzical tenderness. "Aren't you rather an ass, boy? What wasthere to be afraid of?"

Toby could not tell him. He only, after a moment, slipped down in asitting position by Saltash's side and rested with more assurance againstthe encircling arm. 

"Come! I didn't hurt you much, " said Saltash. 

"No, sir. You didn't hurt me--at all. " Toby stammered a little. "You--you--you meant--not to hurt me, didn't you?"

"I must hit harder next time evidently, " observed Saltash, with a squeezeof the narrow shoulders. 

"No, sir--no, sir! There shan't be--a next time!" Toby assured him withnervous vehemence. "I only did it just to see--just to see--I'll never doit again, sir. "

"Just to see what?" asked Saltash curiously. 

But again Toby could not explain himself, and he did not press him. 

"Well, you didn't do it at all well, " he remarked. "I shouldn't certainlymake a profession of it if I were you. It's plainly not your _métier_. "

He paused, but with the air of having something more to say. Toby waitedsilently. 

It came with a jerk and a grimace, as if some inner force compelled. "Ican't talk pi-jaw--on this subject or any other. You see--I'm a rottermyself. "

"You, sir!" Toby lifted his head suddenly and stared at him with eyesthat blazed passionately blue in the starlight. "Don't believe it!" hesaid. "It isn't true. "

Saltash grinned a little. His face had the dreary look of something lostthat a monkey's sometimes wears. "You needn't believe it, son, if youdon't want to, " he said. "But it's true all the same. That's why I gaveyou that licking, see? Just to emphasize the difference between us. "

"It isn't true!" Toby asserted again almost fiercely. "I'd kill anyoneelse that said so. "

"Oh, you needn't do that!" said Saltash, with kindly derision. "Thanksall the same, my turkey-cock! If I ever need your protection I'll be sureto ask for it. " He flicked the young face with his finger. "But you'renot to follow my example, mind. You've got to run straight. You're youngenough to make it worth while, and--I'll see you have a chance. "

"But you'll keep me with you, sir, " said Toby swiftly. "You'll keepme--always--with you!"

"Ah!" Saltash's brows twisted oddly for a second. He seemed to ponder thematter. "I can't say off-hand what I'm going to do with you, " he said. "You're--a bit of a problem, you know, Toby. "

"Yes, sir. I know. I know. " Toby's voice was quick with agitation. "Butyou won't send me away from you! Promise you won't send me away!"

"Can't promise anything, " said Saltash. "Look here! I think there's beenenough of this. You'd better go to bed. "

But Toby was clinging fast to his hand. He spoke between quivering lips. "Please, sir, you said you'd bought me body and soul. You can't mean tochuck me away--after that! Please, sir, I'll do anything--anything underthe sun--for you. And you--you can kick me--do anything to me--and I'llnever say a word. I'm just yours--for as long as I live. Please, sir--please, sir--don't send me away! I--I'd rather die than that. "

He laid his head suddenly down upon the hand he held so tenaciously andbegan to sob, fighting desperately to stifle all sound. 

Saltash sat for a few moments in utter silence and immobility. Then, abruptly, in a tense whisper, he spoke:

"Toby, you little fool, stop it--stop it, do you hear?--and go below!"

The words held a queer urgency. He raised himself as he uttered them, seeking to free his hand though with all gentleness from the clingingclasp. 

"Get up, boy!" he said. "Get up and go to bed! What? Oh, don't cry! Pullyourself together! Toby, do you hear?"

Toby lifted a white, strained face. His eyes looked enormous in the dimlight. "Yes, sir. All right, sir, " he jerked out, and stumbled tremblingto his feet. "I know I'm a fool, sir. I'm sorry. I can't help it. No onewas ever decent to me--till you came. I--shall just go under now, sir. "

"Oh, stop it!" Saltash spoke almost violently. "Can't you see--that'sjust what I want to prevent? You don't want to go to the devil, Isuppose?"

Toby made a passionate gesture that was curiously unboylike. "I'd go tohell and stay there for ever--if you were there!" he said. 

"Good God!" said Saltash. 

He got up in his sudden fashion and moved away, went to the rail andstood there for a space with his face to the rippling sheen of water. Finally he turned and looked at the silent figure waiting beside hischair, and a very strange smile came over his dark features. He cameback, not without a certain arrogance, and tapped Toby on the shoulder. 

"All right, " he said. "Stay with me and be damned if you want to! Idaresay it would come to the same thing in the end. "

Toby drew himself together with a swift movement. "That means you'll keepme, sir?"

His eyes, alight and eager, looked up to Saltash with something that wasnot far removed from adoration in their shining earnestness. 

The strange smile still hovered about Saltash's face; a smile in whichcynicism and some vagrant, half-stifled emotion were oddly mingled. 

"Yes, I'll keep you, " he said, and paused, looking at him oddly. 

Toby's eyes, very wide open, intensely bright, looked straight back. "Forgood, sir?" he said anxiously. 

And Saltash laughed, a brief, mocking laugh. "For better, for worse, myToby!" he said. "Now--go!"

He smote him a light friendly blow on the shoulder and flung round on hisheel. 

Toby went, very swiftly, without looking back. 

CHAPTER VI

THE ABYSS

They sighted the English shore a few days later on an evening of mist andrain. The sea was grey and dim, the atmosphere cold and inhospitable. 

"Just like England!" said Saltash. "She never gushes over her prodigals. "

He was dining alone in the saloon with Toby behind his chair, Larpentbeing absent on the bridge. 

"Don't you like England, sir?" said Toby. 

"I adore her, " said Saltash with his most hideous grimace. "But I don'tgo to her for amusement. "

Toby came forward to fill his glass with liqueur. "Too strait-laced, sir?" he suggested with the suspicion of a smile. 

Saltash nodded with a sidelong glance at the young face bent over thedecanter. "Too limited in many ways, my Toby, " he said. "But at the sametime useful in certain emergencies. A stern mother perhaps, but a wiseone on the whole. You, for instance--she will be the making of you. "

A slight tremor went through Toby. He set down the decanter and steppedback. "Of me, sir?" he said. 

Saltash nodded again. He was fingering the stem of his glass, hisqueer eyes dancing a little. "We've got to make a respectable citizenof you--somehow, " he said. 

"Do you think that matters, sir?" said Toby. 

Saltash raised his glass. "You won't always be a boy of sixteen, youknow, Toby, " he said lightly. "We've got to think of the future--whetherwe want to or not. "

"I don't see why, sir, " said Toby. 

"You see, you're young, " said Saltash, and drank with the air of one whodrinks a toast. 

Suddenly he turned in his chair, the glass still in his hand. 

"Our last night on board!" he said, with a royal gesture of invitation. "You shall drink with me. "

Toby's face flushed burningly. He hung back. "Not--not--from your glass, sir!" he said. "Not--liqueur!"

"Why not? Afraid?" mocked Saltash. 

Toby was silent. His hand closed involuntarily upon the back of hismaster's chair. The flush died out of his face. 

Saltash sat and looked at him for a few seconds, still with that dancinggleam in his eyes. Then abruptly he moved, rose with one knee upon thechair, lifted the glass to Toby's lips. 

"Afraid?" he said again, speaking softly as one speaks to a frightenedchild. 

Toby raised a hand that sought to take the glass but closed insteadnervously upon Saltash's wrist. He drank in response to Saltash'sunspoken insistence, looking straight at him the while. 

Then oddly he smiled. "No, not afraid, sir, " he said. "Only--lest I mightnot bring you luck. "

"Oh, don't fret yourself on that account!" said Saltash. "I'm not used toany luck. "

Toby's eyes widened. "I thought you had--everything, sir, " he said. 

Saltash laughed and set down the empty glass. "_Au contraire, mon cher_, "he said. "I am no richer than you are. Like Tantalus, I can never quenchmy thirst. Like many a better man than I, I see the stars, but I neverreach them. "

"Does anybody?" said Toby in the tone of one not expecting an answer. 

Saltash laughed briefly, enigmatically. "I believe some people soar. Butthey generally come down hard in the end. Whereas those who always crawlon the earth haven't far to fall. Now look here, Toby, you and I have gotto have a talk. "

"Yes, sir, " said Toby, blinking rather rapidly. 

Saltash was watching him with a faint smile in his eyes, half-derisiveand half-tender. "What are you going to be, Toby?" he said. "It all turnson that. "

Toby's hand still gripped the back of his chair. He stood up verystraight, facing him. "That is for you to decide, sir, " he said. 

"Is it?" said Saltash, and again his eyes gleamed a little. "Is it for meto decide?"

"Yes, sir. For you alone. " There was no flinching in Toby's look now. Hiseyes were wide and very steady. 

Saltash's mouth twitched as if he repressed some passing emotion. "Youmean--just that?" he asked, after a moment. 

"Just that, sir, " said Toby, with a slight quickening of the breath. "Imean I am--at your disposal alone. "

Saltash took him suddenly by the shoulder and looked at him closely. "Toby!" he said. "Aren't you making--rather a fool of yourself?"

"No, sir!" Swiftly, with unexpected vehemence, Toby made answer. "I'mdoing--the only thing possible. But if you--if you--if you--"

"Well?" Saltash said. "If I what?"

"If you want to get rid of me--at any time, " Toby said, commandinghimself with fierce effort, "I'll go, sir--I'll go!"

"And where to?" Saltash's eyes were no longer derisive; they heldsomething that very few had ever seen there. 

Toby made a quick gesture of the hands, and dropped them flat at hissides. "I'll get rid of myself--then, sir, " he said, with sudden chillpride. "That won't be very difficult. And I'll do it--so that you won'teven know. "

Saltash stood up abruptly. "Toby, you are quite unique!" he said. "Superbtoo in your funny little way. Your only excuse is that you're young. Doesit never occur to you that you've attached yourself to the wrong person?"

"No, sir, " breathed Toby. 

"You're not afraid to stake all you've got on a bad card?" pursuedSaltash, still curiously watching him. 

"No, sir, " he said again; and added with his faint, unboyish smile, "Ihaven't much to lose anyway. "

Saltash's hand tightened upon him. He was smiling also, but the gleam inhis eyes had turned to leaping, fitful flame. "Well, " he said slowly, "Ihave never yet refused--a gift from the gods. "

And there he stopped, for suddenly, drowning all speech, there arose adin that seemed to set the whole world rocking; and in a moment therecame a frightful shock that pitched them both headlong to the floor. 

Saltash fell as a monkey falls, catching at one thing after another tosave himself, landing eventually on his knees in pitch darkness with onehand still gripped upon Toby's thin young arm. But Toby had struck hishead against a locker and had gone down stunned and helpless. 

The din of a siren above them filled the world with hideous clamour asSaltash recovered himself. "Damn them!" he ejaculated savagely. "Do theywant to deafen us as well as send us to perdition?"

Then very suddenly it stopped, leaving a void that was instantly filledwith lesser sounds. There arose a confusion of voices, of running feet, ahubbub of escaping steam, and a great rush of water. 

Saltash dragged himself up in the darkness, sought to drag Toby also, found him a dead weight, stooped and lifted him with wiry strength. He trod among broken glass and plates as he straightened himself. Thenoise above them was increasing. He flung the limp form over his shoulderand began desperately to claw his way up a steep slant towards thesaloon-door and the companion-way. Sound and instinct guided him, for thedarkness was complete. But he was not the man to die like a trappedanimal while the most slender way of escape remained. Hampered as he was, he made for the open with set teeth and terrible foreign oaths of whichhe was utterly unconscious. 

Whether that fierce struggle for freedom could ever have ended in successsingle-handed, however, was a point which he was not destined to decide, for after a space of desperate effort which no time could measure, theresuddenly shone the gleam of an electric torch in front of him, and he sawthe opening but a few feet away. 

"Saltash!" cried a voice, piercing the outer din, "Saltash!"

"Here!" yelled back Saltash, still fighting for foothold and finding itagainst the leg of the table, "That you, Larpent? How long have we got?"

"Seconds only!" said Larpent briefly. "Give me the child!"

"No! Just give me a hand, that's all! Hang on tight! It'll be a pull. "

Saltash flung himself forward again, his free hand outstretched, slippedand nearly fell on his face, then was caught by a vice-like grip thatdrew him upward with grim strength. In a moment he was braced against theframe of the door, almost standing on it, the saloon gaping below him--ablack pit of destruction. Larpent's torch showed the companion stairspractically perpendicular above them. 

"Go on!" said Larpent. "Better give me the child. It's you that matters. "

"Get out, damn you!" said Saltash, and actually grinned as he began toclimb with his burden still hanging upon his shoulder. 

Larpent came behind him, holding his torch to light the way. They climbedup into a pandemonium indescribable, a wild torrent of sound. 

There was light here that shone in a great flare through billows of fog, showing the monster form of a great vessel towering above them with onlya few yards of mist-wreathed water between. The deck on which they stoodsloped upwards at an acute angle, and still from below there came theclamour of escaping steam accompanied by a spasmodic throbbing that waslike the futile beating of giant wings against Titanic bars. 

A knot of men were struggling to lower a boat by the ghostly glare thatlit the night about them, clambering and slipping against the rails, while a voice from beyond the fog-curtain yelled through a megaphoneunintelligible commands. 

All these things were registered upon Saltash's brain, his quickperception leaping from point to point with a mental agility that waswholly outside all conscious volition on his part. He was driven bycircumstance as a bird is driven by storm, and he went before itundismayed, missing no chance of refuge. 

A life-buoy hanging beside the hatch caught his eye as he glanced swiftlyaround and in a second he pounced upon it. Toby slipped from his shoulderas he bent, and slipping awoke. But he only lay and stared with dazedeyes at the man frantically unlashing the rope, as one who looked on fromafar. 

Then Larpent was with them again. He dragged Toby to his feet, and in aflash Saltash turned, the life-buoy on his arm. 

"What the devil are you doing?"

Larpent pointed. "They've got the boat free. Go--while you can!"

But Saltash barely glanced across. He put the life-buoy over Toby's headand shoulders, and began to wind the rope around him. It did not need aglance to know that the boat would never get away. 

At his action Toby gasped, and sudden understanding awoke in his eyes. Hedragged one arm free, and made as if he would cling to Saltash. 

"Keep me with you, sir!" he cried out wildly. "Don't make me go alone!"

Saltash gripped the clutching hand, dropping the end of rope. It traileddown, and Larpent caught it, flung it round Saltash's body, and knottedit while he was lifting Toby over the rail. 

Then for a second Saltash hung, one hand still gripping Toby's, the otherholding to the rail of his sinking yacht, the two of them poised side byside above the abyss. 

"You'll save yourself, Larpent!" he cried. "I shall want you. "

And with that he turned suddenly to his shivering companion andactually smiled into the terrified eyes. "Come on, Toby!" he said. "Wego--together!"

He flung his leg over with the words, and leapt straight downwards. 

Toby's shriek sounded through the tumult as they went into the greydepths. 

CHAPTER VII

LARPENT'S DAUGHTER

The sinking of _The Night Moth_ after being in collision with the liner, _Corfe Castle_, bound for Brazil, was an event of sufficient importanceto be given a leading place in the newspapers of the following day. LordSaltash was well-known as a private yachtsman, and the first accountwhich reported him amongst the drowned was received with widespreadregret throughout that circle in which he was a familiar figure. Then ata later hour came its contradiction, and his friends smiled and remarkedthat he had the facility of an eel for getting out of tight corners, andthat they would never believe him dead till they had been to his funeral. 

Long before the publication of the second report, Saltash was seated inthe captain's cabin on board the _Corfe Castle_, with a strong brandy andsoda before him, giving a brief and vigorous account of himself and hiscompany. Yes, he was Charles Burchester, Viscount Saltash, owner of theprivate yacht, _The Night Moth_. He was returning from Valrosa alone withhis captain and his crew. They had been cruising in the Atlantic with theidea of going south, but he had recently changed his mind and decidedto go home. He had not expected such damnable luck as to be run down inhome waters, but he supposed that Fate was against him. He only asked nowto be put ashore as soon as possible, being for the moment heartily sickof sea-travel. This with his most rueful grimace which Captain Beaumontof the _Corfe Castle_ received with gravely official sympathy. 

"Well, I hope you don't blame us for your bad luck, " he said. "We mighthave been sunk ourselves. "

"I never blame anyone but the devil for that, " said Saltash generously. "And as you managed to pick us all up I am glad on the whole that youweren't. "

And then he turned sharply at a knock on the door behind him to see alean, lank man enter who peered at him curiously through screwed-up eyesas though he had never seen anything like him before. 

Captain Beaumont introduced him. "This is Dr. Hurst. He has come toreport. Well, doctor? I hope you bring good news. "

Dr. Hurst came forward to the table, still looking very attentively atSaltash. 

The latter's odd eyes challenged him with royal self-assurance. "Well?What is the news?" he questioned. "Fished for a sprat and caught awhale--or is it t'other way round?"

The doctor cleared his throat and turned to the captain. "Yes, my reportis good on the whole, " he said. "None of the men are seriously injured, thanks to your prompt rescue measures. Captain Larpent is stillunconscious; he is suffering from concussion. But I believe he willrecover. And--and--" he hesitated, looking again at Saltash--"the--theperson whose life you saved--"

Saltash leaned back in his chair, grinning mischievously. "To be sure!The person--whose life I saved! What of that person, Dr. Hurst?"

"Had you a passenger?" interrupted the captain. "I understood you saved acabin-boy. "

"Pray continue!" he said lightly. "What of the cabin-boy? None the worse, I hope?"

The doctor's lank figure drew together with a stiff movement of distaste. "I see, " he said, "that you are aware of a certain fact which I mustadmit has given me a somewhat unpleasant surprise. "

Saltash turned abruptly to the captain. "You ask me if I had apassenger, " he said, speaking briefly, with a hint of hauteur. "Beforeyou also begin to be unpleasantly surprised, let me explain that I had achild on board who did not belong to the ship's company. "

"A child?" Captain Beaumont looked at him in astonishment. "I thought--Iunderstood--Do you mean the boy?"

"Not a boy, no, --a girl!" Saltash's voice was suddenly very suave; he wassmiling still, but there was something rather formidable about his smile. "A young girl, Captain Beaumont, but amply protected, I assure you. Itwas our last night on board. She was masquerading in the state-cabin in apage's livery when you struck us. But for Larpent we should have beentrapped there like rats when the yacht went down. He came and hauled usout, and we saved the child between us. " He turned again to the doctor, his teeth gleaming fox-like between his smiling lips. "Really, I am sorryto disappoint you, " he said. "But the truth is seldom as highly-colouredas our unpleasant imaginings. The child is--Larpent's daughter. " He rosewith the words, still suavely smiling. "And now, if she is well enough, Iam going to ask you to take me to her. It will be better for her to hearabout her father from me than from a stranger. "

Though courteously uttered, his words contained a distinct command. Thedoctor looked at him with the hostility born of discomfiture, but heraised no protest. Somehow Saltash was invincible at that moment. 

"Certainly you can see her if you wish, " he said stiffly. "In fact, shehas been asking for you. "

"Ah!" said Saltash, and turned with ceremony to the captain. "Have I yourpermission to go, sir?"

"Of course--of course!" the captain said. "I shall hope to see you againlater, Lord Saltash. "

"Thank you, " said Saltash, and relaxed into his sudden grin. "I shouldhave thought you would be glad to get rid of me before my bad luckspreads any further. "

The _Corfe Castle_, herself slightly damaged, was putting back toSouthampton to land the victims of the disaster, and to obtain somenecessary repairs. The weather was thickening, and progress was slow, butthey expected to arrive before mid-day. Saltash, carelessly sauntering inthe doctor's wake, found himself the object of considerable interest onthe part of those passengers who were already up in the murk of the earlymorning. He was stopped by several to receive congratulations upon hisescape, but he refused to be detained for long. He had business below, hesaid, and the doctor was waiting. And so at last he came to a cabin atthe end of a long passage, at the door of which a kind-faced stewardessmet them and exchanged a few words with his guide. 

"Can I go in?" said Saltash, growing impatient. 

The woman looked at him with wonder and compassion in her eyes. "The poorlittle thing is very upset, " she said. "She lies and trembles, and hashardly spoken at all except to ask for you. "

"Well, let me in!" said Saltash, suddenly imperious. "I've got somethingto tell her. "

He had his way, for there was something about him that compelled justthen. He entered the cabin as a king might enter the apartment of aslave, and he shut the door with decision upon those without. 

Then for a second--just for a second--he hesitated. "Toby!" he said. 

A meagre form sprang upright in the bunk at the sound of his voice. Twobare, skinny arms reached out to him. Then with a single stride Saltashwas beside the bunk and was holding tightly to him a small, whimperingcreature that hid its face very deeply against his breast and clutched athim piteously whenever he sought to raise it. 

Saltash bent his dark head over the fair one and spoke very gently, yetwith authority. "It's all right, child. I know. I've known all along!Don't fret yourself! There's no need. I've got you under my protection. You're safe. "

"You--know!" whispered the muffled voice--Toby's voice, but strangelydevoid of Toby's confidence. "What must you--think?"

"I!" Saltash laughed a little. "I never think. I giveeveryone--always--the benefit of the doubt; which is considerably morethan anyone ever gives me. "

"And--you saved my life!" gasped Toby "Why did you? Why did you?"

"I wanted it, " said Saltash promptly. "Now listen a moment! We've donewith this show. It's played out. We'll ring up on another. You've got tochange your name again. I'm telling everyone you're Larpent's daughter. "

That brought the fair head upwards very swiftly. The blue eyes with theirshort black lashes looked straight up to his. "But--but--CaptainLarpent--"

"Oh, never mind Larpent! I'll square him. " Saltash's look flashed overthe pale, tear-stained face. His hold, though close, no longer compelled. "Leave it all to me! Don't you fret! I'll square Larpent. I'll squareeverybody. You lie low till they put us ashore! After that--do you thinkyou can--trust me?"

He spoke with comically twisted eyebrows and a smile half-kindly andhalf-quizzical. And the forlorn little creature in his arms turned with aswooping, passionate movement, caught one of his hands and pressed it toquivering lips. 

"I'll live--or die--for your sake!" the trembling voice told him. "I'mjust--yours. "

Saltash stopped abruptly and laid his face for a moment against theshorn, golden head. Just for that moment a hint of emotion showed in hisstrange eyes, but it was gone instantly. 

He raised himself again with a grimace of self-ridicule. "Well, lookhere! Don't forget to play the game! Larpent--your daddy--is knocked out, remember. He is unconscious for the present, but the doctor chap seems tothink he'll be all right. A nasty suspicious person that doctor, so watchout! And let me see! What is Toby short for? I'd better know. "

"Antoinette, " whispered the lips that still caressed his hand. 

"Antoinette!" Saltash's hand closed softly upon the pointed chin, softlylifted it. "I think _Mignonette_ would suit you better, " he said, in hisquick, caressing way. "It's time I chose a name for you, _ma chère_. Ishall call you that. "

"Or just Nonette of Nowhere, " breathed the red lips, piteously smiling. "That would suit me--best of all. "

"No--no!" said Saltash, and gently relinquished his hold. "Don't forgetthat you are a favourite of the gods! That counts for something, my Toby. They don't take up with everybody. "

"They haven't done much for me so far, " said Toby, suddenly rebellious. 

"Hush!" said Saltash, with semi-comic warning. "You are too young to saythat. "

"I am--older than you think, sir, " said Toby, colouring painfully andturning from his look. 

"No, you're not!" Swiftly, with a certain arrogance, Saltash made answer. "I know--how old you are, child. It is written in your eyes. They havealways told me--all I need to know. " Then, very tenderly, as Toby's handscovered them from his look: "_Mais, Mignonette_, they have never told meanything that you could wish me not to know. "

He slipped his arm again about the slender shoulders and pressed themclosely for a moment. Then he stood up and turned to go. 

He was smiling as he passed out--the smile of the gambler who knows thathe holds a winning card. 

PART II

CHAPTER I

JAKE BOLTON

It was a week after the sinking of _The Night Moth_ that Saltash, veryimmaculately dressed, with field-glasses slung over his shoulder, madehis first appearance since the disaster at a meeting on the GraydownRace-course, a few miles from his ancient castle of Burchester. He waslooking very well pleased with himself and certainly none the worse forthe adventure as he sauntered among his friends, of whom a good many werepresent. His ugly face and wiry figure were well-known at Graydown, andhe seemed sure of his welcome wherever he went. 

There had been a time years before when he had kept his own stud, andracing had been his hobby. It had not held him for long. He was not theman to pursue any one object for any length of time. With characteristicvolatility he had thrown up this amusement to follow others, but he hadnever wholly abandoned his interest in the stud which had once been his. 

It was owned by one, Jake Bolton, a man of rugged exterior whoseintegrity had become a proverb on the Turf. This man was Saltash'serstwhile trainer, and a very curious bond existed between them. Utterlyunlike in every respect, the one as subtle as the other was simple, yetthe two men were friends. How it had come about neither of them quiteknew. When Saltash had been his employer, Jake Bolton had distrusted anddespised him, but by some means this attitude of his had become verymaterially modified. He greeted Saltash now with the hand of friendshipwhich Saltash on his part was always ready to accept with a bafflingsmile that was not wholly without irony. He was wont to say that any mancould make an enemy of him, but no man could keep him as such. Perhaps itwas that very volatility of his which made anything of the nature ofprolonged enmity an impossibility. He possessed also that maddening senseof humour that laughs at deadly things. A good many people had tried totake him seriously and had failed. He was never serious. As he used tosay with his mocking laugh, life was difficult enough withoutcomplications of that sort. All he ever asked of it was a certain meadof enjoyment. It was utterly unreasonable to expect anything else. Happiness! What was it. A bursting bubble, no more. No lasting joy hadever come his way, and he was fain to believe that such a thing did notexist outside the covers of a book. 

Jake Bolton could have told him otherwise, but he and Saltash never spokeof abstract things. Saltash might have seen the deep content in the man'seyes, but if he had, he would probably have scoffed at it. In any casethere was certainly no denying that he and Bolton had been cast indifferent moulds, and that which gave life-long satisfaction to thelatter would have held the former for possibly but a very brief period. As a woman friend who knew him well had once said of him, Charles Rex wastoo rapid a traveller to gather much upon the way. For though keen forpleasure, he was too restless for its enjoyment when attained. But eventhat friend had not fathomed all the possibilities of that strangepersonality. Perhaps there was only one woman in the world who would everdo that. 

It was a showery spring day, and the turf of the race-course shone with afresh greenness. Saltash strolled through the paddock to find JakeBolton, whistling a careless air as he went. Several stable-boys salutedhim as he passed, and finally a man he knew, Sam Vickers, Bolton'sright-hand man, came up and accosted him. 

"Are you looking for Mr. Bolton, my lord? He's round by the boxes withSir Bernard Brian. We've got our best two-year-old round there--PrinceCharlie his name is. He's by the old Hundredth Chance and Queen of theEarth. Your lordship ought to see him. He is a royalty and no mistake;tame as a dog too, and that knowing--well, there, you'd hardly believeit, but we have to talk in French sometimes so as he shan't know what wesay!"

Saltash chuckled. "You must let me hear you, Sam. All right. I'll goround. Ah! Here is Sir Bernard! Hullo, Bunny, my boy! You, is it? Where'sthe boss?"

A black-haired, black-eyed lad of about three-and-twenty, handsome, spare, and very upright, had come suddenly round the corner of abuilding. He greeted Saltash with enthusiasm. 

"Why, Charlie! I'm awfully pleased to see you! We all thought you weredone for. How are you, I say? It was rotten luck for you to lose the poorold _Night Moth_ like that. Hope she was decently insured. And you'renone the worse?"

"Not a mite!" laughed Saltash. "How are you? As skimpy a bag of bones asever?"

"Oh, dash it! I've grown!" protested Bunny. "I'm as tall as you areanyway. "

"Oh, you're long enough, " chaffed Saltash. "But you're too damn slim! Ishould think Maud could get you through her wedding-ring if she tried. "

"Shut up!" growled Bunny who was somewhat sensitive on the point ofphysical shortcomings. "I'm well enough, so what does it matter? Are youcoming round to see Maud when this show is over?"

"Depends, " grinned Saltash. 

"What's it depend on?" Bunny linked an arm in his and drew him forward;they were friends of many years' standing. 

Saltash looked at him with his odd eyes that always seemed to bespeculating like a monkey's, as to how far his next jump would carry him. "Depends upon Jake of course. Your good brother-in-law doesn't alwaysinvite the wolf into the fold, _mon cher_. "

"As if you needed an invitation!" ejaculated Bunny impatiently. "Well, Iinvite you anyway. I know Maud will be awfully disappointed if you don'tcome and tell her all about your adventure. We were talking about youonly this morning. "

"Really!" said Saltash. "Would it be rude to ask what you were saying?"

Bunny's thin face flushed. "You're welcome to know so far as I'mconcerned, " he said bluntly. "I always stick up for you, Charlie. "

"Do you? _Mais vraiment!_" protested Saltash. "I am touched beyond words. And what says Brother Jake to that?"

"Oh, Jake says I'm an ass, but he's quite decent about you, Charlie, --rather fond of you in fact. Don't run away with that idea!"begged Bunny, turning still redder. "Only people jaw a lot about you, youknow. No one ever can be content to mind their own business. "

"He'd be a fool who was, " said Saltash. "There's no such thing asindependent action in this world. We all hang to each other like swarmingbees. So you've been sticking up for me, have you? And what says SisterMaud?"

Bunny broke into a sudden laugh. "Oh, she's decided to reserve judgment. You'll have to come and see her. You really must. And the kids too--fourof 'em now. The eldest is a darling. "

"Eileen! Oh, I know Eileen, " said Saltash. "I was actually allowed tohave her to tea once at the Castle. I am not supposed to have such avenomous effect upon quite small girls as upon young men of two or threeand twenty. "

"Oh, shut up!" Bunny growled again. "There's Jake, look! Come and speakto him!"

There was nothing ornamental about Jake Bolton. Short, thick-set, powerful as a bull and with something of a bull's unswerving contempt forall obstacles in his path, with red-brown eyes that were absolutely levelin their regard and mercilessly keen, such was the man who had marriedMaud Brian eight years before, practically in the teeth of Saltash whohad wooed her in her girlhood. There was no feud between them. Theirenmity was long since dead and buried. Saltash could be intolerablymalicious and even vindictive when the mood took him, but his moods neverlasted. And as for Bolton, since he had won and still possessed hisheart's desire, he could afford to be generous. 

His greeting was generous now, but it was not wholly without reserve. Hegave Saltash a square hand-grip before he uttered a word. 

Then: "Glad you're safe and sound, my lord, " he said, in a voice that wascuriously soft and deliberate. 

"That's uncommon kind of you, Jake, " laughed Saltash, with his royal airof graciousness. "I share the sentiment. I know you would all have beenheart-broken if I hadn't turned up again. How is Maud?"

"Very well--if she doesn't work too hard. I have to keep her in order inthat respect, " said Jake Bolton with a sudden smile that swept all thesomewhat dominant lines from his face. 

Saltash grinned in sympathy. "You always were a bully, but I'll bet shegets her own way all the same. So you've got a boy at last! Hope it's agood one!"

"He'd better be, hadn't he, Jake?" struck in Bunny. "The imp is sixmonths old now and goes for a canter on The Hundredth Chance every daywhen I'm at home. You actually haven't seen him yet, Charlie? What arotter you were to be away all the winter!"

"Well, I'm home now anyway, " said Saltash, with a comical glance at Jake. "Am I to be allowed to call and view the latest acquisition?"

Jake was looking straight at him. "Are you--alone at the Castle, mylord?" he asked after a moment. 

Saltash began to laugh. "Of course I'm alone! What did you expect? Ah, Isee!" His glance flashed to Bunny. "Yes, I am quite alone--mostconspicuously and virtuously unaccompanied. Come and see for yourself!Search the Castle from turret-chamber to dungeon! You will find nothingbut the most monastic emptiness. I've turned into a hermit. Haven't theymade that discovery yet? My recent deliverance from what I must admit wasa decidedly awkward predicament in the Channel has sobered me to such anextent that on my life I begin to doubt if I shall ever be anything but adull dog again. Yes, that's the truth, Jake. You can take it or leave it. But I'm coming to see Maud in any case. When is my presence least likelyto cause you inconvenience?"

"Oh, damn it, Jake!" broke in Bunny with sudden heat. "You know Maud saidyou were to ask him to dine if he turned up. "

"You shut up, my son!" commanded Jake with absolute serenity. "It's notany business of yours anyway. We'll send you to bed before dinner if youaren't mighty careful. "

Bunny laughed at the threat, but his sallow boyish face colouredsensitively notwithstanding. 

Saltash laughed also. "Oh, you needn't do that, Jake. I'm as harmless asany sucking dove, I assure you. You'll have to put up with me now. Whenshall I come?"

"Come tonight!" said Jake with quiet decision. "Eight o'clock if thatsuits you. Afraid I must go now. Bunny, take his lordship to see PrinceCharlie!"

He lifted a hand in salute and turned away--a man of no pretensionseither social or intellectual, yet who knew how to hold his own with highand low alike. 

"Keeps you in order still, does he?" gibed Saltash, as he watched him go. "You're getting too old to be on a leading-string, _mon cher_. "

Bunny frowned at the careless words. "You don't know him. He's not thatsort of ass. We're pals, Jake and I, and I'm proud of it. "

"Of course you are!" said Saltash comfortably. "Didn't I tell you longago that he was a gentleman? It's the way he's made. Hewn out of rawmaterial, but the real thing and no mistake. You must never quarrel withhim on my account, Bunny, my lad. It would be very poor economy on yourpart. "

"I shan't do that, " said Bunny. "But he's got to do you justice. Maudsays the same. "

Saltash laughed aloud. "But, my dear chap, nobody ever does that! I don'tmyself!"

Bunny looked at him with affection. "You always have tried to makeyourself out a worse rotter than you really are, haven't you, Charlie?I always tell Jake so. "

"No, it's not my doing, " said Saltash lightly. "That's the rest of theworld, _mon ami_. They like their pictures highly coloured. So--_pourquoipas_?"

He snapped his fingers and laughed, and they passed on together withcareless jesting and friendly chaff. Saltash had always been kind toyoung Bernard Brian. The boy had been a helpless cripple in hischildhood, and he had developed a keen appreciation for all kindnessduring those days which nothing could now efface. Whatever Saltash'smorals, he was a friend, and as such Bunny never failed to treat him. They spent the rest of the afternoon together in and out of theenclosure, and when amidst wild enthusiasm Prince Charlie won hismaiden race, the two were waiting side by side to congratulate Jakeas he led the victor in. Saltash departed soon afterwards and motoredback to Burchester Castle to dress. And then Bunny, half-laughing, half-apologetic, turned to his brother-in-law. 

"I can't help being decent to Charlie, Jake. I don't care a damn whatthey say. "

Jake gave him a straight look from under his rough red brows. "I'm notblaming you, " he said. 

CHAPTER II

MAUD BOLTON

Someone was singing a baby lullaby very softly in the beautiful room withthe bay window that looked straight over the rolling down. It was a verysweet voice that sang, and sometimes the low notes were a littletremulous as though some tender emotion thrilled through the song. Thesinger was lying back in a rocking-chair close to the bay-window with herbaby in her arms. 

Beyond the long, undulating slope there stretched a silver line of seathat gleamed with a still radiance in the light of the dying day. AndMaud Bolton, who once had been that proud and desolate girl Maud Brian, gazed out upon it with happy, dreaming eyes. It had been a hot spring dayand she was tired, but it was a pleasant weariness, and the little bodythat nestled on her breast brought sheer rapture to her woman's heart. Itwas the baby boy for whom for years she had longed in vain. 

There came a slight sound at an open door behind her that led to anotherroom. She turned her head with a quick smile. 

"Jake!"

He came, treading softly, and stood beside her. The failing light on hisrugged face showed it strangely softened, almost transformed. 

He stooped after a moment and kissed her. "Why isn't the little 'un inbed?" he said, with his eyes on the sleeping baby-face. 

The smile still lingered about her lips. "I thought he and I would bothof us have a little treat tonight. Do you know he is six months oldtoday?"

Jake's square fingers caressed the baby's placid forehead. "Yes, I know, "he said. 

Maud uttered a faint sigh. "And so--according to the law of the Medes andPersians--he is not going to sleep with his mother any longer. He is tobe banished to the nursery. But I thought I would put him to sleepfirst. "

Jake's look came to her face. "There's no law that I know of, " he said inhis slow way. "Keep him in here if you want to!"

She lifted her eyes to his--beautiful eyes, deeply violet. "Thank you, Jake. But it's all settled, and he won't mind. "

"He doesn't matter so much, " said Jake. 

She smiled and laid her cheek against his arm. "No, it's all right. Nurseunderstands him. I won't have him again unless he's ill. I should have tothen. "

"Of course, " said Jake. He bent down. "Let me have him! I'll take him tothe nursery. "

"Ah, don't wake him!" she said. 

Jake's arms encompassed the little bundle and lifted it from her. Thebaby made a small noise that sounded like a protest, but he did not openhis eyes. 

"Don't you come!" said Jake. "I'll fix him. "

And with light tread he bore his son away. Maud looked after him with atouch of wistfulness, but she did not move, and in a few minutes he cameback to her, knelt beside her, and gathered her strongly into his arms. 

"My girl!" he said softly. "My own girl!"

She clasped him round the neck, laying her head against him withoutwords. 

"Tired?" he said. 

"No--no--not really! Too happy to complain anyway. " She spoke in awhisper as if unwilling to break her silence. 

"You want more help, " he said. 

She lifted her face and kissed his neck. "No, Jake dear. I don't want thechildren taken out of my hands entirely. Whatever should I do withoutthem?"

"Look after me for a change, " suggested Jake. 

She laughed a muffled laugh with her lips raised to his. "Do I neglectyou, Jake?"

"No, " he said. "You're the best wife a man ever had. I believe I'm firstwith you--even now. "

"Always--always first, " she whispered against the lips that pressed herown. 

He held her very closely to him for a space in silence. He had loved herwith a fiery worship from the first moment of their meeting, but thewealth of her answering love still filled his soul with wonder. Over andover again he would tell himself that he was not her sort, but when heheld her thus throbbing against his heart, he knew beyond all questioningthat they were one. 

"You haven't told me a single thing about today's meeting, " she murmuredpresently. 

Jake began to smile. "On my soul I had forgotten all about it. PrinceCharlie has gained his first laurels. He won by two and a half lengths. "

"Oh, Jake, how splendid! How proud you must be! I'm tremendously glad. And what about Charlie? Was he there to see his namesake carry all beforehim?"

"Saltash, do you mean? Yes, he was there. " Jake's tone was somewhat dry. 

Maud drew back a little to look at him. "I hope you asked him to dine, "she said. 

"Oh yes, " said Jake, with a touch of grimness. "Bunny saw to that on yourbehalf. He considers--and with reason--that you have a right to askwhoever you like to your own house. "

"Jake!" Maud suddenly sat upright, her eyes burning like stars. "If Bunnysaid that--"

"He didn't, " said Jake. 

"Or hinted it even--it was perfectly hateful of him! I shall go and tellhim so!"

Maud made as if she would release herself from his hold, but herestrained her. 

"No--no, my girl! You keep calm! I can hold my own with Bunny, and hedidn't mean any harm. I asked Saltash all right, and he's coming. "

"Against your will, " said Maud. 

"No. Against my judgment, maybe. Not against my will. I've no objectionto entertaining him if you wish it. You and I don't quarrel over trifleslike Saltash. "

Jake's tone was humorously tender. He patted her flushed cheek in aconciliatory fashion. She turned very swiftly and kissed his hand. 

"Thank you, Jake--darling. But--you are master in this house, remember. No one enters it without your consent. "

"Not even Saltash?" smiled Jake. 

"Not even--Bunny!" said Maud, still breathing resentment. 

He took her gently by the shoulder. "Look here, my girl! I won't have yousay a word to the boy about this, see? I didn't know you'd flare up likethat or I shouldn't have spoken. He didn't mean it that way. If he had, I'd have punched his head. And after all, " his eyes smiled suddenly intohers, "I do live on my wife's bounty, don't I? Wouldn't I be driving cowson the other side of the Atlantic without it?"

"No, " Maud said. "You'd be owning your own ranch by this time, and--and--and generally licking creation, Jake, as only you know how. "

"Oh, shucks!" said Jake softly, and kissed her again upon the lips. "I'dsooner be here anyway. Well, Saltash is coming, so we've got to make thebest of it. I shouldn't care a cuss if it weren't for young Bunny. Buthe's always been keener on his lordship's company than I've thoughtadvisable. "

"Oh, Jake, " she said, colouring a little, "I don't believe Charlie woulddo him any harm. "

"Not intentionally perhaps, " said Jake. "I've no ill feeling for him, heaven knows, but I can't say I think his society likely to have a veryimproving effect upon anyone. "

"I don't think you quite understand him, " Maud said thoughtfully. 

Whereat Jake laughed so suddenly that she looked at him with raisedbrows. He got to his feet, still laughing. 

"Very likely not. We've had a good many misunderstandings, he and I, fromthe day I cowhided him for a scoundrel to the day I nearly shot him for ablackguard. "

"Oh, but that was all so long ago, " Maud said quickly. "He wasn't muchmore than a boy in those days. He has grown a lot since then. "

Jake grunted. "Which way, think you? Well, I must dress. He may be herebefore we're ready for him. "

He turned to go back to his own room, but Maud stayed him for a moment. "Jake, " she said almost wistfully, "you know--with all his faults--healways had--possibilities. "

"I know, " Jake said, looking down at her. "He's made the most of 'emtoo. "

Her face quivered. "Don't, " she said. "It--isn't it rather ungenerous tocondemn a man unheard?"

Jake made a faint sound of contempt or scepticism, but no reply in words. 

She drew herself up out of her chair by his arm. "Jake, I want you to dosomething for me. "

"Well?" said Jake uncompromisingly. 

She met his look unswervingly. "Let me be a friend to him tonight! Let mebe alone with him and find out--if he will tell me--whether there is anytruth in this rumour that there was a woman on board the yacht. "

"And when you've found out?" said Jake. 

She made a little gesture of appeal. "Will you leave that to me? I havesometimes felt that I might be--a help to him if ever there came anopportunity. Jake, you don't mind my trying to help him? I have a feelingthat I understand him better than most people do. "

"I think it's a wasted sentiment, " Jake said. "But--do what seems good toyou, my girl! I shan't interfere. "

"And you won't be vexed?" she pleaded. 

He smiled his sudden, illumining smile. "No, I reckon you'll never vex meany that way again, " he said. 

She went close to him. "Indeed--no, Jake! But--don't you understand? Ihate to go against your wishes--your prejudices--in anything. "

He put out a hand to her. "You needn't be afraid of that either, " hesaid. "If you do it--it's right. "

She clasped the strong hand tightly in both her own. "That's the bestthing you've ever said to me, " she said. "Are you quite sure you meanit?"

"Sure, " said Jake, and pulled her to him to kiss her once again. 

CHAPTER III

BUNNY

When Saltash arrived that evening he found Bunny and Jake saunteringtogether in the sunset glow along the gravelled terrace in front of thehouse. He shot towards them in his car with that characteristicsuddenness of his, swerving and coming to a stand before the porch withthe confident ease of an alighting bird. And here, seated in the porchand screened by white clematis, he found Maud. 

She rose to greet him, her eyes alight with pleasure. "Oh, Charlie, " shesaid, "I have wanted to shake hands with you ever since I heard of yourescape. "

He bent and kissed the hand she gave him. "Gracious as ever!" hecommented lightly. "Had you begun to wear mourning for me, I wonder? Itwas a very cold bath, I assure you. We didn't enjoy it, any of us. "

"I am sure you didn't. " Her eyes still dwelt upon the dark face with itshalf-mocking smile with a species of maternal tenderness. "And you lostyour yacht too! That was desperately unlucky. "

He made a comic grimace. "I am past the age for crying over spilt milk, Maud of the Roses. " He uttered his old name for her with daringassurance. "I have had worse losses than that in my time. "

"And still you smile, " she said. 

He bowed. "A smile can conceal so much. " He turned to his host as he cameup behind him. "Well, Jake, I've taken you at your word, you see, andintruded into your virtuous household. How are Eileen and Molly and Bettyand--last but not least--the son and heir?"

Maud laughed softly. "Well done, Charlie! How clever of you to rememberthem all!"

"Oh yes, I am quite clever, " said Saltash, as again his hand met Jake's. "Too clever sometimes. I needn't ask if all goes well with you, Jake. Your prosperity is obvious, but don't wax fat on it. Bunny now--he's aslean as a giraffe. Can't you do something to him? He looks as if he'dmelt into thin air at a touch. "

"Oh, don't be an ass!" protested Bunny. "I'm as strong as a horse anyway. Jake, tell him not to be an ass!"

"No good, I'm afraid, " said Jake, with his sudden smile. "Come inside, mylord! The children are all flourishing, but in bed at the present moment. The baby--"

"Oh, I must see the baby!" declared Saltash, turning back to Maud. 

She laid a hand on his arm. "I will take you to see him after dinner. "

"Will you?" He smiled into her eyes. "I shall like that. But I shallprobably want to shoot Jake when I come down again. Think it's safe?"

She smiled back at him with confidence. "Yes, I think so. Anyhow, I'm notafraid. "

"Come and feed!" said Jake. 

They sat down in the pretty oak-panelled dining-room with its windowsopening upon the terrace and the long dim line of down. Saltash talkedfreely of Valrosa, of his subsequent voyaging, of the wreck of _The NightMoth_, but no word did he utter of the gift that had been flung to him onthat night of stars in the Mediterranean. He was always completely at hisease in Jake's household, but it was not his way to touch at any time inMaud's presence upon any matter that could not be openly discussed beforeher. Their intimacy was not without its reservations. 

Maud in her quiet happiness detected no hint of restraint in his manner. But he had always been elusive, often subtle. She did not look forcandour from Charles Rex--unless she asked for it. 

Watching him on that spring evening in the soft glow of the candles, marking the restless play of feature, the agile readiness of his wit, sheasked herself, not for the first time, what manner of soul he had behindthe mask. Somehow she did not wholly believe in that entity which sooften looked jibing forth. Though she could ascribe no reason for it, shehad a strong suspicion that the real self that was Saltash was of adifferent fibre altogether--a thing that had often suffered violence itmight be, but nevertheless possessed of that gift of the resurrectionwhich no violence can destroy. 

"Why are you dissecting me tonight?" he asked her once and laughed andchanged the subject before she could reply. 

When dinner was over and she rose, he sprang to open the door for herwith that royal _bonhomie_ of his which somehow gave him the right toenter where others waited for permission. 

"Take Bunny with you!" he murmured. "I want to talk to Jake. "

She lifted her eyes with a flash of surprise. He bent towards her. 

"And afterwards to you, Queen Rose. I shall not forget to claim myprivileges in that respect. "

She laughed a little, but she obeyed his behest as a matter of course. "Come for a turn in the garden with me, Bunny!" she said. "I've hardlyseen you today. "

The boy got up, passing Jake with a careless slap on the shoulder thattestified to the excellent good fellowship that existed between them. 

Saltash turned back into the room, and threw himself down by his host. "That's right, " he said as the door closed upon the brother and sister. "Now we can talk. "

Jake pushed a box of cigars to him. His keen eyes took Saltash in withthe attention of the man accustomed to probe beneath the surface. Therewere not many who could hide from Jake Bolton anything he desired toknow. 

Saltash flicked an eyelid under his direct scrutiny as he chose hiscigar. He was never more baffling than in his moments of candour. 

"There are several things I've come to consult you about, Jake, " he saideasily, as Jake leaned across with a match. 

"I'm listening, " said Jake. 

Saltash sent him a quizzical glance as his cigar kindled. "Prepared toturn me down at all points?" he suggested. 

Jake's mouth relaxed a little. "Prepared to listen anyway, " he said. "It's to do with young Bunny, I take it. "

Saltash leaned back in his chair with a laugh. "Very smart of you! Bunnycertainly is my first proposition. What are you going to do with him?"

Jake also leaned back, and smoked for several seconds in silence. Saltashwatched him with semi-comic curiosity. 

"Something of a problem, eh?" he said, after a pause. 

Jake's eyes came to him and remained upon him with steady insistence. "He's not going to turn into a fancy-dress loafer, my lord, " he said atlength in his soft, deliberate voice. "I'll see to that anyway. "

"Don't be nasty, Jake!" protested Saltash with a smile. "I'm notproposing to adopt him. But I can give him employment, if that's whathe's wanting. What do you want to make of him?"

Jake's steady look remained upon him. "Just an honest man, I reckon, " hesaid. 

"Ah! Quite so!" Open mockery gleamed back at him from Saltash'shalf-closed eyes. "All contaminating influences to be kept away. Is thatit?"

Jake was silent. 

Saltash sent a cloud of smoke upwards before he spoke again. Then: "Iagree with you, Jake, " he said. "We mustn't spoil the boy. He shan'tlearn any naughty ways from me. Come! That's a promise. And I'm not sucha blackguard as I used to be. "

"Sure?" said Jake. 

Again Saltash's smile flashed across at him. "Quite sure, my worthyphilosopher, " he made light reply. "I don't set up for a model of virtueof course, but at least--now-a-days--I never take what I can't pay for. "

"That so?" said Jake. He considered the matter for a few moments, thenslowly took the cigar from between his lips and spoke. "It's certainlytrue; Bunny is a problem. He's not strong; and though he's got grit, hehasn't got what I call punching power. He's been ordered an out-doorlife, and he wants to join me in running the stud. I could do with him ofcourse, but I've a strong feeling against it, anyway till he's older. It's not the right atmosphere for him, and it doesn't bring him incontact with the right people. He ought to be in the Army, but he wasn'tstrong enough. It's a big grievance with him for there's nothingradically wrong; just weak tendencies that he may outgrow if he leads ahealthy life and doesn't strain himself. We're just marking time atpresent, so if you have anything to suggest--well, I've no doubt he'll besomething more than grateful. "

"And you?" questioned Saltash, with a grimace at the ceiling. 

"I too, " said Jake, "if it's for the boy's good. "

"You needn't hold a pistol at my head, " protested Saltash. "I shan't puthim in the way of any short cuts to the devil. All I have to offer him isthe post of bailiff at Burchester Castle, as old Bishop has got beyondhis job. I can't turn the old beggar out, but I want a young man to takethe burden off his shoulders. Do you think that sort of thing would bebeneath Bunny's dignity, or likely to upset his morals?"

"He'd probably jump at the chance, " said Jake. 

"Which is more than his worthy brother-in-law does on his behalf, "grinned Saltash. 

"No, " Jake's steady eyes met the gibe unfaltering. "I know it's a chancethat doesn't come every day, and I know you mean well by him. I shan'tput any hindrance in the way. "

"Then it's done, " said Saltash. "Bunny's fate is sealed. "

"I hope not. " Jake still gravely watched him, but not as if he sought foranything in the baffling, mobile countenance. "What do you want him foranyway?"

Saltash flicked the ash from his cigar. "Perhaps I'm turningphilanthropist, Jake. Do you know the symptoms? I've been anxious aboutmyself several times lately. "

"Come on rather suddenly, hasn't it?" suggested Jake. 

Saltash nodded. "It's old age, I fancy. Anyhow I've a notion for doingBunny a good turn. The boy can have play as well as work. He can join thepolo-club at Fairharbour. I'll introduce him. "

"And where will he live?" asked Jake. 

"With the old Bishops of course. He'll be safe enough with them andwithin reach of you and Maud at the same time. It's time you eased theleading string a bit, you know. He'll start kicking if you don't. "

"I don't think so, " said Jake. "He goes his own way already quite as muchas is good for him. I don't need to hold him in very tight either. He'snot the bolting sort. "

"You mean you've trained him well, " laughed Saltash. "I congratulate you. You've a genius for that sort of thing, Jake. The boy will probablyanswer to your lightest touch and never even know he does it. "

"What was the other thing you wanted to say to me?" said Jake. 

"Oh that!" Saltash's eyes fell suddenly to his empty wine glass. Hefingered the stem of it for a few seconds with a curiously irresoluteair. "Do you know I think I'll put it to Maud first!" he said at length, with a smile that was faintly shamefaced. 

"It'll come to the same thing, " said Jake. 

Saltash's eyes flashed upwards. He met Jake's look almost with defiance. "Doubtless you are master in your own house, Jake, " he said. "Far be itfrom me to question it. "

"I didn't mean that, " said Jake. "What I meant was, " the red-brown eyesbegan to smile, "that Maud and I are friends--and we generally want thesame thing. "

Saltash nodded. "Not so bad after eight years, " he said. 

"No. It's pretty great, " said Jake. "You'd think we were an ill-matchedpair, wouldn't you? But we've learnt to plough as straight a furrow asanyone. "

"No, I don't think you ill-matched, " said Saltash unexpectedly. "You'vealways been about the same height and breadth, my friend. I saw that along time ago. The luckiest day that ever dawned for Maud was the one onwhich you cut me out. "

"Think so?" said Jake. "Well, it wasn't a very lucky one for you, I'mafraid. "

"I got over it, " said Saltash lightly. "I'm too great a rotter, you know, Jake, to take things much to heart. I've loved heaps of women since--evensome good ones. But they never take me seriously; so I presume I shallcontinue to rot. "

"Thought you'd turned sober, " suggested Jake. 

Again Saltash's look dwelt upon the ruby drain in his wine-glass. For amoment the restlessness of his face deepened to something very nearlyapproaching melancholy. 

"I'm tired, Jake, " he said abruptly. "I've run through the whole gamut ofamusements, and I'm bored to the soul. I want to do a good turn tosomebody--just for a change--to see what it feels like. Perhaps--whoknows--it may take the taste of rottenness out of my mouth. You fellowswho lead a decent, orderly life don't know what it is when the wine turnsto vinegar and all the sweets of life to gall. "

"Sounds pretty damnable, " said Jake. 

Saltash grimaced like a weary monkey. "It's dust and ashes, my good Jake. But we won't discuss it. Let's come to business! You know Larpent--mycaptain--quite one of the best?"

Jake nodded. "I've met him--yes. "

Saltash flung himself back in his chair smoking rapidly. "He was damagedwhen the yacht went down. He's in a nursing home in town, getting better. He's got a daughter--a girl called Antoinette. She's been at school inFrance, and Larpent was bringing her home in the yacht when we went down. She's nineteen--a jolly little thing--half French. Larpent doesn't knowwhat to do with her. He has no people. She--quite properly--wants toearn her own living. But she's too young yet to fight the world. Larpent's a rover, he'll never settle on land. She's never had any homelife, poor kid. And she wants it. You'll say it's like my damned cheek tocome to you, but on my life you and Maud are the only people I can thinkof. There's my old friend Lady Jo--Mrs. Green as she prefers to becalled--but she isn't very strong just now. I can't bother her. Besidesshe hasn't got a home like yours. She's up in town. "

The jerky utterance came to an end. Saltash turned his head towards Jake, watching him half furtively through the smoke. 

There followed a silence of some duration. Jake's brows were slightlydrawn. He spoke at last, slowly and softly as his manner was. "Are yousuggesting that--Captain Larpent's daughter--should come to us?"

"She'd be useful enough, " said Saltash in his quick, vehement way. "She'dhelp Maud with the children. There's nothing she wouldn't do. It would bea kindness on your part, and you wouldn't regret it. She's a takinglittle thing. I'd like you to have her for a month, and if you don't wantto keep her after that--well--shunt her back on to Larpent. He'll be wellby that time. If he isn't--I'll look after her till he is. "

"Who's looking after her now?" said Jake. "Where is she?"

Saltash pushed back his chair with a movement of impatience. "Did youthink I'd bring her to Burchester for all the county to blab about? She'sunder my protection--and she's safe. " He spoke with a certain fierceness, and in a moment was pacing the room, his face arrogantly lifted. "I knowvery well the sort of story that's going round, but if you're a white manyou'll help me to give it the lie. I know I'm a blackguard, Jake, --neverpretended to be anything else. But I hope I'm a gentleman as well--atleast where women are concerned. That child is none the worse in mind orbody for being thrown on my hands. You've got to believe that. "

"All right, " said Jake. 

Saltash paced jerkily on, his hands behind him. "I want you to have herbecause you're straight, and she'll come to no harm with you. You nevereven parley with the devil, do you, Jake? Remember that time--it's tenyears ago, more--when a man tried to tempt you to tamper with one of yourhorses and you horsewhipped him for his baseness. "

"I prefer not to remember it, my lord, " said Jake. 

Saltash stopped suddenly by his chair and gripped his shoulder with awiry hand. "I've liked you ever since, " he said. "Look here, Jake! I'mnot tempting you to do anything wrong now. I'm asking you to do somethingthat doesn't appeal to you; but if you do it, it'll be one of the mostdecent actions of your life. That child is quite alone just now--exceptfor me. Will you take her--like a good chap--till something else safeturns up?"

Jake sat slowly forward. "I'll have to talk it over with Maud, " he said. 

Saltash's grip shifted impatiently. "You know very well what Maud willsay. Don't be an ass about it! Say No--if you mean to say No--at once!"

There came the quiet tread of approaching feet on the gravelled terraceand the sound of low voices talking together. Jake lifted his head. Hisface was grim. He looked Saltash straight in the eyes. 

"You've told me the plain truth about her. You swear it?"

Saltash's swarthy countenance was in shadow, but those strange eyes ofhis gleamed oddly, with the sort of fitful shining that comes from a coatof mail in an uncertain light. They did not flinch from Jake's straightregard, neither did they wholly meet it. 

"Is my oath really more valuable than my word, Jake?" he said, with a wrytwist of the lips. "Most people don't find it so. "

Jake stood up, a figure square and forceful. For a moment he facedSaltash with a level scrutiny that--possibly--pierced the coat of mail. Then abruptly he smiled. "I will take your word, my lord, " he said. 

"And the child?" said Saltash. 

Jake nodded. "The child too--if Maud agrees. "

"Thanks, " said Saltash, and smiled back at Jake--the smile that gave hisugly face so great a charm. "I am obliged to you, Jake. I think Maud willagree. "

"Shall we go to her?" said Jake. 

CHAPTER IV

SALTASH

They joined the two on the terrace, and presently they were all laughingtogether at Saltash's drolleries. He knew how to bring effervescence tothe very quietest waters. They sat for a space on a seat in the softspring starlight, while below them on the down there thrilled theunspeakable music of nightingales singing far and near. Then after awhile Jake strolled away for his nightly inspection of the stables, taking Bunny with him, and Saltash and Maud were left alone. 

He moved close to her at once, his arm stretched behind her along theback of the seat. At their feet lay an old red setter, Chops, who hadbelonged to Jake before his marriage and had devoted himself to Maud eversince. 

"By Jove, this is peaceful!" said Saltash, and stopped to caress the olddog with a gentle hand. "Do you know, Maud, it's a good thing you nevermarried me if this sort of thing makes you happy. "

She smiled her quiet, contented smile. "I think it is a good thing too, Charlie. It certainly would never have satisfied you. "

"Nothing does, " he declared restlessly. "I'm a wanderer on the face ofthe earth, and I don't pick up much as I go along. I'm getting old, youknow. Life isn't what it was. "

Maud was silent for a few moments, the starlight in her eyes. "Isometimes wonder, " she said at length, "if you have ever really livedyet. "

He laughed on a mocking note. "My dear girl, I--who have doneeverything!"

She shook her head. "No, not everything, Charlie. "

"Everything that's bad, " he suggested recklessly. 

She put out a hand to him that went into his quick hold and lay therewith perfect confidence. "I don't think you're really old, " she said. "Ithink you're just beginning to grow up. No, don't laugh! I am quiteserious. You are just beginning to discriminate between the things thatare worth while and those that are not. "

"Is anything worth while?" said Saltash. 

"Yes, yes. Heaps of things. But not the things you care for, --not justthe wild pleasures of life. Charlie, I'm not good at expressing things, and I'm afraid--just a little--of trespassing, even though we are suchold friends. "

Her voice had a wistful note. He carried her hand to his lips. "_Ma bellereine_, is it possible? You?"

Her fingers closed upon his. "I hate you to be world-tired and lonely. But I would rather have you that than feeding on husks. "

"I'm not doing that at the present moment, " he said. "I'm living like abeastly hermit--except that I cut my nails and brush my hairoccasionally. You've heard about the woman on the yacht, of course?"

Her silence answered him, and he laughed again. 

"A lie, _chère reine_! There was no woman. "

"Oh, Charlie!" she said impulsively. "Forgive me for believing it!"

He made a royal gesture. "I forgive you. Moreover, the lie wasnot without foundation. There was a child on board of the femalespecies, --very small and badly frightened. We saved her between us, Larpent and I. She belongs to Larpent--not to me. "

"You mean she is his daughter?" questioned Maud. 

"That is exactly what I mean. Dull explanation, isn't it? Larpent wasbadly damaged. He is undergoing repairs in a nursing home, and thechild--well, I've got to look after the child. _Figurez-vous, ma chère!_I--a protector of infants! _Un peu comique, n'est-ce pas?_"

"Ah!" Maud said, with compassion. "The poor little thing must come to us. I will take care of her. When will you bring her?"

"You think her present plight is not to be endured for another moment?"laughed Saltash. "_Bien!_ I will send her to you tomorrow. "

"Ah! I don't mean she is not in safe keeping, " protested Maud. "How oldis she? Older than Eileen?"

"A little older than that, " said Saltash. "She's nineteen. "

"Oh!" said Maud. 

"Perhaps you do mean it now!" gibed Saltash, getting up in his suddenfashion. 

Maud rose also, facing him in the starlight. "No, Charlie I don't!Because I know that the big things are in you and always have been, Iwould trust you--with my most precious possession. "

He laughed again. "But when I gave it back to you, you would look allround it to make sure it hadn't been broken and stuck together again, wouldn't you, Maud of the Roses?"

"No, " she said. "I wouldn't. I know--Charles Rex--better than that. "

He made her a sweeping bow. "Most fair and gracious lady, do not forgetthat my crest is a fox's head and the motto thereupon, '_Sans vertu_!'"

She smiled, looking at him with steadfast eyes. "I will give you anothermotto, Charlie, " she said. "Those we love--we trust. "

He made an abrupt movement. It was almost a protest. "For how long? Doyou really love me, Maud of the Roses?"

She gave him both her hands without drawing any nearer. Her eyes wereshining as stars that shine through mist. "Yes, I love you, Charlie, " shesaid, "so much that I can't go on being happy till I know that you aretoo. "

He bent very low, so that his dark face was wholly hidden from her. "I'venever been--really happy--since the day I lost you, " he said. 

Her hands clasped his very tightly. There was a brief silencebefore--with a touch of shyness--she spoke again. "You have neverbeen--really happy--all your life. You don't know the meaning of theword--yet. "

"Don't I?" He stood up, still holding her hands. "I thought I'd sampledeverything. "

"No, " she said. "No. There is--one thing left. "

"What is that?" he said. 

She stood again in silence, looking at him. Then, slowly, "You have neveryet touched the joy of loving someone better--far better--than you loveyourself, " she said. "I think that is the greatest joy that God cansend. "

He bent towards her with a certain eagerness. "Maud, I could have lovedyou like that--once. "

She shook her head and her smile was sad. "No, my dear, believe me! Icouldn't have inspired it in you. I was too selfish myself in those days. Some other woman will teach you that now. "

"I wonder, " said Charles Rex, half-mocking and half-touched. 

She slipped her hand through his arm, turning from the subject with afaint sigh. "Well, come and see the baby! He's very lovely. "

"From your point of view or Jake's?" questioned Saltash. 

She laughed. "From mine of course. He is going to be just like Jake. "

"Heavens above! I pity you!" ejaculated Saltash. "You'll never cope withtwo of 'em! They'll crush you flat. "

She drew him from the terrace into the quiet house. "Don't be absurd, Charlie! This boy of ours is to be the prop of our old age. "

He went with her jesting, but when they entered the silent nursery inwhich the two youngest children lay sleeping, his trifling ceased and hetrod with reverence. 

They stood together in the dim light beside the baby's cot, and Saltashlooked down upon the flushed baby face with a faintly rueful smile uponhis own. 

"There is something in being married and done for after all, " he said. 

Over the old baby, Betty, now two years old, he stooped and lightlytouched the fair silken hair, but he did not kiss her though the childwas sleeping deeply. 

Later he went alone into the adjoining room where slept the two elderchildren, Eileen aged five, and Molly who was not yet four. Maud did notfollow him, and presently he came back, treading softly, the flickeringnight-light throwing odd shadows on his ugly face, and they left the roomtogether. 

In the passage he turned to her abruptly. "Then I may send that child toyou tomorrow?" he said. 

"Why not bring her?" said Maud smiling. 

He shook his head. "No. I'll come over one day--on Sunday perhaps--andsee you all again. I won't--handicap her--by bringing her. "

She understood him, and gave him her hand, but the fervour with which hereceived and kissed it surprised her into drawing it away more quicklythan she had intended. 

He laughed at the action. "I am only saluting motherhood, " he explained. 

But she shook her head and passed on. There were moments when even shewho knew him so well was not wholly sure of him. 

They descended again and Saltash turned towards the drawing-room. 

"Let's have some music!" he said, and dropped down before Maud's piano. "You are tired, _ma chère_. You shall listen. "

He began to play an old French _chanson_ that once they had sungtogether, and Maud leaned back on a deep settee near him and dreamilysurrendered herself to its charm. 

Charlie's touch had always been a sheer delight to her. It held her nowwith the old sweet spell. His spirit spoke to hers with an intimacy whichordinary converse had never attained. It was by his music that he firsthad spoken to her soul. In music they were always in complete accord. 

She was half-asleep in her corner with the old dog lying at her feet whenJake and Bunny came in, and Saltash very swiftly, with muffled chords, brought his performance to an end. 

He sprang to his feet. "I've been making love to your wife, Jake, " hesaid, "and she has been heroically but quite ineffectually trying to keepme at a distance. I'd better go before I'm kicked out, eh?"

"Don't go on my account!" said Jake. 

Saltash's brows twitched comically. "Generous as ever! But I'm a rottenvillain, Jake. I never could keep it up, and your virtuous presence isthe last straw. Good-bye--and many thanks!"

He held Maud's hand in his right and stretched his left to Jake with asmile half whimsical and half derisive. 

"There's nothing like banking on the hundredth chance, " he said. "I shalltry it myself one of these days. "

"Say!" said Jake in his soft drawl. "I wish you luck!"

Saltash laughed and turned away, to be instantly seized upon by Bunny. 

"I say you are a good chap! The boss has been telling me. You're going toput me up to a job. "

"If you'll take it, " said Saltash. 

Bunny thrust a hand through his arm and squeezed it impulsively. "I'lltake anything from you, Charlie. Hope I shall be man enough for you, that's all. "

"Oh, you're man enough, " said Saltash kindly. "Just the sort I want. Lookhere, I can't stop now. But I'll come over on Sunday and talk thingsover--if Jake permits. "

"Any day, " said Jake. 

Saltash nodded. "Good. I'll ring you up tomorrow, Maud. You're sure youmean tomorrow?"

"Quite sure, " she said with a smile. 

He swept her a bow and went out with Bunny. 

Maud turned instantly to her husband. "Jake, I've got something to tellyou--to consult you about. "

He stopped her with that smile of his that was so good to see. "Oh, Iguess not. You've fixed it all up without my help. But his lordship foronce had the diplomacy to ask me first. "

"Oh, did he?" She looked confused for a moment. "Jake, you don't mind, doyou? I did the only thing possible. "

He put his arm around her and led her to the door. "I'll tell whether Imind a week from now. You're looking worn out, my girl. You go to bed!"

She leaned against him. "Jake, I'm--horribly sorry for Charlie. "

"Wasted sentiment!" said Jake. 

"No, it isn't--it isn't--because he is just beginning--to be sorry forhimself. Jake, it haunts me. "

"Well, you're not to lie awake over it, " said Jake unsympathetically. "I shall know if you do, and I shall keep you in bed tomorrow. Got that?"He looked at her with determination glittering in his eyes. 

"You're very horrid, " she said. 

"Yes, I know. Somebody's got to be. It's a world of contrasts, and wecan't all be kings and queens. Go to bed now! I'll say good night toBunny for you. "

But Maud lingered still. "What is Charlie going to do for him?"

Jake led her with firmness into the hall. "It's the Agency. He's going tohelp old Bishop. I think the life will be good for him--if there isn'ttoo much Saltash about it. "

"Oh, how good of Charlie!" Maud said. 

"Yes, he means well this time. " Jake's arm impelled her up the shallowstairs. "Hope he'll keep it up, but it won't surprise me any if hedoesn't. He's never been a stayer, and he's not the sort to begin now. "

"You really don't understand him, " Maud said. 

"Maybe not, " Jake's tone was faintly grim. It indicated that he had nointention of arguing the matter further. 

Maud abandoned it and they mounted the stairs together in silence. At thedoor of her room she turned without words and put her arms around hisneck. 

He held her closely still supporting her. "Shall I come and put you tobed, my girl?"

She answered him softly. "No, darling, no! Don't be late yourself, that'sall! And--Jake--thank you for all your goodness to me!"

"Oh, shucks--shucks!" he said. 

She raised her hands, holding the bronze head between them, gazingstraight into the free, dominant eyes with all her soul laid open totheir look. "There is no one like you in all the world, " she said. "Youare greater than kings. "

"That's just your way of putting it, " said Jake. "You're not exactly animpartial judge, I reckon. Barring the fact that I'm your mate, I'm avery ordinary sinner. Moreover, Saltash tells me I'm getting fat. "

"How dare he?" said Maud. 

He laughed in her indignant face. "Now I'm getting my own back! There!Don't get excited! No doubt he meant well! And I certainly ride heavierthan I did. Shall you love me when I'm fat, Maud?"

She drew the laughing, sunburnt face to hers. "Don't be--absurd!" shesaid. 

Her lips met his and were caught in a long, long kiss. 

"Guess you're just as moon-struck as I am, " said Jake softly. 

And, "I guess I am, " she whispered back. 

CHAPTER V

THE VISITOR

Jake carried out his threat the following day, and Maud remained in bed. A violent headache deprived her of the power to protest, and she lay inher darkened room too battered to think, while with characteristicdecision he assumed the direction of the household, provoking unwillingadmiration from Mrs. Lovelace, the housekeeper, who was somewhat given todisparage men as "poor things who never did a hand's turn for 'emselvesif they could get the women to do it for 'em. "

He took up a breakfast tray himself to his wife's room, sternly removinghis two small daughters Molly and Betty, whom he found tussling likekittens on her bed, and installing Eileen the eldest, who crept down likea bright-eyed mouse from the big chair by the pillow at his coming, asher mother's keeper. Eileen was his darling; a shy child, gentle butcuriously determined, protective in her attitude towards Maud, reservedtowards himself. Jake was wont to say with a laugh that he was by nomeans sure that his eldest daughter approved of him, but he knew in hisheart that her love for him was the strongest force in her small being. Bunny was wont to be impatient with her because she was afraid of thehorses, with the result that she would never go near them in his company, but she would follow her father wherever he went among them without aquestion. It was very rarely that she confided in him, but she alwaysliked to hold his hand. 

She stood beside him now in silence while he waited upon Maud, andpresently, while Maud drank the strong tea he had brought her, her smallhand found its way into his. He looked down at her, squeezing it kindly. "We must take care of the mother today, little 'un. She's been workingtoo hard. "

"I'll take care of her, Daddy, " said Eileen. 

"And keep out Molly and Betty, " pursued Jake. 

"Yes, Daddy, I'll do that. "

Maud smiled from her pillows. "My little policeman!" she said. 

"I believe she'd keep her daddy out too if she thought it advisable, "laughed Jake. 

Eileen's fingers tightened about his, but she did not contradict him. Only the violet eyes so like her mother's looked up at him verypleadingly, and he stooped in a moment and kissed her. 

"All right. Daddy understands. "

And Eileen smiled a shy, pleased smile without words. 

The sound of the telephone-bell in the hall made Maud start with a swiftcontradiction of the brows. 

"That's probably Charlie, Jake, I ought to answer him. "

"Don't you worry yourself!" said Jake, turning to the door. "I'll answerhim myself. "

He was gone before she could say anything further, moving without hastebut with a decision there was no gainsaying, and Maud heaved a sigh andrelaxed against her pillows. It was certainly a relief to leave it tohim. 

He returned a few minutes later, faintly smiling, sat down by her sideand drew Eileen between his knees. 

"Well, " he said. "I guess it's all fixed up. We're going to give you anursery governess, Innocence. I hope you'll treat her with respect. "

"Oh, but, Jake--" protested Maud. 

He turned to her. "Yes, she's going to make herself useful. I don'tbelieve in anyone living in idleness. We'll begin as we mean to goon, and she's got to help. I told his lordship so. If she doesn'tsuit, --well, I guess she'll go back where she came from. I told him thattoo. "

"What did he say?" questioned Maud. 

"He agreed of course. " Jake's tone was ironical. "Said she was nothingbut a child herself. He was very emphatic on that point. "

"Don't you believe him?" asked Maud with a hint of sharpness. 

"Not as a rule, " said Jake. "Mostly never--when he's emphatic. However, time will prove. She will be here to lunch, and I've told Bunny to meether with the dog-cart. "

"Are we going to have lessons?" asked Eileen. 

He looked into the soft eyes and the irony went out of his smile. "Idon't know if I can bear to have you taught anything, Innocence, " hesaid. "You're just right as you are. "

It was his own especial name for her and he always uttered it withtenderness. Eileen smiled up at him, and pressed against his knee. 

"I would like to learn some lessons, Daddy, " she said. "I'm sure I'm bigenough, and I'm growing too. "

"Maybe you are, " said Jake. "But don't grow too fast, little 'un! Don'tget so big that you look down on your poor old daddy!"

"She'll never do that!" said Maud quickly. "No child of mine will ever dothat, Jake. "

He smiled at her whimsically. "Oh, I guess I'll hold my own among 'emwhatever they do. Now you go to sleep, my girl, and put all worries outof your head! I must be moving, but I'll look in presently to see howyou are. So long!"

He bent and laid his cheek for a moment against her hand, then turned andsoftly left her. 

Maud watched the door close behind him, then spoke to the child besideher. "Eileen darling, always remember that your daddy is the best anddearest man who ever lived!"

"Yes, Mummy, I know, " said Eileen, with earnest shining eyes. 

Jake went out to the stables and immersed himself in the day's work. Hehad always been a busy man, and time passed swiftly with him. He and hisright-hand man, Sam Vickers, had brought the stud to a pitch ofperfection that had earned for his animals a high place in the opinion ofthe racing community. He had, moreover, a reputation for straightness sounimpeachable that it had become almost a proverb up and down thecountry. Men said of Jake Bolton that his honour was such that it couldstand by itself. Certainly no one ever questioned it. 

One of his horses was running at Graydown that afternoon, and at the endof the morning he returned to the house for a hasty lunch before leavingfor the race-course. All memory of Saltash's _protégé_ had left him, butit returned to his mind as he saw the extra place laid at the table. Helooked at his watch and realized that she ought to have arrived half anhour before. Bunny was also absent, presumably waiting for her. 

He paid Maud a brief visit before departing, and found her better. Shewas half dressed and lying on a couch in her room. He extracted a promisefrom her that she would not go down before tea, though she demurredsomewhat on the score of the expected visitor. 

"Leave her to Bunny!" said Jake. "He's quite capable of looking after herfor an hour or two. "

"I think Bunny meant to go to the races, " she said. 

Jake frowned. "Well, he can't for once. Don't you fret now! She'll be allright. "

"Well, tell them to bring her straight up to see me when she arrives!"Maud begged him. "I shan't be asleep, and really I am much better. "

"All right, " he conceded. "I'll do that. "

He went out and there fell the deep shining peace of a spring afternoon. Somewhere in the distance a cuckoo was calling softly, monotonously, seductively. A thrush was warbling in the terraced garden, and from herwindow Maud could see old Chops the setter curled up in a warm cornerasleep. The children were all out on the downs, and the house was veryquiet. 

Her thoughts turned dreamily to Saltash. What a pity he did not find somenice girl to marry! Her faith in him, often shaken and as often renewed, had somehow taken deeper root since their talk of the night before. Charlie was beginning to tire of his riotous living. He was beginning towant the better things. But in his present mood she saw a danger. He hadcome to a critical point in his career, and he would either go up ordown. There would be no middle course with him. Knowing him as she did, she realized that a very little pressure would incline him either way. She felt as if his very life hung in the balance. It depended sovitally--upon whence the pressure came. 

"If only some decent woman would fall in love with him!" she sighed, andthen found herself smiling wistfully at the thought that Saltash's heartwould not be an easy thing to capture. He was far too accustomed toadulation, wherever he went. "Besides, he's such a flirt, " she reflected. "One never knows whether he is in earnest till the mischief is done. "

The cuckoo's soft persistence began somehow to seem like a penance. "Whenhe has said it just like that four hundred and fifty times he'll beabsolved and allowed to change his tune, " was her thought. "I wonder ifpoor Charles Rex has said the same thing as often as that, and if that iswhy he is tired. "

A mist began to rise in her brain, making vague the cuckoo's call, blurring even the clear sweet notes of the thrush. A delicious drowsinesscrept over her. She gave herself to it with conscious delight. It was soexquisite to feel the grim band that had bound her brow with such crueltightness relax at last and fall away. Very blissfully she drifted intoslumber. 

It was nearly two hours later that she became somewhat suddenly aware offeet sauntering under her window and young voices talking together. 

"Hullo!" said one abruptly, it was Bunny's speaking with carelessfriendliness. "Stand still a minute! There's an immense green caterpillarwaving to me from your hat-brim. "

A voice that was like a boy's, dear, bell-like, made instant response. "Oh hell! Do take it off!"

Maud started wide awake with involuntary shrinking. 

There came a chuckle from Bunny and, after a pause and the eloquentcrunch of a heel on the gravel, his voice on a note of laughter. "Ididn't say it!"

"Great Scott!" ejaculated the clear boyish tones. "Do you mean you'reshocked?"

"Not at all, " said Bunny courteously. 

"Well then, what does it matter who said it?" demanded the other. 

"It doesn't matter, " said Bunny, still suppressing merriment. "Exceptthat it isn't said in this house. "

"Oh damn!" said the newcomer disconsolately. "Then I shall soon be sentback in disgrace. "

"Cheer up!" said Bunny. "We don't convict on a first offence as a rule inthis country. "

"But I shall never remember!" groaned the other, and for the first timethe words held a note that was not wholly boyish, it sounded wistful, even rather piteous. "People's ways are all so different. It's ratherinfernal--trying to please everybody, you know, Bunny. "

"Never mind!" said Bunny, in a brotherly tone. "I'll kick you every timeI see it coming if you like. "

"Will you really? That would be jolly decent of you. " The wistfulnessvanished in a laugh that was quick and musical, wholly spontaneous. 

"You bet I will!" said Bunny. 

"Right O! Mind you do! Now get out of the way and see me jump that rosetree!"

There followed the light scamper of feet, and Maud raised herself swiftlyand leaned forth in time to see an athletic little figure in navy bluewearing a jaunty Panama hat, skim like a bird over a sweeping DorothyPerkins just coming into bloom and alight on one leg with the perfectpoise of a winged Mercury on the other side. 

CHAPTER VI

HOW TO MANAGE MEN

Bunny's lanky form followed and also cleared the rose-tree withinfinitely less grace, and again the girl laughed, her wide blue eyesalight with mirth. 

"What an antic! I thought you were going to pull up the rose bush withyour heels! What are you doing that for?"

Bunny's hands were on her shoulders. He was plainly enjoying himselfthoroughly. "I'm feeling for the wings, " he explained. "I'll swear younever jumped it. Where do you keep 'em?"

She drew herself away from his touch. "No, I haven't got any. They don'tgrow on people like me. Don't let's stay here! I feel as if we're beingwatched. "

It was then that Maud spoke from her window in her quiet gentle voicethat yet held a certain authority. 

"Bunny, bring our visitor up to see me!"

Both Bunny and his companion started and looked up, and Maud saw thegirl's face fully for the first time--a nervous little face with hauntingwide blue eyes made more intense by the short thick black lashes thatsurrounded them, eyes that seemed to plead for kindness. There was charmabout the pointed chin and a good deal of sweetness about the moulding ofthe mouth. But it was the eyes that held Maud's attention. They were theeyes of a creature who has known the wild agony of fear and is not easilyreassured. Yet the face was the face of a child. 

She leaned out a little further on her sill and addressed the stranger. "Come up and speak to me!" she said very kindly. "Bunny will show you theway. "

A shy flickering smile answered her. She cast a questioning look atBunny. 

"Yes, that's Maud--my sister, " said Bunny. "Come along! This way!"

They entered the house by a French window, and Maud drew back into herroom. What was there in that childish face that appealed so tremendouslyto her womanhood--wholly banishing her first involuntary sense of recoil?She could not have said, she was only conscious of the woman in herthrobbing with a deep compassion. She stood and waited for the child'scoming with a strangely poignant expectation. 

She heard Bunny's voice talking cheerily on the stairs, but his wordsprovoked no response. She went to the door and opened it. 

Bunny was leading the way; in fact his companion seemed to be laggingvery considerably in the rear. 

Maud moved out into the passage, and Bunny stood to one side with acourteous gesture. "Mademoiselle Antoinette Larpent!" he announced. 

The small figure in blue drew itself together with a certain bravado andcame forward. 

Maud held out her hands. "My dear child, " she said, "I expected you longago. "

The hands she clasped were very small and cold. They did not cling to heras she had half expected. The blue eyes flashed her a single nervousglance and fell. 

"I'm sorry I'm late, madam, " said the visitor in a low, punctiliousvoice. 

Maud felt amused and chilled in the same moment. "Come and sit down!" shesaid. "We will have some tea upstairs. Bunny, go and order it, will you?"

"With pleasure, " said Bunny. "And may I return?"

She smiled at him as she passed an arm about the girl's narrow shoulders. "Yes, you can come back when it's ready. Come in here, dear! You willlike to take off your things. How long have you been here?"

"Only five minutes, " came the murmured answer; she thought it had adeprecating sound. 

"You must be tired, " she said kindly. "You came from town? How is it youare so late? Did you miss your train?"

"No, madam. " Very nervously came the reply. The contrast between this andthe boyish freedom of manner on the terrace a few seconds before wouldhave been ludicrous if it had not been somehow pathetic. 

She passed on, too considerate to press for details. "Take off your hatand coat, won't you? When we have had some tea I will take you to yourroom. "

She was pleased to see that Charlie's _protégé_ was garbed with extremesimplicity. Her fair hair, which had been closely shorn, was beginning tocurl at the ends. She liked the delicate contrasting line of the blackbrows above the deep blue of the eyes. She noticed that the veins on thewhite temples showed with great distinctness. 

"Sit down!" she said. "And now you must tell me what to call you. Yourname is Antoinette, isn't it?"

"I'm generally called Toby, " said the visitor in a very shy voice. "Butyou will call me--what you like. "

"Would you like me to call you Toby?" Maud asked. 

"Yes, please, " said Toby with unexpected briskness. 

Maud smiled. "Very well, my dear. Then that is settled. We are not goingto be strangers, you and I. I expect you know that Lord Saltash and I aregreat friends--though I have never met your father. "

Toby's pale young face flushed suddenly. She was silent for a moment. Then: "Lord Saltash has been very good to me, " she said in her shy voice. "He--saved me from drowning. Wasn't it--wasn't it nice of him to--takethe trouble?"

"Quite nice of him, " Maud agreed. "You must have been very frightened, weren't you?"

Toby suppressed a shudder. "I was rather. And the water was dreadfullycold. I thought we should never come up again. It was like--it waslike--" She stopped herself. "He said I was never to talk about it--orthink about it--so I won't, if you don't mind. "

"Tell me about your father!" said Maud sympathetically. 

For the second time the blue eyes flashed towards her. "Oh, he is stillill in a nursing home and not allowed to see anyone. " There was a hint ofrecklessness in her voice. "They say he'll get well again, but--I don'tknow. "

"You are anxious about him, " Maud said. 

"No, I'm not. " Recklessness became something akin to defiance. "I don'tlike him much. He's so surly. "

"My dear!" said Maud, momentarily disconcerted. 

"Well, it's no good pretending I do when I don't, is it?" said Toby, andsuddenly smiled at her with winning gracelessness. "It isn't my faultWe're not friends--never have been. Why, " she made a little gesture ofthe hands, "we hardly know each other. I'd never been on _The Night Moth_before. "

"And you'll never go again, " commented Bunny, entering at the moment, "Maud, do you know I took--Miss Larpent--" he turned deliberately to Tobywho snapped her fingers in airy acknowledgment--"to see the races insteadof coming straight back--according to the boss's instructions. "

"Oh! So that's where you've been!" said Maud. 

"Exactly so. " Bunny pulled up a chair and disposed his long legs astrideit. "We saw several events, and made a bit. Then Forest Fire let us downbadly and we lost the lot. After that we went into the paddock to coolourselves and met the boss, who at once--somewhat rudely--ordered ushome. I have an impression he's feeling waxy with me for some reason, "Bunny ended, stroking his chin reflectively. "Daresay I shall get overit, however. "

"What a pity you went!" said Maud. 

"Not at all, " said Bunny. "We enjoyed it. It's fun doing naughty thingssometimes, isn't it, --er--Miss Larpent?"

"Don't be an ass!" said Toby tersely. 

Maud raised her brows, but Bunny grinned with delight. "Thank you Toby! Itake the hint. There shall be no more ceremony between us. Ah! There comethe children along the path by the summerhouse!" he sprang to the windowand sent forth a yell, turning back almost instantly to say, "Sorry, Maud! I'm afraid I forgot your head. How is it?"

He did not wait for her reply, but leaned out again immediately toaddress the advancing children with noisy gayety. 

Toby looked up at Maud, hesitated, and rose. "Let us go and have tea withthe children!" she said. "It will be quieter for you. "

Maud put out a gentle hand to her. "No, dear. You stay with me. Bunny mayif he likes!"

This time Toby's fingers closed tightly upon her own. "Sure?" said Toby. 

"Quite sure, " said Maud, smiling at her. 

Toby turned sharply and pinched Bunny's elbow as he leaned from thewindow. He drew himself in and stared at her. 

"You're making too much noise, " she told him curtly. "You go and racketdownstairs!"

Bunny's eyes widened for a second in indignant amazement, then abruptlyhe threw up his chin and laughed. "I like you!" he declared. "You're thecockiest thing in girls I've ever seen!"

Toby pulled at his elbow like a small, persistent dog. "Go on!" shecommanded. "Go down to them! Mrs. Bolton and I want to have our teaalone. I'll come and play with you presently--if you're good. "

It was spoken wholly without coquetry, much as an elder brother mightspeak to a younger. It was plain that she meant to have her way, thoughMaud, who knew that there was a very strong mixture of stubbornness inBunny, wondered much if she would get it. Amusement, however, kept theupper hand with him. Toby's treatment evidently appealed strongly to hissense of humour. Perhaps her determination also made its impression uponhim, for after a little more chaff on his part and brisk insistence onhers he departed, laughing, to join the children. 

Toby saw him to the door and returned calm and triumphant. 

"Well done!" said Maud. "You know how to deal with spoilt childrenevidently. "

Toby looked at her sharply as she sat down, almost as if she expected adouble meaning to the words. 

"Do you mean men?" she said, and for an instant her childish face wore alook of contempt. "Oh, anyone can manage men--given a fair chance. There's not much cleverness needed for that. "

She spoke with the decision of one who knew, and in spite of thedifference of years between them Maud could not question her confidence. She had a curious feeling that--either by experience or intuition--thisgirl knew more than she. 

She made no comment therefore, and after a moment Toby spoke her lastword on the subject with characteristic brevity. 

"There's only one rule to follow with men--that is, if you want any peaceat all. Make up your mind and stick to it! If they don't like it, let 'emgo to--" She checked suddenly, and coloured deeply under Maud's eyes--"Imean, let 'em do the other thing, " she ended, on a note that somehowseemed to ask for pardon. 

"I see, " said Maud gently, in a tone that conveyed it. 

Toby threw her a little smile, half-grateful and half-mischievous; andcuriously in that moment a bond was formed between them which wasdestined to endure. 

CHAPTER VII

THE PROMISE

There was undoubtedly a frown on Jake's usually serene countenance whenhe walked up the great stable-yard a little later that evening and cameupon Bunny lounging in a doorway with his hands in his pockets talking toone of the men. 

"Look here, young feller, I want a word with you, " he said, with hiscustomary directness, and laid a somewhat peremptory hand upon the boy'sshoulder. 

Bunny, with a cigarette between his lips, turned and laughed at himwithout a hint of discomfiture. "All right, boss. I'll come, " he said, and linked his arm in Jake's with boyish friendliness. 

He was half-a-head taller than Jake, but the look of power that was soapparent in the older man was wholly absent in him. He moved his longlimbs with a loose swing that lacked energy though it seemed to denote acertain restlessness. 

"Wonder what you'll do without me here when I go to Charlie, " heremarked, as Jake did not immediately speak. 

"I should say the sooner you go the better, " said Jake rather brutally, "if I were only sure you were going to the right place. "

"Have a smoke!" said Bunny with unruffled amiability, proffering hiscase. 

Jake pushed it from him with a curt sound of dissatisfaction. 

"All right. Don't!" said Bunny, with instant haughtiness, and returned itto his pocket. 

He would have withdrawn his hand from his brother-in-law's arm, but Jakeretained it there forcibly, steering for his own private office at theend of the stable-yard. 

Bunny submitted, but his face grew ominously dark as they passed insilence between the long rows of loose-boxes in the soft spring twilight. As they neared Jake's room he drew himself together with the action of aman who braces his muscles for a sudden strain, and in a moment he wasolder, less defiant, more dignified. 

"That's better, " Jake said, making him enter first. "There are times, SirBernard Brian, when I want to lick you, as you never--unfortunately--werelicked in your early youth. Other times--like the present--when the breedgets the better of me, and I can only stand outside--and admire. "

"Oh, don't be a blithering idiot, Jake!" said Bunny in hot discomfiture. Jake's hand grasped his shoulder. "Sit down, and bring yourself to mylevel for a minute! Maybe I am a blithering idiot, maybe I'm not. But Icould take you by the heels and dip you in the horse-pond round thecorner if I felt that way. So you'd better keep as civil as possible. Itwon't make a mite of difference to me, but it may to you. "

Bunny sat down, breathing hard. His cigarette fell to the ground and hestooped for it, but Jake, still holding his shoulder, stooped also, picked it up and flung it straight out of the window. 

"You smoke too many of 'em, " he said, as he did it. 

"Damn you!" said Bunny in a voice of concentrated fury. 

He would have sprung to his feet, but Jake's hands were upon him likeiron clamps and kept him seated. 

He spoke, his voice soft, unhurried, even humorous. "I'm only a beastlygroom, you know, Bunny. You don't expect good manners from me, do you?"

Bunny shrank a little, as if something in the words pierced him. Jake'seyes, very bright but wholly free from anger looked straight into his. For some reason he ceased to strain against the compelling hands and satpassive. 

There followed a somewhat tense silence before he said, "Well, go on! Iknew you wanted to row me about something. What's it all about?"

His voice was sullen but his attitude was no longer hostile. He lookedashamed. 

Jake sat down suddenly on the edge of the writing-table. "Say, Bunny!" hesaid gently. "Do you know you're the only man in the world that can sendme to perdition and not have his teeth knocked down his throat for hisofficiousness?"

Bunny looked up at him, and in a moment, like the flash of sunshine frombehind a cloud, he was smiling. "Oh, get out, Jake. I suppose you'regoing to wipe the floor with me now. I didn't mean it and I'm sorry. Let's get on from there!"

His hand gripped Jake's hard. There was something very winning about himat the moment, something that appealed strongly to the older man thoughhe did not instantly reply. He kept the boy's hand in his for a moment, and his eyes were very kindly as he looked into the thin young face. 

"Guess you know I'm pretty fond of you, my son, " he said at length, "butI don't figure to let you go to the devil unhindered on that account. "

Bunny whistled. "Who's going? Oh, don't be an ass, Jake, will you?"

"No, I won't, " said Jake, "at least not the soft variety. Reckon I'vebeen too soft with you, Bunny, as long as I've known you. "

Bunny stirred restlessly in his chair. "Think so?" he said. "Well, it's agood fault, old chap. I can't stand bullying from anyone--makes me seered at once. "

"I know, " Jake said. "I've never bullied you anyway. But I'm on thewar-path now, and you've got to take your physic whether you like it ornot. Say, Bunny, how much money did you drop at the races thisafternoon?"

"What's that to you?" said Bunny. 

Jake's face hardened a little. "Well, I expected that, " he said. "Afraidto tell me, eh?"

"Not in the least afraid, " said Bunny. "I dispute your right to know, that's all. "

"I see. " Jake regarded him with a very direct scrutiny. "I'm to be keptin my place, is that it?"

Bunny coloured. "That's the fourth time you've called me a bounder sincewe came in. What do you mean by it, Jake?"

"What do I mean?" Jake spoke rather sadly. "Well, maybe that's just whatI do mean, Bunny. You're beginning to bound. "

"Rot!" said Bunny, though he coloured more deeply than before. "You knowthere isn't another fellow anywhere that I respect as I respect you. But--dash it, Jake!--you must let me grow. "

"I want you to, " said Jake. "But for the Lord's sake, grow straight!" Hereached out and took Bunny by the shoulder. "I'm going to ask a big thingof you, sonny, but I guess I shall know by the way you take it how muchyour respect for me is worth. "

"What is it?" said Bunny. 

"Just this. " Jake leaned forward; there was speculation in his look. "Iwant you to chuck racing--altogether--for a year. There!"

"Chuck racing!" Bunny sat up very straight. "Jake! Why on earth shouldI?"

Jake's hand closed upon him. He was smiling a little but there wassomething relentless behind his smile. "Oh, just to please me, " he said. "That's all. "

Bunny stared at him. "Chuck racing!" he said again. "Jake, you're mad!"

"No, I guess not, " said Jake imperturbably. "I'm not arguing any againstracing. Played straight, it's the best game in the world. I'm just askinga personal favour of you. There's nothing to be hurt about in that. "

There was an ominous gleam in Bunny's eyes. He looked as if he were onthe verge of open rebellion, but with his last words Jake's steady armsuddenly went round his shoulders and gave him a hard, brotherly squeeze. 

"Don't do it if you're going to hate me for it!" he said. "Reckon I can'tafford that. I knew it was a gamble when I started. If I can't win, I'llback out right now. "

"Jake!" Quick feeling sounded in Bunny's voice. He turned sharply, andfor an instant his cheek was against the kindly hand with the old boyishgesture of affection. Then he looked Jake full in the eyes and laughed. "Jake, I say, don't be a beast! You know I'll do anything under the sunto please you. "

"You'll do this?" said Jake. 

"Tell me why first!" said Bunny. 

"Because I want to know if you've got the grit for one thing. And foranother--that girl who has just come here is a gambler to the backbone, and I won't have her encouraged. "

"How on earth do you know that?" said Bunny. "Did Charlie tell you?"

"No. " Jake's voice was grim. "You don't suppose I'd take his word foranything, do you? I saw it in her face this afternoon. I know thatgambling fever, and she--well, I'm inclined to think she's had it in oneform or another all her life. "

"She's quite a nice kid, " said Bunny condescendingly. 

Jake smiled, but the firmness remained. "She's not your sort, Sir BernardBrian, " he remarked. "And I rather guess she could teach you more thanyou could teach her. "

"What do you mean?" said Bunny. 

Jake turned aside to shut the window in preparation for departure. "Well, sonny, " he said in a marked drawl, "I guess I mean just that. If youaren't sharp enough to draw your own conclusions, that's none of mybusiness. " He turned round and looked at Bunny with absolute directness. "And that other proposition of mine, --did I understand you to fall inwith it?"

"Chuck racing for a year, you mean?" Bunny got up. His face was stillred, but it showed no resentment. "It's rather much, isn't it, Jake?"

"Too much?" questioned Jake. 

Bunny hesitated. "Well, a year! Make it three months!" he said coaxingly. 

Jake came to him, square and resolute. "I'll make it six months, Bunny, "he said, "if you can tell me you didn't drop more than fifty pounds thisafternoon. "

Bunny turned crimson. "This afternoon was an exception, " he said hastily. 

"I thought so, " said Jake dryly. 

"But--damn it!--it's rather a heavy penalty to pay, " protested Bunny. Hethrust out an impulsive hand. "I say, let me off, old feller! I won't doit again. "

Jake's fingers closed and held. He said nothing, merely waited. 

And very suddenly--after his own headlong fashion--Bunny madeunconditional surrender. "Oh, get out, you beastly groom!" he said, andwrung Jake's hand with all the force he could muster. "All right! It'sdone!"

Jake made an odd movement as of tension relaxed though none had beenapparent in his bearing. He struck Bunny on the shoulder the blow of afriend. 

"That's the biggest thing you've ever done for me, pard, " he said with asmile. "Reckon I shan't forget it. Take it out of me next time!"

"You bet I will!" said Bunny. 

He linked his arm through Jake's and gripped it hard. His eyes wereshining as they passed out together into the gathering dusk. He had madea considerable sacrifice, but Jake had the gift of making him realizethat it was worth while. 

CHAPTER VIII

THE ALLY

A squeal of childish laughter echoed down the long passage that led fromthe nurseries, followed by a shuffling sound along the floor. 

"Hold tight!" cried a voice, a gay, boyish voice, "I'm going to gallop!"

There followed a tremendous scrambling along the corridor and shrieks ofdelight from three excited children. Jake, who had just mounted thestairs, paused in his progress; but in a moment there came a dramaticsound indicative of collapse, and immediately there arose cries ofdismay. He turned an intervening corner and came upon the newly-arrivedguest quite prone upon the floor with his three little girls scuffling indelighted agitation over her inert body. 

He hesitated to interrupt the game, but in an instant Betty the youngesthad spied him and uttered a shrill cry of welcome. The heap upon thefloor swiftly resolved itself into four separate beings, and the newcomersprang up with the litheness of a squirrel and met him with a free gracethat was not without a suggestion of defiance. 

He held out his hand to her. He understood the defiance and replied to itwith characteristic directness. 

"Guess you thought me a rough sort of animal when we met in the paddockthis afternoon, " he said. "I'm sorry. It was Bunny I was up against--notyou. "

"Not me?" said Toby, her wide eyes lifted quite openly to his. "Sure?"

He pinched the slim young hand without ceremony. Somehow she took him bystorm--this girl with the open brow and curiously pathetic face. "Well, not so much you, " he said. "Bunny knows that gambling on a big scale isagainst the law for children of his age. "

"Oh, I see, " said Toby. She smiled and slipped her hand free. "Well, I'myears older than he is, so that doesn't apply to me. Bunny wasn't doingany gambling either. "

"I gathered that, " said Jake. 

She stopped and lifted Molly the second child, partially veiling her ownface with the little girl's soft curls. "Then you are up against me, " shesaid. 

"No, I'm not, " Jake's voice held a queer, compassionate note. "We won'tquarrel till we know each other better anyway. I see you're prettyintimate with the youngsters already. "

"Oh, that's easy, isn't it?" said Toby. "Babies always take you at yourface value. They are never prejudiced beforehand. There's never anyhandicap of that sort with babies. "

Betty was clamouring at her knees. She bent and lifted her also, bracingher slight form to a double burden of which Jake instantly relieved her, gathering both children into his own strong arms. 

"You're not to do that ever again, " he said, with the authority of theman accustomed to obedience. "Understand?"

"Why not?" said Toby. 

He turned to carry the two babies to the nursery. "Because I say it, " hesaid briefly. 

"Oh, but that's no reason, " said Toby, with light assurance. 

Eileen at her side looked up in shocked amazement. "Not if Daddy saysso?" she questioned. 

Toby stooped and swung her up to her shoulder. "You little featherweight!Daddy's only a man!" she said. 

"Quite true, " said Jake deliberately. "The sort of man who means what hesays--always, and sees that he gets it. "

"What a frightful undertaking!" laughed Toby. "Then if you told me to goto blazes you'd see that I went?"

There was a pause. Eileen's little hands locked themselves nervouslyunder Toby's chin. Perhaps she was aware of a certain electricity in theatmosphere. She was plainly not at her ease. 

Jake's voice sounded, very quiet and distinct, from the nursery door ashe entered. "I reckon that's just one of the things I've learnt not tosay. "

"Oh glory!" said Toby, "There goes the odd trick!"

It was several minutes later, after a wild final romp that they leftthe room together. There was certainly no ceremony left between them. They came out as comrades, laughing at the same joke, their briefpassage-at-arms apparently forgotten. 

Toby, however, reverted to it very suddenly as they walked along thepassage. "Mr. Bolton, I'm sorry I got Bunny into hot water thisafternoon. It was all my fault. And I'm sorry I said blazes in front ofthe babies just now. You'll have to kick me when I do these things, andthen I'll remember. "

Jake paused and looked at her. "Say! Are you a boy or a girl?" he said. 

She smiled, a faintly dubious smile, but her reply was prompt. "Mostlyboy, sir. That's what makes it so difficult. "

He put his hand on her shoulder. "Look here! Call me Jake, see? Are youkeen on horses?"

Toby's eyes shone. "Like mad, " she said. 

"I'll see you ride tomorrow, " said Jake. 

Toby whooped with delight. "But I'll have to borrow some breeches fromsomeone. You don't want me to ride in a skirt do you?"

"Not specially, " said Jake. "What do you generally ride in?"

"Tights, " said Toby, and then suddenly clapped her hand to her mouth indismay. "There! Now I've done it! You won't tell--you'll never tell, willyou? Promise!"

"Sure!" said Jake. He was smiling a little, but there was compassion inhis eyes. 

And Toby's hand came out to him in sudden confidence. "I like you, " shesaid. "You're a friend. "

Jake's grasp was strong and kindly. "I guess I shan't let you down, " hesaid. 

Toby nodded. "You've been a cow-boy, haven't you? I knew that directly Isaw you. "

"I've been a good many things, " said Jake. 

She nodded again. "And always the right sort. I wish--" She broke offabruptly. 

"What?" said Jake. 

"Oh, nothing, " said Toby, with a rather wistful little laugh. 

"Let's have it!" said Jake. 

Her hand lay in his, and this time she left it there. Her blue eyes methis courageously. "Only that I'd met you before, " she said. 

"Before when?" said Jake. "Before you met Saltash?"

"Oh no!" Very swiftly, she answered him. "Oh no! Lord Saltash is amongthe kings. I'd have been dead by now but for him!" Her eyes kindled aswith a sudden glowing memory, she flushed like an eager child. "You knowhim?" she said. "Isn't he--isn't he--fine?"

She spoke with reverence, even with a certain awe. The man's face changeda little, hardening almost imperceptibly. 

"Guess he's no great hero of mine, " he said. "But maybe he has hispoints. "

"He has!" Toby assured him with fervor. "You don't know him like I do. He's a--he's a masterpiece. "

"That so?" said Jake. 

Perhaps Toby felt a lack of sympathy in his tone; she quitted the subjectabruptly. "No, that wasn't what I meant. I only wish I'd met you longago--years and years ago--when you were a cow-boy. "

"You were a babe in arms then, " said Jake. 

She shook her head, quaintly smiling. "I wasn't ever that. I think I musthave been born old--began at the wrong end somehow. Some people do, youknow. "

"I know, " said Jake. "When that happens, there's only one thing to bedone. "

"What?" queried Toby. 

His eyes were watching her intently, but there was nothing alarming intheir scrutiny. He made reply with absolute gentleness. "Begin again. "

"Ah!" A little sound that was more than a sigh escaped her, and thenquite suddenly her other hand came out to him; she lifted a quiveringface. "You going to help me?" she said. 

The action touched him. He took her by the shoulders as he might havetaken a boy. "I'll help you, " he said. 

"You'll be good to me?" Her voice was quivering also, it had a sound oftears. 

"Sure!" said Jake, laconic and forceful. 

"Keep me straight and pull me up when I go wrong?" pursued Tobytremulously. 

"Yes, I'll do that, " he said. 

"And you won't--you won't--you won't--talk to anybody about me?" shepleaded. 

"No, " said Jake briefly. 

"Not to Lord Saltash? Not to anyone?"

"No, " he said again, a hint of sternness in the curt word. 

Toby gulped down her distress, was silent for a moment or two, thensuddenly smiled upon him--a sunny inconsequent smile. "Guess I've got youon my side now, " she said with satisfaction. "You're nice and solid, Mr. Jake Bolton. When you've been picked up from the very bottom of the sea, it's good to have someone big and safe to hold on to. "

"That so?" said Jake. 

"Yes, I know now why Lord Saltash sent me here--just because you'rebig--and safe. "

"Oh, quite safe, " said Jake with his sudden smile. 

It came to him--as it had come to Saltash--that there was somethingpiteously like a small animal, storm-driven and seeking refuge, abouther. Even in her merriest moments she seemed to plead for kindness. 

He patted her shoulder reassuringly as he let her go. "I'll look afteryou, " he said, "if you play the game. "

"What game?" said Toby unexpectedly. 

He looked her squarely in the eyes. "The only game worth playing, " hesaid. "The straight game. "

"Oh, I see, " said Toby with much meekness. "Not cheat, you mean? LordSaltash doesn't allow cheating either. "

"Good land!" said Jake in open astonishment. 

"You don't know him, " said Toby again with conviction. 

And Jake laughed, good-humoured but sceptical. "Maybe I've something tolearn yet, " he said tolerantly. "But it's my impression that for sheermischief and double-dealing he could knock spots off any other humanbeing on this earth. "

"Oh, if that's all you know about him, " said Toby, "you've never even methim--never once. "

"Have you?" questioned Jake abruptly. 

She coloured up to the soft fair hair that clustered about herblue-veined temples, and turned from him with an odd little indrawnbreath. "Yes!" she said. "Yes!"--paused an instant as if about to saymore; then again in a whisper, "Yes!" she said, and went lightly away asif the subject were too sacred for further discussion. 

"Good land!" said Jake again, and departed to his own room in grimamazement. 

Saltash the sinner was well known to him and by no means uncongenial; butSaltash the saint, not only beloved, but reverenced and enshrined assuch, as something beyond his comprehension! How on earth had he managedto achieve his sainthood?

CHAPTER IX

THE IDOL

"Well?" said Saltash with quizzical interest. "Where is she? And how isshe getting on?"

It was the Sunday afternoon of his promised visit, a day soft with springshowers and fleeting sunshine. Maud sat in a basket-chair on the verandahand regarded him with puzzled eyes. She passed his questions by. 

"Charlie, " she said, "where does she come from?"

He raised his shoulders expressively. "Where do all women come from--andwhy, _chère reine_? It would be such a peaceful planet without them. "

He was in a baffling mood, and she knew better than to pursue the subjectunder those conditions. She abandoned her effort with a sigh. 

"She is not a woman; she is a child, very charming but utterlyirresponsible. She is in the training field just now with Jake and Bunny. She is a positive delight to Jake. She can do anything with the horses. "

"But not such a delight to you?" suggested Saltash shrewdly. 

Maud hesitated momentarily. "I love her of course, " she said then. "But--though I have tried to make her feel at ease--I think she is alittle afraid of me--afraid anyhow to be quite natural in my presence. "

"But are we any of us that?" protested Saltash. "Are we not all on ourbest behaviour in the audience-chamber?"

Maud sighed again. "They are all great pals, " she said irrelevantly. "Sheand Bunny are terribly reckless. I hope they won't break their necksbefore they have done. "

"Or their hearts?" suggested Saltash, looking mischievous. 

She smiled. "I don't think there is much danger of that, anyhow atpresent. She is a positive child, Charlie, --as young as Eileen in manyways, or perhaps younger. Shall we walk down to the field and look atthem?"

"Your servant, madam!" said Saltash readily. 

He was on his feet in an instant, and she realized that he had beenchafing to go since the moment of his arrival. 

"You take a great interest in her, " she remarked, as they walked alongthe terrace. 

He made his most appalling grimace. "I have never had an infant to lookafter before, " he said "And--I have to make my report to Larpent. "

"Ah! How is he?" questioned Maud. 

He shot her a swift glance. "Is the child anxious?"

"Not in the least. I don't believe she ever thinks about him. She told meon the first day that she hardly knows him. "

Saltash laughed. "How honest of her! Well, he's getting better, but hewon't be well yet. May I leave her in your charge, a while longer?"

"Of course!" Maud said warmly. "I love to have her, and she is a greathelp to me too. The children simply worship her, and she is splendid withthem. I believe Eileen will very soon get over her dread of riding. "

"Toby can ride?" asked Saltash. 

"Oh yes, like a cow-boy. She is amazingly fearless, and never minds atumble in the least. She can do the most extraordinary things exactlylike a boy. I am always afraid of her coming to grief, but she neverdoes. "

"Funny little beggar!" said Saltash. 

"I am quite sure of one thing, " pursued Maud. "She never learnt thesethings at any school. She tells me she has been to a good many. "

"I believe that's true, " said Saltash. "I imagine she is fairly quick topick up anything, but I haven't known her myself for long. "

"She must have picked up a good deal on _The Night Moth_, " observed Maudunexpectedly. 

He glanced at her again. "Why do you say that? She was under myprotection--and Larpent's--on _The Night Moth_. "

"I know. She idolizes you, " Maud smiled at him somewhat dubiously. "Butshe must have mixed fairly freely with the crew to have picked up thereally amazing language she sometimes uses. "

Saltash's brows worked whimsically. "Some of us have a gift that way, " heremarked. "Your worthy Jake, for instance--"

"Oh, Jake is a reformed character, " she interrupted. "He hardly ever letshimself go now-a-days. And he won't allow it from Bunny. But Toby--Tobynever seems to know the good from the bad. "

"Has Jake taken her in hand?" asked Saltash with a chuckle. 

"Oh yes. He checks her at every turn. I must say she takes it verysweetly, even offered to take her meals in her room yesterday when he wasrather down on her. It absolutely disarmed Jake of course. What could hesay?"

"Yes, she's a disarming monkey certainly, " agreed Saltash. "But I neverwas great on the management and discipline of children. So she knocksunder to the great Jake, does she?"

"Oh, not entirely. " Maud laughed a little. "Only this morning they had abattle. I don't know how it is going to end yet. But--she can be veryfirm. "

"She never tried any battles with me, " said Saltash, with somecomplacence. 

"No. But then your sense of duty is more elastic than Jake's. Younever--probably--asked her to do anything she didn't want to do. "

"Can't remember, " said Saltash. "What did Jake want?"

Maud's smile lingered. "You'll laugh of course. But Jake is quite right, whatever you do. He wanted her to go to church with little Eileen and methis morning. She's only a child, you know, and he naturally took it forgranted that she was going. We both did. But just at the last moment sheabsolutely refused, told him quite frankly that she was--an atheist. "

Saltash's laugh had a sound half-mocking, half-exultant. "What said theworthy Jake to that? Stop! I know what he said. He said. 'You can callyourself by any fool name you please, but you've got to go to Churchlike a respectable citizen if I say so. ' Wasn't that it?"

"Something like it, " Maud admitted. "How did you know?"

"Oh, I know Jake, " said Saltash dryly. "And what happened then? Sherefused?"

"Yes, she refused. She was frightened, but she refused. She looked as ifshe were going to run away, but in the end Jake went off with her to thestables saying they would go to-night. They were quite friends when I sawthem again, but she had been crying, poor little thing. I wish I couldhelp her, but somehow I can't get near enough. Jake seems to understandher best. "

"Wonder if she will give in?" said Saltash. 

They were passing through a shrubbery that led to the training-field, andthere came the quick thud of hoofs galloping on short turf as theyapproached. 

"I don't think there is much doubt about that, " Maud said. 

Saltash laughed again mockingly. "Oh, we all know Jake is invincible, virtuous rectitude incarnate. But you can't hammer a girl into submissionlike a boy and I rather fancy that Toby is not wholly ignorant of the artof getting her own way. "

"Jake never hammered Bunny, " Maud said quietly, "But he manages himnotwithstanding. "

They rounded a curve and came upon the gate that led into the field. Thegalloping hoofs were close to them. As they reached the corner two ridersflashed past at full speed. One of them--Bunny--lay on his horse's neck, yelling wild encouragement to his mount. The other, --a slight, childishfigure--was kneeling on the saddle like a small, crouching creature, perfectly poised and wholly unafraid. As the horse that carried herdropped to a canter on the hill, she got to her feet with absolute ease, and stood, arms out and swaying to the animal's motion, till, as theyrounded another curve, she dropped to the saddle again, and passed fromsight, following in Bunny's tracks. 

"Quite a pretty exhibition!" remarked Saltash. "Where is Jake?"

Jake himself appeared at the moment riding soberly, mounted on hisfavourite horse, The Hundredth Chance. He greeted Saltash with a smileand jumped to the ground to join them at the gate. 

"They'll be round again directly. Just riding off their spirits, " heexplained in his easy drawl. "You motored over, my lord?"

Saltash nodded with a touch of impatience. He was watching with restlesseyes for the reappearance of the girl on horseback. She had not seen himat the gate, yet somehow his arrogance rebelled at the fact that shehad passed him by. 

Jake stood with The Hundredth Chance nuzzling against him. He did nottrouble himself to make conversation; that was not his way. He alsowaited for the reappearance of the riders. 

They came, riding side by side and jesting with careless _camaraderie_. Toby's face was delicately flushed. The fair head had no covering. Shewas dressed and looked exactly like a boy. 

At sight of Saltash standing by the gate her whole attitude changed. Sheuttered a queer sound, half-whoop, half-sob, and flung herself out of thesaddle. In a moment she had reached him, was hanging to his arm in mutegreeting, everything else in the world forgotten. It was patheticallylike the re-union of a lost dog to its master. 

Saltash's ugly face softened miraculously at her action. The jest died onhis lips. "Why, Nonette!" he said. "Nonette!"

She strangled another sob. Her face was burning, quivering, appealing, nolonger the face of a boy. "I thought you'd forgotten to come, " she said. 

"What? Was I expected to lunch?" said Saltash. "Ah! Was that why youwouldn't go to church?"

Toby looked up, desperately smiling. "It may have been--partly. But Inever do go. Do you?"

"Not often, " said Saltash. "I might if I stayed here. There's no knowing. You'll be pleased to hear your daddy is better. He's coming down to theCastle to convalesce. And when he's done that, I'm going to have aparty--a coming-out party--for you. "

"For me!" Toby gasped, staring at him with scared blue eyes. "I hope youwon't, sir, " she said. 

He laughed back at her, his brows working mischievously. "_Mais pourquoipas, mignonne?_ You are old enough. Maud will come and be hostess, won'tyou, Maud? You shall have Jake too for a watch-dog, if you want him. After that, you shall be presented at Court, when you've learnt tocurtsey prettily instead of turning somersaults. You must let your hairgrow, Nonette, and leave off wearing breeks. You've got to be a credit tome. "

"Oh, damn!" said Toby in dismay. "I mean--oh, bother!"

"Yes, it's a good thing you mean only that, isn't it?" laughed Saltash. "If you go on wearing those masculine things much longer, you'll haveJake punching your head for little slips of that kind. He's gettingmighty particular, I'm told. "

"Not afraid of Jake!" said Toby, casting a swift look at her host. 

Jake was lighting his pipe. His face wore a faint smile. He was holdingToby's animal as well as his own. "Aren't you going to ride again?" hesaid. 

"No, " said Toby. 

"Oh, come on!" Bunny pushed his horse forward without dismounting. "Gladto see you, Charlie, but we must have one more gallop. Come on, Toby! Bea sport!"

But Toby, still holding Saltash's sleeve, would not so much as look athim. "Not coming, " she said tersely. 

Saltash laughed. Bunny coloured suddenly and hotly. "Oh, all right!" hesaid, and, wheeling his horse, rode away. 

"Now you've hurt his little feelings, " observed Saltash. 

"Who cares?" said Toby, and nestled closer, till with his sudden recklessgrin he thrust an arm about her shoulders. 

"I'll tell you what it is, Nonette. You're getting spoilt all round. Something will have to be done. Shall I take her away, Jake?"

"And bring me back when I'm good?" put in Toby eagerly. 

He laughed and pinched her ear. "I shall want to keep you myself--whenyou're good. I haven't yet found anyone to sew on buttons like you do. No, _ma chère_, you'll have to stay and be caned for your sins. Jake isa better schoolmaster than I am, being so eminently virtuous himself. Ihope you do cane her, Jake. I'm sure she needs it. "

"No, " Jake said, preparing to mount again. "I haven't tried that atpresent. "

Toby watched him a little wistfully as he moved away, leading her horse. "I am trying to be good, " she said. "He knows that. "

"Yes, she's trying hard, " Maud said very kindly. "Jake and I are going tobe proud of her some day. "

Saltash's brows twisted humorously. "I wonder, " he said. And then againlightly he laughed. "Don't get too good, Nonette! I can't rise to it. "

She turned swiftly, looking up into the derisive face above her with openadoration in her own. "You!" she said. "You!"

"Well, what about me?" he said. 

She coloured very deeply. "Nothing, sir, nothing! Only--you're so great!"

He flicked her cheek, grimacing hideously. "Is that your pretty way oftelling me I'm the biggest rotter you ever met?"

"Oh, no!" said Toby quickly and earnestly. "Oh no! I think you are--aking. If--if anyone could make me believe in God, you could. "

She spoke with a sincerity that held a hint of passion. The grimaceflicked out of Saltash's face like a picture from a screen. For a momenthe had the blank look of a man who has been hit, he knows not where. Thenwith lightning swiftness, his eyes went to Maud. "You hear that?" hesaid, almost on a note of challenge. "Why don't you laugh?"

She met his look with absolute steadfastness. There was a certain pity inher own. "Because, " she said with great gentleness, "I believe that it istrue. "

In the silence that followed she waited for his own laugh of mockery anddid not hear it. The odd eyes comprehended her, and passed her by, fellabruptly to Toby and dwelt upon her with a whimsical tenderness. 

"I always said you were a little ass, didn't I, Toby?" he said. 

And Toby turned with an apologetic murmur and softly kissed his hand. 

CHAPTER X

RESOLUTIONS

Toby went to church that Sunday evening with great propriety, Saltashhaving departed, taking Bunny with him to spend the evening atBurchester. Her behaviour was a model of decorum throughout, butreturning she begged Jake for a cigarette as a reward of virtue. 

"It'll keep me good for hours, " she assured him. 

And Jake, who yearned for a smoke himself, could not find it in his heartto refuse. 

"Don't overdo it, that's all!" he said. "Young Bunny is always at it, andit's very bad for him. "

"Oh, I've got heaps more sense than Bunny, " said Toby, with loftyassurance. 

She smoked the cigarette with delicate appreciation though Jake's tobaccowas by no means suited to a feminine palate, and they returned at peacewith all the world. 

Maud, who had been watching for them somewhat anxiously, saw with reliefthat her fears were groundless. Toby's serene countenance told her thatall was well. No, she had not hated it so very badly after all. It wasnothing to make a fuss about anyhow. She would go again if Jake liked. 

She seemed in fact mildly amused by the idea that he could be so easilypleased, and asked him later with her chin in the air if there were anyother odd jobs he would like her to perform. 

But when Maud presently went to the piano, she came and sat on a lowchair near her and listened in absolute stillness while she played. Theywere alone, and Maud played on and on, almost forgetful of her silentcompanion, suffering her fingers to wander in unison with her thoughts. All her life music had been her great joy and solace. She was not abrilliant musician as was Saltash, but she had the gift of so steepingherself in music that she could at times thereby express that whichotherwise would have been unutterable--the hidden emotions of her soul. 

Nearly an hour had passed thus before she remembered the silent littlefigure behind her, and then it was with a swift sense of compunction thatshe took her hands from the keys and turned. 

"Toby dear, how boring this must be for you! Are you asleep? Why, child, what is it?"

With a start she saw that Toby's fair head was bowed upon her arms in anattitude of the most hopeless, the most bitter, despair. 

She made a convulsive movement at the sound of Maud's voice, and in amoment lifted a white, strained face. "I am just a little tired, that'sall, " she said in a voice that quivered in spite of her. "Please go onplaying! I like it. "

Maud got up with quiet decision and went to her, but Toby was on her feetbefore she reached her. She stood with that look of a small, frightenedanimal so characteristic of her, her two hands nervously locked together. 

Maud took her gently by the arm. "Shall we sit down and talk?" she said. 

Toby yielded as it were involuntarily to the quiet touch. In her plainwhite blouse with the sailor collar she looked a mere child--a piteous, shy child. 

Maud drew her down upon the sofa. All the mother in her went out to theforlorn little creature, yet for the moment she hesitated, as one afraidto strike a wrong note. 

Toby was trembling a little and that fact decided her. She put acomforting arm about her. 

"Do you know I am wondering how to make you happy?" she said. 

Toby choked back a sob. "You are very kind, and I am stupid--stupid. Iwill try to be happy. I will really. "

Maud began to draw her gently nearer, but Toby surprised her by a suddenpassionate movement and slipped down on to the floor, hiding her faceagainst her. 

"I'm not fit--to speak to you!" she said in a vehement, strangledwhisper. "I'm so bad--so bad. And I do--so--want to be good. "

"My dear, dear child!" Maud said very tenderly. 

Toby fought with herself for a space, her thin arms tightly claspingMaud's knees. At last, forcing back her distress she lifted her head. 

"I'm so dreadfully sorry. Don't let it upset you! Don't--tell Jake!"

"You are quite safe with me, dear, " Maud assured her. "But can't I helpyou?"

She knew even as she asked the question that Toby was not prepared togive her full confidence, and her own reserve shrank from asking for it. 

Toby looked up at her with quivering lips. "Oh, you are good!" she said. "I want to be good--like you. But--I don't feel as if I ever shall be. "

Maud laid a very gentle hand upon the blue-veined forehead. "I thinkgoodness is only comparative at the best of times, dear, " she said. "Idon't feel that I am specially good. If I seem so to you, it is probablybecause my life holds very few temptations to be anything else. "

"Ah!" Toby said, with a quick sigh. "And do you think people ought to bemade to suffer for--for things they can't help?"

Maud shook her head. "I am afraid it often happens, dear. "

"And yet you believe in God, " Toby said. 

"Yes, I believe in God. " With quiet reverence Maud made answer. "And I amquite sure, Toby--quite, quite sure--that He never holds peopleresponsible for the things they can't help. "

"Then why--" began Toby restlessly. 

Maud interrupted her. "No, no. Don't ask why! The world is as God madeit. 'We are His workmanship. ' Let Him do with us as He will!"

Toby's hands clenched. A frown that was curiously unchildlike drew thewide forehead. "Are we to be quite passive then? Just--slaves?"

"No, " Maud said. "Servants--not slaves. There is a big difference. Andevery one of us--every one of us--has God's work to do in the world. "

"And you think that bad people, --like me--can do anything?" said Toby. 

Maud smiled a little. "Toby dear, I am quite sure that your work iswaiting for you. "

"Don't know where I'm going to begin, " said Toby, with another sigh. 

"My dear, you have begun. " Maud's hand smoothed the fair hair. "Do youthink I don't know how hard you try?"

Toby's eyes filled with quick tears. "But is it any good trying? Shall Iever get away from--from--" She broke off with a nervous, upward glance. "Shall I ever do more than begin?" she substituted rather piteously. 

"My dear, yes. " Very quietly, with absolute decision, Maud made answer. "You are young--too young to be hampered by anything that is past. Youhave your life before you, and--to a very great extent--you can make ofit what you will. There is no need--believe me, there is no need--to lookback. There is only time enough for the present. Just keep on trying!Make the very best you can of it! And you will find the future will comeout all right. "

"Will it?" said Toby rather dubiously. 

Maud bent and kissed her. "Certainly it will, dear. Never doubt it! Itmay not be the future we plan for ourselves, but it will be the very bestpossible if we keep on doing our best with the present. "

"Thank you, " Toby murmured gratefully. "And you really think--you doreally think--the past doesn't matter?"

Maud was silent for a few moments. The thought of Saltash was in hermind, his jesting evasions, his air of careless proprietorship. What wasthe thing in this child's past that she desired so earnestly to put away?She wondered if she ought to ask, but she could not. 

A slight terror ran through the small, supplicating figure at her knee, and quick pity banished doubt. "I think it is entirely in our own hands, dear, " she said gently. "The past can always be left behind if we workhard enough. "

"Oh, thank you, " Toby said again, and gathering Maud's handsimpulsively into her own she kissed them. "I'm going to work very hard, "she said. "You'll help me, I know. I've got to--to leave off turningsomersaults--and learn to--curtsey. "

She sent a shy smile into Maud's face, and almost in spite of herselfMaud answered it. There was something oddly appealing, irresistiblyattractive, about the child. She was so young and ardent, yet sopathetically anxious to please. 

"Of course I will help you, " she said. "I will always help you, my dear. "

And Toby, emboldened, thrust warm arms about her neck, and held herclose. 

CHAPTER XI

THE BUTTERFLY

The perfect rose of a June sunset was slanting through the fir-woods ofBurchester Park, making the red trunks glow. At the end of a long grassride the new moon dipped to the west, a silver boat uptilted in a greentransparent sea. A very great stillness lay upon all things--the eventidequiet of a summer day. 

The dull thudding of a horse's hoofs along the ride scarcely seemed tobreak that magic silence. A frightened rabbit scurrying to cover made nosound at all. Somewhere a long way off a cuckoo was calling, tenderly, persistently. Somewhere near at hand a blackbird was warbling to hismate. But it all went into the enchanted silence, blending with the hushof the coming night. The man who rode the horse was conscious only of thepeace of his surroundings. He doffed his cap to the moon in mockreverence, and carried it in his hand. 

He came to the end of the ride and checked his animal on the brow of asteep descent. The park lay below him wrapped in mystery. On anotherslope a full mile away stood the Castle, ancient battlemented, starklysplendid, one westward-facing window burning as with fire. He satmotionless for a space, gazing across at it, his face a curious mask ofconjecture and regret. 

Finally, with great suddenness, he lifted his hand and smote his horsesharply on the flank. In a moment he was being precipitated at a headlonggallop down the hill. He went like the wind, and the enchanted woodwas left behind. 

Riding up the further slope to the Castle a few minutes later, he washailed from behind and reined in to look back. A long-legged figuredetached itself from a clump of trees that shadowed the bailiff's houseand came racing in pursuit. 

"Hi! Charlie! Don't be in such a deuce of a hurry! I'm going your way. "

Saltash waited, not too patiently. "My good chap, you're dressed and I'mnot! I shall be late for my guests. "

"What's it matter?" scoffed Bunny breathlessly, reaching his side. "Maudand Jake don't count, and Toby is only a kid. I don't suppose she's everbeen out to dine before. "

"She's old enough to begin, " remarked Saltash, pushing on at a walk. 

"Well, she is beginning, " said Bunny, with a grin as he strode besidehim. "You haven't seen her for some weeks, have you? You'll see adifference, and so will her father. "

"How?" said Saltash briefly. 

Bunny's grin became more pronounced. "Oh, it's chiefly clothes. Maud israther clever in that line, you know. I haven't seen a great deal of herlately. She's generally scampering round on horseback with Jake. Butonce or twice--with Maud--I've seen her look quite demure. She's reallygetting almost good-looking, " he added dispassionately. 

Saltash flung a swift look downwards. "Don't you approve?"

Bunny shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see enough of her to care eitherway. She's still a kid, you know, --quite a kid. "

Saltash dropped the subject abruptly. "You're liking your job all right?"

"Rather!" Bunny made instant and enthusiastic reply. "It's just the sortof thing I was made for. Old Bishop's a brick. We're getting quite fondof one another. "

"Sort of life you enjoy?" questioned Saltash. 

"Oh, rather! I've always thought I'd like to manage a big estate. WishI'd got one of my own. "

"All right. I'll adopt you, " laughed Saltash. "You shall be the son of myold age. "

"Oh, don't be an ass!" protested Bunny. "Why on earth don't you getmarried?"

Saltash's brows twisted wryly. "Afraid I've lived too long, _mon cher_. If I had married your sister in the long ago, things might have beenvastly different. As it is, I see no prospect of changing my state. Thinkit matters?"

"Well, it's rather a shame to let a good name die out, " maintained Bunny. "And of course it's rot to talk like that about Maud. You can't pretendto have stayed in love with her all these years. There must have beenheaps of others since then. "

"No, I'm not pretending, " said Saltash. "As you say, there havebeen--heaps of others. " He made an odd gesture towards the western skybehind him. "There are always--heaps of stars, Bunny; but there's nevermore than one moon. "

"Rot!" said Bunny. 

"It is, isn't it?" said Saltash, and laughed with brief derision. "Well, I must get on. You can do the receiving if I'm late. Tell them I've beenin town and only got back at mid-day! You needn't bother about Larpent. I'll see to him. "

He flicked his horse's neck and was off with the words. 

Bunny, striding after, watched him ride swiftly up the slope till thefir-trees of the avenue hid him from view. 

"Queer fish!" he murmured to himself. "Very queer fish!"

He entered the Castle a little later by the great stone hall and found itlighted from end to end as if in preparation for a reception. He hadknown the place for years, but it always struck him afresh with itsmagnificence. It looked like a palace of kings. There were some beautifulpieces of statuary both in marble and bronze, and upon each of these ashaded light shone. 

At the end of the hall a wide oak staircase that branched mid-way led toan oak gallery that ran round three sides of the hall, and where itdivided a high door stood open, showing a lighted room beyond. Bunny lefthis coat with the silent-stepping butler and went straight up theshallow stairs. 

He entered the stately apartment at the top expecting to find it empty. It was the drawing-room--a vast and lofty chamber with satin-coveredwalls, superbly furnished with old French furniture in royal blue velvetand gilt. There was a further room beyond, but Bunny did not pursue hisway thither, for a man in evening-dress turned suddenly from one of thegreat southward-facing windows and moved to meet him. 

He was a gaunt man with a trim beard and the eyes of the sea-farer, andhe walked with a slight roll as if accustomed to pitching decks. 

"Sir Bernard Brian?" he said. 

Bunny held out his hand. "You're Captain Larpent, of course. I wonderwe've never met before. I've heard of you often enough. Sorry you hadsuch bad luck with _The Night Moth. "_

"Oh, damnable luck!" said the sailor gloomily. 

"Still you came out of it alive, " said Bunny consolingly. "And yourdaughter too. Things might have been worse. "

Larpent grunted. "Think so?"

"She does anyway, " said Bunny, with a grin. 

Larpent grunted again. "Shipboard is not the place for a girl, " heremarked. 

"Toby seems more at home on horseback than anywhere else, " said Bunny. 

Larpent gave him a keen look. "Oh, she still goes by that name, doesshe?" he said. 

"What do you call her?" said Bunny. 

Larpent snapped his fingers curtly. 

"Does she come for that?" asked Bunny. 

"Usually, " said Larpent. 

"Then she's more docile than I thought she was, " commented Bunny. 

Larpent said nothing. He propped himself against the high mantelpiece andstared morosely out before him to the pine-clad slopes of the park. 

"How you must hate being ashore!" said Bunny. 

"Why do you say that?" Larpent scarcely removed his moody gaze. 

"You look as if you did. " There was a hint of chaff in Bunny's voice. Hesurveyed the gaunt man with humorous interest, seated on one of the giltchairs with his hands clasped round his knee. "I suppose Saltash will buyanother yacht, won't he?"

Larpent's eyes came definitely down to him, grimly contemptuous. "Do youalso suppose that would be the same thing?" he said. 

Bunny flushed a little, but he accepted the rebuff with a good grace. "Idon't know, sir. You see, I've never been the captain of a yacht. "

Larpent's hard visage relaxed a little. He resumed his contemplation ofthe distant pine-woods in silence. 

Bunny got up whistling and began to stroll about the room. He was neverstill for long. He was not very familiar with the state reception-roomsof Burchester Castle and he found plenty to interest him. 

Several minutes passed, and he had almost forgotten the silent man wholeaned against the fire-place, when suddenly Larpent came out of hismelancholy reverie and spoke. 

"How long has the child been with these Boltons?"

Bunny paused at the further end of the room. "Let's see! It must be sometime now--practically ever since the wreck. It must be about six weeks. Yes; she came just before I left to take on this job--the week of theGraydown Meetings. " Bunny's eyes kindled at the memory. "We had somesport the day she came, I remember; quite a little flutter. In fact wesoared so high that I thought we were going to create a sensation, andthen"--Bunny whistled dramatically--"down we came with a rush, and I wasbroke!" He began to laugh. "It's rather a shame to tell you, isn't it?But you won't give me away? We've never done it since. "

"I shan't give anyone away, " said Larpent grimly. 

"Good! You're a sport, I can see. "

The genuine appreciation in Bunny's voice brought an icy glimmer ofamusement to the elder man's eyes, but he made no verbal comment. 

Again a silence fell, and Bunny came strolling back, a smile on hishandsome boyish face. 

"Fine place this, " he remarked presently. "It's a pity Saltash is here solittle. He only comes about three times a year, and then only for acouple of nights at a time. There's heaps of game in the woods and no oneto shoot it. "

"He probably knows his own business best, " remarked Larpent. 

"Oh, probably. But the place is wasted on him for all that. " Bunny spokewith a frown. "Why on earth he doesn't marry and settle down I can'tthink. Can't you persuade him to?"

"No, " said Larpent quite definitely. 

Bunny glanced at him. "I don't know why not. I know he's considered tohave gone the pace a bit, but after all he's no worse than a hundredothers. Why the devil shouldn't he marry?"

Larpent shrugged his shoulders. "Don't ask me!" he said. 

"Well, he ought to, " maintained Bunny. "If you have any influence withhim, you ought to persuade him to. "

"I haven't, " said Larpent. 

Bunny flung away impatiently. "It's a confounded shame--a gorgeous familyplace like this and no one but servants to live in it!"

"It is, isn't it?" gibed Saltash, unexpectedly entering from the furtherdoor. "Large enough for fifty wives, eh, Bunny? Well, as I said before, you get married and I'll adopt you. It'll save me a lot of trouble. You're so keen on recommending the marriage medicine to other people. Tryit yourself, and see how you like it!"

He walked straight down the long room with the words, passing bothLarpent and Bunny on his way, pausing by neither. "I like to hear you twodiscussing my case, " he jested. "You, Bunny, who have never had the greatdisease, and Larpent who has never got over it!"

He approached the open door that led out upon the great staircase, thejest still on his lips and the laughter in his eyes. He reached it andstretched out both hands with a fine gesture of greeting. 

"Welcome to my poor hovel!" he said. "Madam, I kneel at your feet. "

A clear high laugh answered him from below, and both of his companionsturned sharply at the sound. 

A figure in white, girlish, fresh as the morning, sprang suddenly intoview. Her eager face had the delicate flush of a wild rose. The hairclustered about her temples in tender ringlets of gold. Her eyes, blueand shining, gave her the look of a child just awakened from happysleep--a child that expects to be lifted up and kissed. 

"By--Jove!" murmured Bunny under his breath, staring openly. "By--Jove!"

And these words failed him. He had never been so astounded in his life. This girl--this funny little Toby with the sharp features and pointedchin, the girl-urchin with whom he had chaffed and played--was actually abeauty, and till that amazing moment he had not realized the fact. 

As he went forward to greet her, he saw that Larpent was staring also, and he chuckled inwardly at the sight. Decidedly it must be a worse shockfor Larpent than it was for himself, he reflected. For at least he hadseen her in the chrysalis stage, though most certainly he had neverexpected this wonderful butterfly to emerge. 

Maud, of course, was the witch who had worked the marvelloustransformation, Maud with her tender mother-wisdom that divined so much. He looked at her now, and wondered as he met her smile if she fullyrealized what she had done. 

Across the wonder came Saltash's quizzing voice--"_Mais, Nonette, Nonette_, you are a vision for the gods!"

And a curious hot pang that was like a physical stab went through Bunny. How dared Charlie use that caressing tone to her--as though she were amere ordinary woman to be trifled with and cajoled? He had neverdisapproved of Saltash before, but for that moment he almost hated him. She was too young, too sweet, too--different--to be treated thus. 

And then he was standing close to her, and Saltash, laughing, pushed himforward. "Do you know this fellow, _ma chère_?"

The wide blue eyes came up to his with a pleased smile of comradeship. "Why, it's Bunny!" the clear voice said. "I'm so glad you're here too--inthis ogre's castle. "

Her hand gave his a little confiding squeeze, and Bunny's fingers grippedin answer. He realized suddenly that she was nervous, and all the readychivalry of his nature rose up to protect her. For a moment or two hekept her hand close in his own. 

Then Saltash airily took it from him. "Come!" he said lightly. "Here issomeone else you ought to know!"

He wheeled her round with the words. She came face to face with Larpent. There was an instant of dead silence, then Toby uttered a littlequivering laugh. 

"Hullo--Captain!" she said

"Hullo!" said Larpent, paused a moment, then abruptly took her by thechin, and, stooping, touched the wide brow with his lips. "All right?" heasked gruffly. 

Toby gave a little gasp; she seemed to be trembling. But in a second shelaughed again, with more assurance. "Yes, all right, captain, " she said. "I--I--I'm glad to see you again. You all right too?"

Bunny, looking on, made the abrupt discovery that Larpent also wasembarrassed. It was Saltash who answered for him, covering the moment'sawkwardness with the innate ease of manner which never seemed to deserthim. 

"Of course he's all right. Don't you worry about him! We're going to buyhim another boat as soon as the insurance Company have done talking. Maud, this is my captain, the finest yachtsman you've ever met and myvery good friend. "

He threw his merry, dare-devil glance at Larpent as he made theintroduction, and turned immediately to Jake. 

"You two ought to get on all right. He disapproves of me almost asstrongly as you do, and--like you--he endures me, he knows notwherefore!"

Jake's red-brown eyes held a smile that made his rugged face look kindlyas he made reply. "Maybe we both have the sense to spot a winner when wesee one, my lord. "

Saltash's brows went up derisively. "And maybe you'll both lose goodmoney on the gamble before you've done. "

"I think not, " said Jake, in his steady drawl. "I've known many a worsestarter than you get home on the straight. "

Saltash laughed aloud, and Toby turned with flushed cheeks and liftedeyes, alight and ardent, to her hero's face. 

Saltash's glance flashed round to her, the monkeyish grin still about hismouth, and from her to Bunny who stood behind. He did not speak for amoment. Then: "No; you've never known a worse starter, Jake, " he said;"and if I do get home on the straight it will be thanks to you. "

Very curiously from that moment Bunny found his brief resentment dead. 

CHAPTER XII

THE OGRE'S CASTLE

"Let's go out into the garden!" said Bunny urgently. 

Dinner was over, and Maud and Saltash were at the piano at the far end ofthe great room. Jake and Larpent were smoking in silent companionship ata comfortable distance. Toby, who had been very quiet the whole evening, sat silently apart in a low chair with her hands clasped about her knees. Bunny alone was restless. 

She lifted her eyes to him as he prowled near her, and they held a hintof mischief. At his murmured words she rose. 

"You'd like to?" he questioned. 

She nodded. "Of course; love it. You know the way. You lead!"

Bunny needed no second bidding. He went straight to the tall door andheld it open for her. Toby, very slim and girlish in her white raiment, cocked her chin and walked out in state. But the moment they were aloneshe turned upon him a face brimful of laughter. 

"Oh, now we can enjoy ourselves! I've been feeling so proper all theevening. Quick! Where shall we go?"

"Into the garden, " said Bunny. "Or wait! Come up on to the battlements!It's ripping up there. "

She thrust her hand eagerly into his. "I shall love that. Which way do wego?"

"Through the music-room, " said Bunny. 

He caught and held her hand. They ran up one of the wide stairways thatbranched north and south to the Gallery. Saltash's music followed themfrom the drawing-room as they went. He was playing a haunting Spanishlove-song, and Toby shivered and quickened her pace. 

They reached another oak door which Bunny opened, drawing her impetuouslyforward. "This is Charlie's own particular sanctum. Rather a rippingplace, isn't it? He's got a secret den that leads somewhere out of it, but no one knows how to get in. "

He led her over a polished oak floor into a long, almost empty apartmentwith turreted windows at each end, and a grand piano near one of themthat shone darkly in the shaded lamplight. Underfoot were Persian rugs, exquisite of tint and rich of texture. Two or three deep divans completedthe furniture of the room giving it a look of Eastern magnificence thatstrangely lured the senses. 

"Rather like a harem I always think, " said Bunny, pausing to look round. "There's an Arabian Nights sort of flavour about it that rather gets holdof one. Why? You're shivering! Surely you're not cold!"

"No, I'm not cold, " said Toby. "But I don't like this place. It's creepy. Let's go!"

But Bunny lingered. "What's the matter with it? It's luxurious enough. I've always rather liked coming in here. "

Toby made a small but vehement gesture of protest. "Then you like horridthings, " she said. "There's no air in here;--only--only--scent. "

Bunny sniffed. "Well, it's quite subtle anyhow; not enough to upsetanybody. Rather a seductive perfume, what?"

She surprised him by stamping in sudden fury upon the bare floor. "It's beastly! It's hateful! How can you like it? It--it--it's bad!It's--damnable!"

Bunny stared at her. "Well, Charlie designed it anyway. It's the onecorner in the whole Castle that is individually his. What on earth isthere that you don't like about it?"

"Everything--everything!" declared Toby passionately. "I don't want tostay here another minute. Show me the way out!"

She spoke with such imperiousness that Bunny judged it best to comply. Heshowed her a door in the eastern wall that was draped by a heavy redcurtain. 

"You can get up on to the ramparts that way. But wait a minute while Ifind the switch! What are you running away from? There isn't a bogey-mananywhere. "

Toby drew in her breath sharply with a nervous glance over her shoulder. "I think it's a dreadful place, " she said. "I want to get out into theair. "

Bunny opened the door, and a dark passage gaped before them. "This looksmuch more eerie, " he observed, feeling about for a switch. "Do you reallylike this better?"

"Much better, " said Toby, going boldly into the darkness. 

"Don't believe there is a switch, " said Bunny, striking a match. "No, there isn't! How beastly medieval! Look here! Wait while I go and get anelectric torch!"

"No, no! Let's feel our way! I'm sure we can, " urged Toby. "Come on!It'll be fun. Shut the door!"

The spirit of adventure seized upon Bunny. He let the door swing closedand caught her hand again. 

Toby's delighted chuckle told him that she had fully recovered herequilibrium. Her fingers twined closely about his own. 

"Now we shall have some fun!" she said. 

They went forward together for a few yards in total darkness. Then, fromsomewhere high above them a faint light filtered through. 

"That's on the stairs, " said Bunny. "One of those window-slits throughwhich in the old hospitable days all comers were potted at. Look out howyou go!"

The words were scarcely uttered when they both kicked against the loweststair and blundered forward. A squeal of laughter came from Toby. Bunnysaid "Damn!" with much heartiness and then laughed also. 

"I knew it would be fun, " said Toby. "Are you hurt?"

He raised her with a strong young arm. "No, I'm all right. Are you?"

"Yes. I'm loving it. What happens next? Do the stairs wind round andround till we get to the top?"

"Yes. There are about six hundred of 'em. Feel equal to it?"

"Equal to anything, " said Toby promptly. "Let me go first!"

"Why don't I go and get a light?" said Bunny. 

"Because you're not to. Because it's heaps more fun without. Besides, there's lots of light up there. Now then? Are you ready? Come on! Let'sgo!"

Indomitable resolution sounded in Toby's voice. She drew herself freefrom Bunny's hold, and began to mount. 

"You know it's haunted, don't you?" said Bunny cheerily. "A beautifullady was once captured and imprisoned in this turret in the dear old dayswhen everyone did those things. She had to choose between throwingherself from the battlements and marrying her wicked captor--an ancestorof Charlie's, by the way. She did the latter and then died of a brokenheart. They always did, you know. Her poor little ghost has wandered upand down this stair ever since. "

"Idiot!" said Toby tersely. 

"Who?" said Bunny. "And why?"

"The woman. Why didn't she throw herself over? It would have been mucheasier. "

"Perhaps she didn't find it so, " said Bunny. "And she'd doubtless havedone the haunting stunt even if she had. "

"Well, then, why didn't she marry the brute and--and--give him hell?"said Toby tensely. 

Bunny uttered a shout of laughter that echoed and re-echoed up and downthe winding stair. 

"Is that what you would have done?"

"I'd have done one or the other, " said Toby. 

"By Jove, how bloodthirsty you sound!" ejaculated Bunny. "Are you inearnest by any chance?"

"Yes, I am in earnest. " There was a note of bitter challenge in Toby'sreply. "If a woman hasn't the spunk to defend herself, she's betterdead. "

"I agree with you there, " said Bunny with decision. "But I don't know howyou come to know it. "

"Oh, I know a lot of things, " said Toby's voice in the darkness, and thistime it sounded oddly cold and desolate as if the stone walls around themhad somehow deadened it. 

He put out a hand and touched her, for she seemed in some fashion to havewithdrawn from him, to have become remote as the echoes about them. "There are heaps of things you don't know anyway, " he said. "You're onlya kid after all. "

"Think so?" said Toby. 

She evaded his hand, flitting up before him towards that grim slit in thewall through which the dim half-light of the summer night vaguelyentered. Her light figure became visible to him as she reached it. Therecame to him a swift memory of the butterfly-beauty that had so astoundedhim earlier in the evening. 

"No, I don't, " he said. "You're past that stage. What on earth has Maudbeen doing to you? Do you know when you first came into the drawing-roomtonight I hardly knew you?"

Toby's light laugh came back to him. She was like a white butterflyflitting before him in the twilight. "I wondered what you'd say. I'vegiven up jumping rosebushes, and I'm learning to be respectable. It'srather fun sometimes. Maud is very good to me--and I love Jake, don'tyou?"

"Yes, he's a brick; always was, " said Bunny enthusiastically. "I'd backhim every time. But, I say. Don't get too respectable, will you? Somehowit doesn't suit you. "

Again he heard her laugh in the darkness--a quick, rather breathlesslaugh. "I don't think I'll ever be that, " she said. "Do you?"

"I don't know, " said Bunny. "But you looked scared to death when you camein--as if you were mounted on a horse that was much too high for you. Ibelieve you were afraid of that old daddy of yours. "

"I am rather, " said Toby. "You see, I don't know him very well. And I'mnot sure he likes me. "

"Of course he likes you, " said Bunny. 

"Why? I don't know why he should. "

"Everyone does, " said Bunny, with assurance. 

"Don't be silly!" said Toby. 

They were past the slit in the wall, and were winding upwards now towardsanother. Bunny postponed argument, finding he needed all his breath forthe climb. The steps had become narrower and more steeply spiral thanbefore. His companion mounted so swiftly that he found it difficult tokeep close to her. The ascent seemed endless. 

Again they passed a window-slit, and Bunny suddenly awoke to the factthat the flying figure in front was trying to out-distance him. It cameto him in a flash of intuition. She was daring him, she was fooling him. Some imp of mischief had entered into her. She was luring him to pursuit;and like the whirling of a torch in a dark place, the knowledge firstdazzled, and then drew him. All his pulses beat in a swift crescendo. There was a considerable mixture of Irish deviltry in Bunny Brian'sveins, and anything in the nature of a challenge fired him. He uttered awild whoop that filled the eerie place with fearful echoes, and gavechase. 

It was the maddest race he had ever run. Toby fled before him like thewind, up and up, round and round the winding stair, fleet-footed, almostas though on wings, leaving him behind. He followed, fiercely determined, putting forth his utmost strength, sometimes stumbling on the unevenstairs, yet always leaping onward, urged to wilder effort by thebutterfly elusiveness of his quarry. Once he actually had her within hisreach, and then he stumbled and she was gone. He heard her maddeninglaughter as she fled. 

The ascent seemed endless. His heart was pumping, but he would notslacken. She should never triumph over him, this mocking imp, thisbutterfly-girl, who from the first had held him with a fascination hecould not fathom. He would make her pay for her audacity. He would teachher that he was more than a mere butt for her drollery. He would showher--

A door suddenly banged high above him. He realized that she had reachedthe top of the turret and burst out upon the ramparts. A very curioussensation went through him. It was almost a feeling of fear. She was sucha wild little creature, and her mood was at its maddest. The chill of theplace seemed to wrap him round. He felt as if icy fingers had clutchedhis heart. 

It was all a joke of course--only a joke! But jokes sometimes endeddisastrously, and Toby--Toby was not an ordinary person. She was either afeatherbrain or a genius. He did not know which. Perhaps there was novery clear dividing line between the two. She was certainlyextraordinary. He wished he had not accepted her challenge. If he hadrefused to follow, she would soon have abandoned her absurd flightthrough the darkness. 

It was absurd. They had both been absurd to come to this eerie placewithout a light. Somehow her disappearance, the clanging of that door, had sobered him very effectually. He cursed himself for a fool as hegroped his way upwards. The game had gone too far. He ought to haveforeseen. 

And then suddenly he blundered into an iron-clamped door and swore again. Yes, this thing was beyond a joke. 

The door resisted him, and he wrestled with it furiously as though it hadbeen a living thing obstructing his passage. 

He had begun to think that she must have bolted it on the outside whenabruptly it yielded to his very forcible persuasion, and he stumbledheadlong forth into the open starlight. He was out upon the ramparts, anddim wooded park-lands stretched away to the sea before his dazzled eyes. 

The first thing that struck him was the emptiness of the place. It seemedto catch him by the throat. There was something terrible about it. 

Behind him the door clanged, and the sound seemed the only sound in allthat wonderful June night. It had a fateful effect in the silence--likethe tolling of a bell. Something echoed to it in his own heart, and heknew that he was afraid. 

Desperately he flung his fear aside and moved forward to the parapet. Thewall was thick, but between the battlements it was only the height of hisknee. Below was depth--sheer depth--stark emptiness. 

He looked over and saw the stone terrace dimly lit by the stars far belowhim. The gardens were a blur of darkness out of which he vaguelydiscerned the glimmer of the lake among its trees. 

His heart was beating suffocatingly; he struggled to subdue his pantingbreath. She was somewhere close to him of course--of course. But thezest of the chase had left him. He felt dizzy, frightened, sick. Hetried to raise his voice to call her, and then realized with a start ofself-ridicule that it had failed him. He leaned against the parapet andresolutely pulled himself together. 

Then he went forward and found himself in a stone passage, actually onthe castle wall, between two parapets; the one on his left towering abovethe inner portion of the castle with its odd, uneven roofs of stone, theone on his right still sheer above the terrace--a drop of a hundred feetor more. 

The emptiness and the silence seemed to strike at him with a nebuloushostility as he went. He had a vague sense of intrusion, of being in aforbidden place. The blood was no longer hot in his veins. He evenshivered in the warmth of the summer night as he followed the windingwalk between the battlements. 

But he was his own master now, and as he moved forward through theglimmering starlight he called to her:

"Toby! Toby, I say! Come out! I'm not playing. "

He felt as if the silence mocked him, and again that icy constructionabout the heart made him catch his breath. He put up a hand to his browand found it wet. 

"Toby!" he cried again, and this time he did not attempt to keep theurgency out of his voice. "The game's up. Come back!"

She did not answer him, neither did she come; but he had a strongconviction that she heard. A throb of anger went through him. He strodeforward with decision. He knew that the battlement walk ended on thenorth side of the Castle in a blank wall, built centuries before as afinal defence from an invading enemy. Only by scaling this wall could theeastern portion be approached. He would find her here. She could notpossibly escape. Something of confidence came back to him as heremembered this. She could not elude him much longer. 

He quickened his stride. His face was grim. She had carried the thing toofar, and he would let her know it. He rounded the curve of the castlewall. He must be close to her now. And then suddenly he stopped dead. For he heard her mocking laughter, and it came from behind him, from theturret through which he had gained the ramparts. 

He wheeled round with something like violence and began to retrace hissteps. He had never been so baffled before, and he was angry, --hotlyangry. 

He rounded the curve once more, and approached the turret. His eyes wereaccustomed to the dim half-light, but still he could not see her. Fuming, he went back the whole distance along the ramparts till he came to theiron-clamped door that had banged behind him. He put forth an impatienthand to open it, for it was obvious that she must have eluded him byhiding behind it, and now she was probably on the stair. And then, verysuddenly, from far behind him, in the direction of the northern wall, heheard her laugh again. 

He swung about in a fury, almost too incensed to be amazed. She had thewings of a Mercury, it was evident; but he would catch her--he wouldcatch her now, or perish in the attempt. Once more he traversed the stonypromenade between the double line of battlements, searching eachembrasure as he went. 

All the way back to the wall on the north side he pursued his way withfierce intention, inwardly raging, outwardly calm. He reached theobstructing wall, and found nothing. The emptiness came all about himagain. The ghostly quiet of the place clung like a tangible veil. She hadevaded him again. He was powerless. 

But at that point his wrath suddenly burst into flame, the hotter and thefiercer for its long restraint. He wheeled in his tracks with furiousfinality and abandoned his quest. 

His intention was to go straight down by the way he had come and leaveher to play her will-o'-the-wisp game in solitude. It would soon pallupon her, he was assured; but in any case he would no longer dance to herpiping. She had fooled him to the verge of frenzy. 

Again he rounded the curve of the wall and came to the door of theturret. A great bastion of stone rose beside this, and as he reached it asmall white figure darted forward from its shadow with dainty, butterflymovements, pulled at the heavy oak door and held it open with anelaborate gesture for him to pass. 

It was a piece of exquisite daring, and with an older man it would havetaken effect. Saltash would have laughed his quizzing, cynical laugh andaccepted his defeat with royal grace. But Bunny was young and vehementof impulse, and the flame of his anger still scorched his soul with aheat intolerable. She had baffled him, astounded him, humiliated him, andhis was not a nature to endure such treatment tamely. 

He hung on his stride for a single moment, then hotly he turned andsnatched her into his arms. 

CHAPTER XIII

THE END OF THE GAME

She cried out sharply as he caught her, and then she struggled and foughtlike a mad creature for freedom. But Bunny held her fast. He had beenhard pressed, and now that the strain was over, all the pent passion ofthat long stress had escaped beyond control. He held her, --at first as aboy might hold a comrade who had provoked him to exasperation; then, asdesperately she resisted him, a new element suddenly rushed like firethrough his veins, and he realized burningly, overwhelmingly, that forthe first time in his life he held a woman in his arms. 

It came to him like a blinding revelation, and forth-with it seemed tohim that he stepped into a new world. She had tried him too far, hadthrown him off his balance. He was unfit for this further and infinitelygreater provocation. His senses swam. The touch of her intoxicated him asthough he had drunk a potent draught from some goblet of the gods. Heheard himself laugh passionately at her puny effort to resist him and thenext moment she was at his mercy. He was pressing fevered kisses upon hergasping, quivering lips. 

But she fought against him still. Though he kissed her, she would havenone of it. She struck at him, battering him frantically with her hands, stamping wildly with her feet, till he literally swung her off theground, holding her slender body against his breast. 

"You little madcap!" he said, with his hot lips against her throat. "Howdare you? Do you think I'd let you go--now?"

The quick passion of his voice or the fiery possession of his holdarrested her. She suddenly ceased to battle with him, and stiffened inhis grasp as if turned to stone. 

"Let me go!" she said tensely. 

"I will not, " said Bunny. 

He was mad with the fever of youth; he held her with a fierce exultation. There could be no returning now, nor did he wish to return. 

"You little wild butterfly!" he said, and kissed the throbbing whitethroat again. "I've caught you now and you can't escape. "

"You've--had your revenge, " Toby flung back gaspingly. "You--you--you'rea skunk if you take any more. "

Oddly that sobered him as any protest more feminine would have failed todo. He set her on her feet, but he held her still. 

"I haven't done with you, " he said, with a certain doggedness. 

"Oh, I know that, " she returned very bitterly. "You're like all the men. You can't play fair. Men don't know how. "

That stung him. "Fair or unfair, you've done all the playing so far, " hesaid. "If you thought I was such a tame fool as to put up with it--well, that's not my fault. "

"No, it's never your fault, " said Toby. She made a little vehementmovement to extricate herself, but finding him obdurate, abandonedthe attempt. "You're not a fool, Bunny Brian. You're a beast and acoward, --there!"

"Be careful!" warned Bunny, his dark eyes gleaming ominously. 

But she uttered a laugh of high defiance. "Oh, I'm not afraid of you. You're not full-grown yet. You're ashamed of yourself already. "

He coloured deeply at the taunt, but he maintained his hold upon her. 

"All right, " he said. "Say I did it all! It doesn't matter how you putit. The fact remains. "

"What fact?" said Toby swiftly. 

He clasped her a little closer. "Well, --do you think I'm going to let yougo--after this?"

She caught her breath sharply. "What do you mean? I--I--I don't know whatyou mean!"

There was quick agitation in her voice. Again she sought to free herself, and again he frustrated her. But the violence had gone out of his hold. There was even a touch of dignity about him as he made reply. 

"I mean, you little wild butterfly, that now I've got you, I'm going tokeep you. You'll have to marry me and make the best of me. "

"Marry you!" said Toby as one incredulous. 

"Yes. What's the matter with the idea? Don't you want to?" Bunny'sgood-looking young face came close to hers. He was laughing, but therewas a half-coaxing note in his voice as well. 

Toby was silent for a moment. Then: "You're mad!" she said tersely. 

"I'm not!" said Bunny. "I'm perfectly serious. Don't you understand thatwhen this kind of thing gets hold of you, there's no getting away fromit? We can't possibly go back to where we were before--behave as ifnothing had happened. You wouldn't want to, would you?"

There was a hint of pleading in his tone now. Toby made a curious littlegesture that seemed to express a measure of reassurance. But, "I don'tknow, " she said somewhat dubiously. 

"You aren't angry, are you?" said Bunny softly. 

She hesitated. "I was. "

"Yes, but not now--when you've begun to realize what a jolly thing lifetogether would be. It isn't as if we'd never met before. We're palsalready. "

"Yes; we're pals, " said Toby, but still her voice was dubious. 

"I say, be a sport!" the boy urged suddenly. "You said you weren't afraidof me. Don't chuck the best thing in life for want of a little ordinarycourage!"

"What is--the best thing in life?" said Toby. 

His hold grew close again, but it remained gentle. "You marry me, " hesaid, "and I'll show you!"

There was something sublime rather than ridiculous in his assurance. Tobycaught her breath again as if about to laugh, and then quite suddenly, wholly unexpectedly, she began to cry. 

"You poor little darling!" said Bunny. 

She leaned her head upon his shoulder, fighting great sobs thatthreatened to overwhelm her. It was not often that Toby cried, and thiswas no mere child's distress. Indeed there was about it something thatfilled her companion with a curious kind of awe. He held her closelyand comfortingly, but for some reason he could not speak to her, couldnot even attempt to seek the cause of her trouble. As his sister had donebefore him, though almost unconsciously, he sensed a barrier that hemight not pass. 

Toby regained her self-command at last, stood for a space in silence, herface still hidden, then abruptly raised it and uttered a little quiveringlaugh. 

"You great big silly!" she said. "I'm not going to marry you, so there!Now let me go!"

Her tone and action put him instantly at his ease. This was the Toby heknew. 

"Yes, you are going to marry me. And I shan't let you go, " he said. "Sothere!"

She looked him straight in the face. "No, Bunny!" she said, with a littlecatch in her breath. "You're a dear to think of it, but it won't do. "

"Why not?" demanded Bunny. 

She hesitated. 

He squeezed her shoulders. "Tell me why not!"

"I don't want to tell you, " said Toby. 

"You've got to, " he said with decision. 

In the dimness his eyes looked into hers. A little shiver went throughToby. "I don't want to, " she said again. 

"Go on!" commanded Bunny, autocratically. 

She turned suddenly and set her hands against his breast. "Well then, because I'm years and years older than you are--"

"Rot!" interjected Bunny. 

"And--I'm not good enough for you!" finished Toby rather tremulously. 

"Rats!" said Bunny. 

"No, it isn't rats. " She contradicted him rather piteously. "You'veturned a silly game into deadly earnest, and you shouldn't--youshouldn't. I wouldn't have done it if I'd known. It's such amistake--it's always such a great mistake--to do that. You say wecan't go back to where we were before, but we can--we can. Let'stry--anyway!"

"We can't, " said Bunny with decision. "And there's no reason why weshould. Look here! You don't want to marry anyone else, do you?"

"I don't want to marry at all, " said Toby. 

He laughed at that. "Darling, of course you'll marry. Come! You might aswell have me first as last. You won't get any other fellow to suit youhalf as well. What? Say you'll have me! Come, you've got to. You don'thate me, do you?"

Again the pleading note was in his voice. She responded to it almostinvoluntarily. Her hands slipped upwards to his shoulders. 

"But--I'm not good enough, " she said again, catching back a sob. 

His arms enfolded her, closely and tenderly. "Oh, skip that!" he said. "Iwon't listen. "

"You--you--you're very silly, " murmured Toby, with her head against hisneck. 

"No. I'm not. I'm very sensible. Look here, we're engaged now, aren'twe?" said Bunny. 

"No--no--we're not!" Her voice came muffled against his coat. "You're notto think of such a thing for ages and ages and ages. "

"Oh, rot!" he said again with impatience. "I hate a waitinggame--especially when there's nothing to wait for. You're not goingto give me the go-by now. "

His face was close to her again. She put her hand against his chin andsoftly pushed it away. "Bunny!" she said. 

"Well, dear?" He stood, not yielding, but suffering her check. 

"Bunny!" she said again, speaking with obvious effort. "I've got to saysomething. You must listen--just for a minute. Jake, --Jake won't want youto be engaged to me. "

"What?" Bunny started a little, as one who suddenly remembers a thingforgotten. "Jake!" Then hotly. "What the devil has it got to do withJake?"

"Stop!" said Toby. "Jake's quite right. He knows. He--he's older than youare. You--you--you'd better ask him. "

"Ask Jake!" Bunny's wrath exploded. "I'm my own master. I can marry whomI like. What on earth should I ask Jake for?"

Toby uttered a little sigh. "You needn't if you don't want to. But ifyou're wise, you will. He understands. You wouldn't. You see, I've beento a lot of different schools, Bunny--foreign ones--and I've learnt aheap of--rather funny things. That's why I'm so much older than you are. That's why I don't want to get married--as most girls do. I never oughtto marry. I know too much. "

"But you'll marry me?" he said swiftly. 

"I don't know, " she said. "Not anyway yet. If--if you can stick to me forsix months--I--p'raps I'll think about it. But I think you'll come toyour senses long before then, Bunny. " A desolate little note of humoursounded in her voice. "And if you do, you'll be so glad not to have tothrow me over. "

"You're talking rot, " he interposed. 

"No, I'm not. I'm talking sense--ordinary common sense. I wouldn't getengaged to any man on the strength of what happened to-night. You hadn'teven thought of me in that way when we came up here. "

"I'm not so sure of that, " said Bunny. "Anyway, the mischief is done now. And you needn't be afraid I shall throw you over because--" an unexpectedthrob came into his voice--"I know now I've simply got to have you. "

Toby sighed again. "But if--if I'm not worth waiting for, I'm not worthhaving, " she said. 

"But why wait?" argued Bunny. 

"For a hundred reasons. You're not really in love with me for one thing. "Toby spoke with conviction. 

"Yes, I am. " Stubbornly he contradicted her. 

"No, you're not. Listen, Bunny! Love isn't just a passion-flower thatblooms in a single night and then fades. You're too young really tounderstand, but I know--I know. Love is more like a vine. It takes along while to ripen and come to perfection, and it has a lot to gothrough first. "

Again a sense of strangeness came to Bunny. Surely this was a grown womanspeaking! This was not the wild little creature he knew. But--perhaps itwas from perversity--her warning only served to strengthen hisdetermination. 

"You can go on arguing till midnight, " he said, "you won't convince me. But look here, if you don't want anyone to know, we'll keep it toourselves for a little while. Will that satisfy you? We'll meet and havesome jolly times together in private. Will that make you any happier?"

"We shan't be engaged?" questioned Toby. 

"Not if you'll kiss me without, " said Bunny generously. 

"Oh, I don't mind kissing you--" she lifted her lips at once, "if itdoesn't mean anything. "

He stooped swiftly and met them with his own. His kiss was close andlingering, it held tenderness; and in a moment her arms crept round hisneck and she clung to him as she returned it. He felt a sob run throughher slight frame as he held her though she shed no tears and made nosound, and he was stirred to a deeper chivalry than he had ever knownbefore. 

"It does mean one thing, darling, " he said softly. "It means that we loveeach other, doesn't it?"

She did not answer him for a moment; then: "It may mean that, "she whispered back. "I don't know--very much about--love. No oneever--really--loved me before. "

"I love you, " he said. "I love you. "

"Thank you, " she murmured. 

He held her still. "You'll never run away from me again? Promise!"

She shook her head promptly with a faint echo of the elfin laughter thathad so maddened him a little earlier. "No, I won't promise. But I'll showyou where I was hiding if you like. Shall I?"

"All right. Show me!" he said. 

She freed herself from him with a little spring, and turned to the stonebuttress against which he had found her. He followed her closely, halfafraid of losing her again, but she did not attempt to elude him. 

"See!" she said, with a funny little chuckle. "I found this ledge. "

The ledge she indicated was on a level with the parapet and not more thansix inches wide. It ran square with the buttress, which on the outer sidedropped sheer to the terrace. 

Bunny looked and turned sick. "You never went along there!" he said. 

She laughed again. "Yes, I did. It's quite easy if you slide your feet. I'll show you. "

"You'll do nothing of the sort!" He grabbed her fiercely. "What inheaven's name were you thinking of? How did you learn to do thesethings?"

She did not answer him. "I wanted to tease you, " she said lightly. "And Idid it too, didn't I? I pretended I was Andromeda when I got round thecorner, but no Perseus came to save me. Only an angry dragon rampedabout behind. "

Bunny stared at her as if he thought her bewitched. "But you were over bythat north wall once. I'll swear you were over there. "

"Oh, don't swear!" she said demurely. "It's so wrong. I wasn't therereally. I only sent my voice that way to frighten you. "

"Good heavens!" gasped Bunny. 

She laughed again with gay _insouciance_. "Haven't I given you a splendidevening's entertainment? Well, it's all over now, and the curtain's down. Let's go!"

She turned with her hand in his and led him back to the turret-door. 

Reaching it, he sought to detain her. "You'll never do it again?Promise--promise!"

"I won't promise anything, " she said lightly. 

"Ah, but you must!" he insisted. "Toby, you might have killed yourself. "

Her laugh suddenly had a mocking sound. "Oh, no! I shall never killmyself on Lord Saltash's premises, " she said. 

"Why do you say that?" questioned Bunny. 

"Because--_que voulez-vous_?--he would want me neither dead nor alive, "she made reckless answer. 

"A good thing too!" declared Bunny stoutly. 

The echoes of Toby's laughter as she went down the chill, dark stairwayhad an eerie quality that sent an odd shiver through his heart. Somehowit made him think of the unquiet spirit that was said to haunt theplace--a spirit that wandered alone--always alone--in the utterdesolation. 

PART III

CHAPTER I

THE VIRTUOUS HERO

"How long is this absurd farce to go on?" said Larpent. 

"Aren't you enjoying yourself?" grinned Saltash. 

Larpent looked sardonic. 

Saltash took up the whisky decanter. "My worthy buccaneer, you don't knowwhen you're lucky. If I had a reputation like yours--" He broke off, still grinning. "Well, it's no use crying over spilt milk, is it? Let'sspill some whisky instead! Say when!"

Larpent watched him, frowning. "Thanks! That's enough. I should like ananswer to my question if you've no objection. How long is this practicaljoke going to last?"

Saltash turned and looked upon him with a calculating eye. "I reallydon't know what's troubling you, " he remarked. "You've got everything inyour favour. I'd change places with you with all the pleasure in theworld if circumstances permitted. "

"That isn't the point, is it?" said Larpent. 

"No? What is the point?" Saltash turned again to the whisky decanter. 

"Well, you've got me into a damn' hole, and I want to know how you'regoing to get me out again. " Larpent's voice was gruff and surly; hestared into his tumbler without drinking. 

Saltash chuckled to himself with mischievous amusement. "My dear chap, Ican't get you out. That's just it. I want you to stay there. "

Larpent muttered deeply and inarticulately, and began to drink. 

Saltash turned round, glass in hand, and sat down on the edge of thehigh, cushioned fender. "I really don't think you are greatly to bepitied, " he remarked lightly. "The child will soon be married and offyour hands. "

"Oh, that's the idea, is it?" said Larpent. "Who's going to marry her?Young Brian?"

"Don't you approve?" said Saltash. 

"I don't think it'll come off, " said Larpent with decision. 

"Why not?" An odd light flickered in the younger man's eyes for aninstant. "Are you going to refuse your consent?"

"I?" Larpent shrugged his shoulders. "Are you going to give yours?"

Saltash made an elaborate gesture. "I shall bestow my blessing with bothhands. "

Larpent looked at him fixedly for a few seconds. "You're a very wonderfulman, my lord, " he remarked drily at length. 

Saltash laughed. "Have you only just discovered that?"

Larpent drained his tumbler gravely and put it down. "All the same, Idon't believe it will come off, " he said. 

Saltash moved impatiently. "You always were an unbeliever. But anyone cansee they were made for each other. Of course it will come off. "

"You want it to come off?" asked Larpent. 

"It is my intention that it shall, " said Saltash royally. 

"You're playing providence in the girl's interest. Is that it?" AgainLarpent's eyes, shrewd and far-seeing, were fixed upon him. They held aglint of humour. "It's a tricky job, my lord. You'll wish you hadn'tbefore you've done. "

"Think so?" said Saltash. 

"If you haven't begun to already, " said Larpent. 

Saltash looked down at him with a comical twist of the eyebrows. "You'revery analytical to-night. What's the matter?"

"Nothing, " said Larpent bluntly. "Except that you're making a mistake. "

"Indeed?" For a moment Saltash's look was haughty; then he began to smileagain. "I see you're burning to give your advice, " he said tolerantly. "Fire away, if it does you any good!"

Larpent's eyes, very steady under their fair, bushy brows, were stillunwaveringly upon him. "No, I don't presume to give you advice, " he said. "But I'll tell you something which you may or may not know. That youngwoman you have so kindly bestowed upon me as a daughter worships theground you tread on, and--that being the case--she isn't very likely tomake a dazzling success of it if she marries young Bernard Brian. "

He ceased to speak, and simultaneously Saltash jerked himself to his feetwith a short French oath that sounded like the snarl of an angry animal. He went across to the windows that were thrown wide to the summer nightand stood before one of them with his head flung back in the attitude ofone who challenges the universe. 

Larpent lay back in his chair with the air of a man who has said his say. He did not even glance towards his companion, and there followed aconsiderable pause before either of them spoke again. 

Abruptly at length Saltash wheeled. 

"Larpent!" There was something of a whip-lash quality about his voice;it seemed to cut the silence. "Why the devil do you tell me this? Can'tyou see that it's the very thing I'm guarding against? Young Bunny isthe best remedy she could take for a disease of that kind. And afterall, --she's only a child. "

"Do you say that for your own benefit or for mine?" said Larpent, withoutturning his head. 

"What do you mean?" Savagely Saltash flung the question, but the man inthe chair remained unmoved. 

"You know quite well what I mean, " he said. "You know that it isn'ttrue. "

"What isn't true?" Saltash came swiftly back across the room, moving asif goaded. He took his tumbler from the mantel-piece and drank thecontents almost at a gulp. "Go on!" he said, with his back to Larpent. "May as well finish now you've begun. What isn't true?"

Larpent lounged in his chair and watched him, absolutely unmoved. 

"When a thing is actually in existence--an accomplished fact--it's ratherfutile to talk of guarding against it, " he said, in his brief, unsympathetic voice. "You've been extraordinarily generous to the imp, and it isn't surprising that she should be extraordinarily grateful. Shewouldn't be human if she weren't. But when it comes to handing her on toanother fellow--well, she may consent, but it won't be because she wantsto, but because it's the only thing left. She knows well enough by thistime that what she really wants is out of her reach. "

Again Saltash made a fierce movement, but he did not turn or speak. 

Larpent took out his pipe and began to fill it. "You've been too good afriend to her, " he went on somewhat grimly, "and you're not made of theright stuff for that sort of thing. I'm sorry for the kid because she's abit of a pagan too, and it's hard to have to embrace respectabilitywhether you want to or not. "

"Oh, damn!" Saltash exclaimed, suddenly and violently. "What more couldany man have done? What the devil are you driving at?"

He turned upon Larpent almost menacingly, and found the steady eyes, still with that icy glint of humour in them, unflinchingly awaiting hischallenge. 

"You want to get married, " the sailor said imperturbably. "Why in thename of all the stars of destiny don't you marry her? She may not havethe blue blood in her veins, but blood isn't everything, and you've gotenough for two. And it's my opinion you'd find her considerably easier toplease than some--less strict in her views too, which is always anadvantage to a man of your varying moods. "

Saltash's laugh had a curious jarring sound as of something broken. "Oh, you think that would be a suitable arrangement, do you? And how long doyou think I should stick to her? How long would it be before she ranaway?"

"I never speculate so far as you are concerned, " said Larpent, shakingthe tobacco back into his pouch with care. 

"You think it wouldn't matter, perhaps?" gibed Saltash. "My royal houseis so inured to scandal that no one would expect anything else?"

"I don't think she is the sort to run away, " said Larpent quietly. "AndI'm pretty sure of one thing. You could hold her if you tried. "

"An ideal arrangement!" sneered Saltash. "And I should then settle downto a godly, righteous, and sober life, I suppose? Is that the idea?"

"You said it, " observed Larpent, pushing his pipe into his mouth. 

Saltash lodged one foot on the high fender, and stared at it. The sneerdied out of his face and the old look, half mischievous, half melancholy, took its pace. "I haven't--seriously--contemplated marriage for eightyears, " he said, his mouth twitching a little as with a smile suppressed. "Not since the day I tried to steal Maud Brian away from Jake--andfailed--rather signally. I don't think I've ever done anything quite solow down since. "

Larpent lighted his pipe with grave attention. "A good thing for you boththat you did fail!" he observed. 

"Think so?" Saltash glanced at him. "Why?"

"She isn't the woman for you. " Larpent spoke with the absolute convictionof one who knows. "She has too many ideals. Now this sprat you caught atValrosa--has none. "

"Not so sure of that, " said Saltash. 

"Well, no illusions anyway. " There was a hint of compassion in Larpent'svoice. "It wasn't because she trusted you that she put herself under yourprotection. She didn't trust you. She simply chucked herself at you withher eyes open. Like Jonah's whale, you were the only shelter withinreach. I'd wager a substantial sum that she's never had any illusionsabout you. But if you held up your little finger she'd come to you. She'syour property, and it isn't in her to do anything else, let her down asoften as you will. "

Saltash made an excruciating grimace. "My good fellow, spare me!That's just where the shoe pinches. I've broken faith with her already. But--damnation!--what else could I do? I didn't choose the part ofvirtuous hero. It was thrust upon me. The gods are making sport of me. Iam lost in a labyrinth of virtue, and horribly--most horribly--sick ofit. I nearly broke through once, but the wreck pulled me up, and when Irecovered from that, I was more hopelessly lost than before. "

"So you are not enjoying it either!" remarked Larpent, with the glimmerof a smile. "But you don't seem to have let her down very far. "

Saltash brought his foot down with a bang. "I swore I'd keep her with me. I meant--oh, God knows what I meant to do. I didn't do it anyway. I brokemy oath and I made her go, and she never uttered a word of reproach--notone word! Do you think I'll let her ruin herself by marrying me afterthat? Like Jonah's whale I've managed to throw her up on to dry land, andif she gets swamped again, it won't be my fault. "

He began to laugh again suddenly and cynically--the bitter laugh of a manwho hides his soul; and Larpent leaned back in his chair again, as if herecognized that the discussion was over. 

"I don't suppose anyone will blame you for it, " he said. 

"No one will have the chance, " said Saltash. 

CHAPTER II

THE COMPACT

The polo-ground at Fairharbour was reckoned as one of the greatestattractions the town possessed. Because of it, and the Graydownrace-course an ever-increasing stream of visitors poured yearly into thetown and its neighbourhood, and very fashionable crowds were wont togather during the summer season at the various hotels which had sprung upduring recent years for their accommodation. 

The old Anchor Hotel facing the shore had been bought by a syndicate andrebuilt and was now a very modern erection indeed. It boasted a largelounge, palm-decked and glass-covered, in which a string band played forseveral hours of the day, and the constant swing of its doors testifiedto the great popularity to which it had attained since its renovation. 

To Bunny, who had known the place under very different circumstances inhis boyhood, it was always a source of amusement to drop in and markprogress. The polo-ground was only a few yards away, and he had become anardent member of the Club to which he almost invariably devoted twoafternoons of the week. 

He was a promising player, and his keenness made him a favourite. He rodeLord Saltash's ponies, Saltash himself very seldom putting in anappearance. He was wont to declare that he had no time for games, and hisfrequent absences made it impossible for him to take a very active partin the proceedings of the Club which he had himself inaugurated in anidle hour. He dropped in occasionally to watch a game, and he tookinterest in Bunny's progress; but he was very rarely moved to playhimself. He was too restless, too volatile, to maintain any lastingenthusiasm for any pastime. All that was generally seen of him whenstaying at Burchester was a lightning glimpse as he tore by in his car, or else galloped furiously over the downs and along the hard sands in theearly morning. 

He was a good deal in town as a rule during the season, but with thegeneral exodus in July he was invariably the first to go, driven by afever that gave him no rest. Even his most intimate friends seldom knewwhere he was to be found or whither his wild fancy would take him next. No one was sure of him at any time. He would accept an engagement andthrow it up again without scruple if it did not accord with his mood. Yetwherever he went he could always command a welcome--at least from thefeminine portion of the community who declared that Charles Rex could notbe judged by ordinary standards; he was a law unto himself. 

Even Bunny did not know where he was on that hot afternoon in mid-Julywhen all Fairharbour gathered to watch a match between the regular teamand the visitors. It bid fair to be an exciting event, and he was in highspirits at being one of those chosen to play. Maud had promised to bringToby down to see the game at his special request. He had seen very littleof Toby since that night at the Castle, though he was forced to admit tohimself that if she avoided him of set purpose she did it in a fashionthat baffled detection. She seemed to have settled down as a regularinmate of Jake's household, and with the exception of her early rideswith Jake she gave herself up almost exclusively to helping Maud with thechildren. She had eased his sister's burden in a wonderful fashion, andthe children loved her dearly. Her readiness and her sweet temper neverseemed to fail. She was but a child herself, but Bunny had an uneasyfeeling that she was changing. She had stipulated for six months, but hesometimes wondered if by the end of that time she would not havecontrived to put herself out of his reach. It was that suspicion thatkept him hotly determined to pursue her untiringly till he captured her. Even at a distance that odd charm of hers lured him strongly, and he knewinstinctively that if once she were launched in society his chances ofvictory would be very greatly reduced. He wished he could have seen moreof Captain Larpent and possibly have enlisted his sympathy, but he hadleft the Castle with Saltash, and even Toby herself professed ignoranceof his whereabouts. It was evident that they had never seen much of oneanother, and Bunny realized that he would look in vain for help in thatquarter. 

He doggedly maintained his resolve to win her none the less, and hisvisits to his sister's house were frequent. He spoke no word on thesubject either to Maud or Jake. Toby should not feel that he had in anysense taken a mean advantage. But he never looked at her without thequick longing to take her in his arms rising in his heart, and though thelonging was never satisfied he believed that she was aware of it. She wasalways friendly with him and never embarrassed in his presence. Yet hehad a strong feeling that by some subtle means she was holding him off. He bided his time with what patience he could muster, but he wasdetermined it should not be for long. 

The work on Saltash's estate had done him good. He was keen to provehimself, and the vigorous, out-door life suited him. Jake saw withsatisfaction that he was developing a self-reliance and resourcefulnessthat had not characterized him formerly. He had given up racing accordingto his promise, and the life he now led was after Jake's own heart, anexistence of wholesome activity that was making of him exactly the typeof man that he desired him to become. The boy was a gentleman and therewas fine stuff in him. Jake gloried in the fact. There had always been inBunny qualities that appealed to him very strongly, and it was in a largemeasure due to his influence that those qualities had ripened as theyhad. 

He did not accompany Maud and Toby down to Fairharbour, for business kepthim at the Stables. "Bring him back with you!" he said to his wife atparting, and she smiled and promised. Bunny was never difficult topersuade. 

But when they reached the polo-ground he was in the midst of a crowd ofvisitors from the hotel, and it seemed at first as if he would have notime to spare for them. He very speedily detached himself, however, atsight of them and came up with an eager greeting. 

"So awfully glad you've come. There are some people here you used toknow, Maud, in the old days. Friends of Charlie's too. The Melroses--youremember them, don't you?"

The name came upon Maud with a curious shock. Yes, she remembered theMelroses. They belonged to the long, long ago before her marriage--tothat strange epoch in her early girlhood when Charlie Burchester hadfilled her world. How far away it seemed! They had all been in the sameset, they and the Cressadys who had been responsible for the scandal thathad so wrung her proud heart. Lady Cressady had been dead for years. Shewondered if Charlie had ever regretted her. It had been but a passingfancy, and she suspected that he had forgotten her long since. He hadnever really taken her seriously; of that she was convinced now. Life hadbeen merely a game with him in those days. It was only recently that ithad begun to be anything else. 

She felt no keen desire to resume the long-forgotten acquaintance withthe Melroses, but Bunny evidently expected it of her, had already toldthem about her, and she had no choice. 

She followed him therefore, Toby very sedate and upright behind her. Tobywas looking wonderfully pretty that day. She varied as a landscape varieson a windy day, but that afternoon she was at her best. Her blue eyeslooked forth upon the crowd with a hint of audacity, and her _piquante_little face was full of charm. 

Bunny's look dwelt upon her as he drew aside for his sister to pass himat the pavilion. He pinched her elbow with a sudden smile. 

"You don't want to go and talk to those people. Come with me and see theponies!"

She responded with characteristic eagerness to the invitation. "Shall I?But won't Maud mind? Do you think I ought?"

"Of course you ought, " he rejoined with decision. "Maud won't care. I'llbring you back to her before the play begins. "

He drew her away through the crowd, and she went with him without furtherdemur. Bunny was tall and bore himself with distinction. There was, moreover, something rather compelling about him just then, and Toby feltthe attraction. She suffered the hand that grasped her own. 

"Look here!" he said abruptly, as they drew apart from the throng. "I'vegot to see more of you somehow. Have you been dodging me all this time?"

"I?" said Toby. 

She met his eyes with a funny little chuckle. There was spontaneousmischief in his own. 

He gave her hand an admonitory squeeze. "I'm not laughing. You're notplaying the game. What's the good of my coming to the house to see you ifwe never meet?"

"Don't understand, " said Toby briefly. 

"Yes, you do. Or you can if you try. You never seem to have any libertynow-a-days. Is it Maud's doing or your own?"

Toby laughed again lightly and bafflingly. "I can do anything I want todo, " she said. 

"Oh, can you?" Bunny pounced. "Then you've got to meet me sometimes awayfrom the rest. See? Come! That's only fair. "

Toby made a face at him. "Suppose I don't want to?" she said. 

He laughed into her eyes. "Don't tell me that! When and where?"

She laughed back. He was hard to resist. "I don't know. I'm too busy. "

"Rot!" said Bunny. 

"You're very rude, " she remarked. 

"I'll be ruder when I get the chance, " he laughed. "Listen, I want to seeyou alone very badly. You're not going to let me down. "

"I don't know what I'm going to do yet, " said Toby. 

But she could not look with severity into the handsome young face thatwas bent to hers. It was not in her to repulse a friendly influence. Shehad to respond. 

"I'll tell you what you're going to do, " said Bunny, marking herweakening with cheery assurance. "You'll take Chops for a walk to-morrowevening through the Burchester Woods. You know that gate by the larchcopse? It's barely a mile across the down. Be there at seven, andperhaps--who knows?--perhaps--Chops may meet somebody he's rather fondof. "

"And again perhaps he mayn't, " said Toby, suppressing a dimple. 

"Oh, I say, that's shabby! You'll give him the chance anyhow?"

The pleading note sounded in Bunny's voice. Toby suddenly dropped hereyes. She looked as if she were bracing herself to refuse. 

Bunny saw and quickly grappled with the danger. "Give him the chance!" heurged softly into her ear. "You won't be sorry--afterwards. "

She did not lift her eyes, but somehow the enchantment held. By a boldstroke he had entered her defences, and she could not for the momentdrive him out. She was silent. 

"You'll come?" whispered Bunny. 

They were nearing a little group of ponies that were being held inreadiness at the end of the field. Toby quickened her pace. 

He kept beside her, but he did not speak again. And perhaps his silencemoved her more than speech, for she gave a little impulsive turn towardshim and threw him her sudden, boyish smile. 

"All right. We'll come, " she said. 

"Hooray!" crowed Bunny softly. 

"But I shan't stay long, " she warned him. "And if I don't like it, Ishall never come again. "

"You will like it, " said Bunny with confidence. 

"I wonder, " said Toby with her chin in the air. 

CHAPTER III

L'OISEAU BLEU

Bunny surpassed himself that afternoon. Wherever he went, success seemedto follow, and shouts of applause reached him from all quarters. 

"That young fellow is a positive genius, " commented General Melrose, whohad a keen eye for the game. "He ought to be in the Service. Why isn'the, Mrs. Bolton?"

"He wasn't considered strong enough, " Maud said. "It was a greatdisappointment to him. You see, he spent the whole of his childhood onhis back with spine trouble. And when that was put right he outgrew hisstrength. "

"Ah! I remember now. You used to wheel the poor little beggar about in along chair. Well, he's rather different now from what he was in thosedays. Not much the matter with him, is there?"

"Nothing now, " Maud said. 

"What does he do with himself?" asked the General, surveying the distantfigure at that moment galloping in a far corner of the field. 

"He is agent on Lord Saltash's estate at Burchester, " his daughter said, suddenly entering the conversation. "He was telling me about it atluncheon. He and Lord Saltash are friends. "

"Ah! To be sure!" General Melrose's look suddenly came to Maud and shefelt herself colour a little. 

"He is an old friend of the family, " she said. "We live not far from theCastle. My husband owns the Graydown Stables. "

"Oh, I know that, " the General said courteously. "I know your husband, Mrs. Bolton, and I am proud to know him. What I did not know until to-daywas that he was your husband. I never heard of your marriage. "

"We have been married for eight years, " she said with a smile. 

"It must be at least ten since I saw you last, " he said. "This girl ofmine--Sheila--must have been at school in those days. You never met her?"

Maud turned to the girl. "I don't think we have ever met before, " shesaid. "Is this your first visit to Fairharbour?"

"My first visit, yes. " Sheila leaned forward. She was a pretty girl oftwo-and-twenty with a quantity of soft dark hair and grey eyes that helda friendly smile. "We don't go to the sea much in the summer as a rule. We get so much of it in the winter. Dad always winters in the South. Itonly seems a few weeks since we came back from Valrosa. "

Maud was conscious of an abrupt jerk from Toby on her other side, and shelaid a hand on her arm with the kindly intention of drawing her into theconversation. But the next instant feeling tension under her hand, sheturned to look at her, and was surprised to see that Toby was staring outacross the field with wide, strained eyes. She looked so white that Maudhad a moment of sharp anxiety. 

"Is anything the matter, dear?" she whispered. 

An odd little tremor went through Toby. She spoke with an effort. "Ithought he was off his pony that time, didn't you?"

She kept her eyes upon Bunny who was coming back triumphant. 

Maud smiled. "Oh, I don't think there is much danger of that. MissMelrose was talking about Valrosa. You were there too last winter, weren't you?"

The colour mounted in Toby's face. She turned almost defiantly. "Just fora day or two. I was at school at Geneva. I went there to join my father. "

"I was at school at Geneva a few years ago, " said Sheila Melrose. "Youdidn't go to Mademoiselle Denise, I suppose?"

"No, " said Toby briefly. "Madame Beaumonde. "

"I never heard of her, " said Sheila. "It must have been after I left. "

Toby nodded. "I wasn't there long. I've never been anywhere long. ButI've left school now, and I'm going to do as I like. "

"A very wise resolution!" commented a laughing voice behind her. "It'sone of the guiding principles of my life. "

All the party turned, Toby with a quick exclamation muffled at birth. Saltash, attired in a white yachting suit and looking more than usuallydistinguished in his own fantastic fashion, stood with his hand on theback of Toby's chair. 

"Quite a gathering of old friends!" he declared, smiling impartially uponall. 

General Melrose stretched a welcoming hand to him. "Hullo, Saltash! Whereon earth have you sprung from? Or are you fallen straight out of theskies?"

"Like Lucifer, son of the morning!" laughed Saltash. "Well, I haven'tsprung and I haven't fallen. I have simply arrived. "

Toby was on her feet. "Come and sit down!" she said in a low voice. 

He shook his head. "No, no, _ma chérie_. I will stand behind you. MissMelrose, my humble regards to you. Is the black mark still against myname?"

Sheila looked at him with a touch of _hauteur_ that somehow melted into asmile. She had learnt her lesson at Valrosa, and there was nothing to addthereto. This man was never in earnest, and he had never intended herto think him so. 

"I banned you as bold and bad long ago, " she said. "I don't remember thatyou have done anything to change the impression. "

He laughed lightly, enigmatically. "Nothing in your presence, I fear. TheFates have always been sportive so far as I was concerned. But really I'mnot such a bad sort now-a-days, am I, Mrs. Bolton?"

Maud smiled upon him. "Not so bad, I think. But please don't ask me to beyour sponsor! I really couldn't play the part. "

"Ask me!" said Toby suddenly, with flushed face up-raised. "He saved mylife when _The Night Moth_ went down, when most men would only havebothered to save their own. "

"What a libel!" laughed Saltash. "Don't you know I only hung on to youbecause you had a life-belt on!"

"Oh, naturally!" said the General. "That would be your motive. I wassorry to hear about _The Night Moth_, but you had a lucky escape. "

"I always escape somehow, " remarked Saltash complacently. "_The NightMoth_ wanted new engines too, that's one consolation. I've just boughtanother, " he added, suddenly touching Toby's shoulder. "Your daddy isquite pleased with her. We've just come round from London in her. "

"Oh, have you?" Eagerly Toby's eyes came up to his, "What is she like?What are you going to call her?"

"She isn't christened yet. I'm going to hold a reception on board, andMaud shall perform the ceremony. I'm calling her _The Blue Moon_--unlessyou can suggest something better. " Saltash's restless look went to Maud. "I wanted to call her after you, " he said lightly, "But I was afraid Jakemight object. "

"I think _The Blue Moon_ is much more suitable, " she answered. "Is she asrare as she sounds?"

"She's rather a fine article, " he made answer. "You must come and seeher--come and cruise in her if you will. She's only just off the slips. Iwas lucky to get her. She skims along like a bird. "

"Why not call her _The Blue Bird_?" suggested Sheila. 

He shook his head with his odd grimace. "That is a thing I can never hopeto possess, Miss Melrose. The blue moon may occur once in my life if I amexceptionally virtuous, but the blue bird never. I have ceased to hopefor it. " His glance flashed beyond her. "Young Bunny is distinguishinghimself to-day. That was a fine effort. "

Everyone was clapping except Toby who was staring before her with herhands in her lap. Her blue eyes were very wide open, but they did notseem to be watching the game. 

"It will fly to you, _chérie_, " suddenly whispered a voice in her ear. "It is already upon the wing. "

A little tremor went through her, but she did not turn her head. Onlyafter a moment she slipped a hand behind her through the back of herchair. 

Wiry fingers closed upon it, gripped it, let it go. "When it comesto you, hold it fast!" came the rapid whisper. _"Il ne vient pas deuxfois--l'oiseau bleu. "_

Toby's lip trembled. She bit it desperately. Her look was strained. Shedid not attempt to speak. 

"It is the gift of the gods, _chérie_. " The words came softly at hershoulder, but they pierced her. "We do not cast their gifts away. Theycome--too seldom. "

She made a quick movement; it was almost convulsive, like the start ofone suddenly awakened. A hard breath went through her, and then she waslaughing, laughing and clapping with the rest, her eyes upon the boyish, triumphant figure in front of her. When the applause died away, Saltashhad departed, abruptly as was his wont. And though they saw him in thedistance several times, he did not return that afternoon. 

CHAPTER IV

THE TRAP

It was an evening of golden silence, and the larch copse in its stillnesswas like an enchanted wood. Now and then something moved in theundergrowth with a swift rustle or a blackbird raised a long ripple ofalarm. But for the most part all was still. No breeze came up thehillside, and in the west a long black line of cloud lay like a barrieracross the sun, so that great rays slanted out over land and sea, transforming all things with their radiance. 

A soft low whistle broke the stillness or mingled with it. A snatch ofmelody came like the strains of a fairy pipe from the edge of the larchwood. Again there came a sharp movement in some long grass near the gatethat led from the open down into the Burchester estate. It sounded as ifsome small imprisoned creature were fighting for freedom. Then in anothermoment there came the rush and snuffle of a questing dog, and old Chopsthe setter came bursting through the hedge that bordered the wood. 

He flung himself through the long grass with an agility that belied hisadvancing years, and in an instant there arose a cry that seemed tothrill the whole wood with horror. The enchanted silence broke upon itlike the shivering of a crystal ball, for as Chops pounced another cryrang clear and commanding from the other side of the hedge. 

"Chops! Back! Back! Do you hear, Chops? Come back. "

Chops did not come back, but he paused above his quarry, and looked roundwith open jaws and lolling tongue. If it had been his master who thuscalled him, he would have obeyed on the instant. But Toby was a differentmatter, and the frantic, struggling thing in front of him was a soretemptation. 

His brief hesitation, however, lost him the game. Her light feet racedthrough the grass with the speed of wings, and she threw herself over thegate and upon him before he could make good his claim. He found himselfthrust back, and the long habit of obedience had conquered instinctbefore it could reassert itself. She dropped upon her knees beside thething in the grass and discovered a young hare caught in a snare. 

It was a very ordinary poacher's contrivance fashioned of wire. Thelittle animal was fairly caught round the body, and the cruel tension ofthe gin testified to his anguished and futile struggles for freedom. Thewire had cut into his shoulder, and his bolting eyes were wild withterror. It was no easy task to loosen the trap, and there was blood onToby's hands as she strove to release the straining, frenzied creature. 

She was far too deeply engrossed in the matter to heed any sound ofapproaching feet, and when the thud of a horse's hoofs suddenly fell onthe turf close to her she did not raise her head. But she did look upstartled when two hands swooped down from above her and gripped thehare with a vice-like strength that stilled all struggling. 

"He will claw you to pieces, " said Bunny bluntly. "Shall I kill him? He'sdamaged. Or do you want to let him go?"

"Oh, let him go--of course!" cried Toby, dragging reckless at the wire. "See, it's coming now! Hold him tight while I slip it off!"

The wire slipped at last. She forced it loose, and the victim was free. Bunny turned to lay him in the grass, and Toby sprang upon Chops and heldhim fast. She was crying, fiercely, angrily. 

"How dare they set that cruel thing? How dare they? He isn't dead, is he?Why doesn't he run away?"

"He's hurt, " said Bunny. "Let me kill him! Let Chops finish him!"

"No, no, no, no!" Vehemently Toby flung her protest. "He may be hurt, buthe'll get over it. Anyway, give him his chance! There! He's moving! Itwouldn't be fair not to give him his chance. "

"It would be kinder to kill him, " said Bunny. 

"I hate you!" she cried back, weeping over Chops who stood strainedagainst her. "If--if--if you touch him--I'll never, never speak to youagain!"

Bunny came to her, took Chops by the collar, and fastened him with hiswhip to the gate. Then he stooped over Toby, his young face sternly set. 

"Stop crying!" he said. "Let me have your hands!"

They were a mass of scratches from the hare's pounding feet. He began tolook at them, but Toby thrust them behind her back. She choked back hertears like a boy, and looked up at him with eyes of burning indignation, sitting back on her heels in the long grass. 

"Bunny, it's a damn' shame to trap a thing like that. Did you do it?"

"I? No. I'm not a poacher. " Grimly Bunny made reply. That flare of angermade her somehow beautiful, but he knew if he yielded to the temptationto take her in his arms at that moment she would never forgive him. "Don't be unreasonable!" he said. "You'll have to come and bathe yourhands. They can't be left in that state. "

"Oh, what does it matter?" she said impatiently. "I've had much worsethings than that to bear. Bunny, you believe in God I know. Why does Helet things be trapped? It isn't fair. It isn't right. It--it--it hurtsso. "

"Lots of things hurt, " said Bunny. 

"Yes, but there's nothing so mean and so horrible as a trap. I--I couldkill the man who set it. I'm glad it wasn't you. " Toby spokepassionately. 

"So am I, " said Bunny. 

He crumpled the wire gin in his hand, and dragged it up from the ground. 

Toby watched him still kneeling in the grass. "What are you going to dowith it?"

"Destroy it, " he said promptly. 

She smiled at him, the tears still on her cheeks. "That's fine of you. Bunny, I haven't got a handkerchief. "

He gave her his, still looking grim. She dried her eyes and got up. Thehare, recovering somewhat, gave her a frightened stare and slipped awayinto the undergrowth. She looked up at Bunny. 

"I'm sorry I was angry, " she said. "Are you cross with me?"

He relaxed a little. "Not particularly. "

"Don't be!" she said tremulously. "I couldn't help it. He suffered sohorribly, and I know--I know so well what it felt like. "

"How do you know?" said Bunny. 

Her look fell before his. She made an odd movement of shrinking. He puthis arm swiftly round her. 

"Never mind the wretched hare! He's got away this time anyway. And I'mnot at all sure you didn't have the worst of it. Feeling better now?"

She nodded. "Yes, much better. I like you, Bunny, but I can't helpthinking you're rather cruel. You didn't want to kill the poor thing?"

"I think it was rather prolonging the agony to let him live, " said Bunny. "Let me see your hands!"

She tried to hide them, but he was insistent, and at length impulsivelyshe yielded. 

"You must come down to old Bishop's and bathe them, " he said. 

She shook her head instantly. "No, Bunny, I'm not going to. I'll run downto the lake if you like. There's sure not to be anyone there. "

"All right, " said Bunny, but he lingered still with his arm about her. "Will you kiss me, Toby?" he said suddenly. 

"No, " she said, and swiftly averted her face. 

His arm tightened for a second, then he felt her brace herself againsthim and let her go. "All right, " he said again. "We'll go down to thelake. "

She threw him a swift glance of surprise, but he turned away to releaseChops and unfasten his horse without further discussion. 

Their way lay along a grass ride that ran beside the larch wood. Bunnywalked gravely along, leading his horse. Toby moved lightly beside him. 

Behind them the silence closed like the soft folds of a curtain, but itwas not a silence devoid of life. As they drew away from the place, a manstepped out from the larches and stood motionless, watching them. Awhimsical smile that was not without bitterness hovered about his mouth. As they passed from sight, he turned back into the trees and walkedswiftly and silently away. 

It was nearly a mile across the park to the lake in the hollow, and theboy and girl tramped it steadily with scarcely a word. Chops walkedsedately by Toby's side, occasionally poking his nose under her hand. Bunny's face was stern. He had the look of a man who moved with adefinite goal in view. 

They came to the beechwood that surrounded the lake. The Castle from itsheight looked down over the terraced gardens upon one end of the water. It was a spot in fairyland. 

They came to a path that led steeply downwards, and Bunny stopped. "I'llleave my animal here, " he said. 

Toby did not wait. She plunged straight down the steep descent. When herejoined her, she was at the water's edge. She knelt upon a bed of mossand thrust her hands into the clear water. He stood above her for amoment or two, then knelt beside her and took the wet wrists very gentlyinto a firm hold. She made a faint resistance, but finally yielded. Helooked down at the hands nervously clenched in his grasp. He was older inthat moment, more manly, than she had ever seen him. 

"What's the matter, little girl?" he said softly. "What are you afraidof?"

"Nothing, " said Toby instantly, and threw up her chin in the olddauntless way. 

He looked at her closely. "Sure?"

The blue eyes met his with defiance. "Of course I'm sure. That horridtrap upset me, that's all. "

He continued to look at her steadily. "That isn't why you won't haveanything to say to me, " he said. 

Her colour rose under his gaze, but she would not avoid it. "Does itmatter why?" she said. 

"It does when I want to know, " he answered. Again his look went to herhands. "How the little brute scored you! So much for gratitude!"

"You don't expect gratitude from a creature wild with fright, " said Toby. 

She spoke rather breathlessly, and he saw that she was on the verge oftears again. He got up and drew her to her feet. 

"Let's walk for a bit!" he said. 

She stood as one in doubt and he felt that she was trembling. 

"I say--don't!" he said suddenly and winningly. "I won't do anything youdon't like, I swear. You shan't be bothered. Can't you trust me?"

She made a little movement towards him, and he put his arm round hershoulders. They turned along the greensward side by side. 

"It was awfully nice of you to come, " Bunny said in that new gentlevoice of his. "I didn't mean you to get there first, but old Bishop is solong-winded I couldn't get away. "

"It didn't matter, " said Toby with a nervous little smile. 

"It did to me, " said Bunny. "It would have saved you that anyway. "

"But you'd have killed the hare, " she said. 

"Not if he hadn't been damaged, " he said. "I'm not a brute. I don't killfor the sake of killing. "

She looked incredulous. "Most men do. Don't you hunt? Don't you shoot?"

"Oh, you're talking of sport!" said Bunny. 

"Yes, it's called sport, " said Toby, an odd little vibration in hervoice. "It's just a name for killing things, isn't it?"

Bunny considered the matter. "No, that's not fair, " he decided. "Sport issport. But I prefer to walk up my game and I never countenance diggingout a fox. That's sport. "

"There are very few sportsmen in the world, " said Toby. 

"Oh, I don't know. Anyway, I hope I'm one of 'em. I try to be, " saidBunny. 

She gave him a quick look. "I think you are. And so is Jake. "

"Oh, Jake! Jake's magnificent. He's taught me all I know in that line. I used to be a horrid little bounder before I met Jake. He simply mademe--body and soul. " Bunny spoke with a simple candour. 

"P'raps he had good stuff to work on, " suggested Toby. 

Bunny's arm drew her almost imperceptibly. "I don't think he had. Myfather was a wild Irishman, and my mother--well, she's dead too--but shewasn't anything to be specially proud of. "

"Oh, was your mother a rotter?" said Toby, with sudden interest. 

He nodded. "We don't talk about her much, Maud and I. She married asecond time--a brute of a man who used to run the Anchor Hotel. They wentto Canada, and she died. "

"The Anchor Hotel!" said Toby. "That place at Fairharbour down by theshore?"

"Yes, Maud and I were there too at first. I was a cripple in those days, couldn't even walk. We had a fiendish time there--till Jake came. "

"Ah!" Toby's blue eyes suddenly gleamed. "Did Maud marry Jake to getaway?" she asked. 

Bunny nodded again and began to smile. "Yes. We were in a beastly hole, she and I. Something had to be done. "

"She didn't love him then?" questioned Toby, almost with eagerness. 

"Oh no, not then. Not till long after. Jake and I were the pals. He wasalways keen enough on her, poor chap. But Charlie complicated mattersrather in those days. You see, Charlie came first--before she ever metJake. "

"Charlie?" said Toby quickly. 

"Lord Saltash. You knew he was an old friend, didn't you?"

"I didn't know--that he--and Maud--ever loved each other. " Toby haltedover the words as if they were somehow difficult to utter. 

Bunny enlightened her with a boy's careless assurance. "Oh, that's a veryold story. They were very fond of each other in their youth. In fact theywere practically engaged. Then Charlie, who has always been a bit giddy, went a bit too far with Lady Cressady who was also a somewhat gay youngperson, and Sir Philip Cressady, who was a brute, tried to divorce her. He didn't succeed. The case fell through. But it set everyone by theears, and Maud threw Charlie over. He pretends he didn't care, but hedid--pretty badly, and he's never married in consequence. "

"Oh, is that why?" said Toby. 

"That's why. He's gone the pace fairly rapidly ever since. But he's agood chap at heart. Even Jake acknowledges that now, and he knows him aswell as anyone. "

"And--Maud?" said Toby, in a low voice. She was not looking at Bunny, butstaring out over the still waters of the lake with a rather piteousintentness. 

"Maud has always kept a soft place in her heart for him. She couldn'thelp it. Women can't. "

"I see, " said Toby. "And doesn't--Jake--mind?"

"Jake? No, not a bit. He's sure of her now. She thinks there's no onelike him in the world. And she's quite right. There's not. " Bunny spokewith warm enthusiasm. 

Toby's brows were drawn a little. "Then--she isn't in love with LordSaltash?" she said. 

"No, not now. She just takes a motherly interest in him, tries topersuade him to settle down and be good--that sort of thing. I believeshe feels rather responsible for him. He certainly bolted very thoroughlyafter she gave him up. It's all years ago of course. But he's neversettled--never will. "

"I see, " said Toby. 

A slight shiver went through her, and she looked up at Bunny with asmall, pinched smile. "Fancy--Maud--giving him up!" she said. 

"Well, she always had her share of pride, and he certainly didn't treather with great consideration. He might have known she'd never stand it, "said Bunny. "He only had himself to thank. "

Toby's look was puzzled, oddly pathetic. "But he's such a king, " shesaid. "I don't suppose he'd ever think of that. "

Again Bunny's arm tightened about the narrow shoulders. There wassomething about her that appealed to him very deeply, something he sensedrather than saw. 

"Haven't we talked about other people's affairs long enough now?" hesuggested. "Don't you think we might turn our attention to our own?"

She coloured up to her blue-veined forehead. "If you like, " she saidrather faintly. 

"Don't you think I deserve that kiss?" urged Bunny softly. "I've beenawfully patient. "

She lifted her lips with a gesture of submission, saying no word. 

"Oh, not like that!" he said gently. "Not if you'd rather not, dear. "

She caught her breath sharply; it was almost a sob. Then she opened hereyes wide and laughed. 

"Oh, you great big silly!" she said. "You're easier to draw than anyone Iever met!"

His arms clasped her. He drew her close. "My own little butterfly girl!"he said, and kissed her very tenderly. "I've caught you at last--atlast. "

She laid her head against his neck, and stood so, quivering a little andsilent. 

"You're tired, " he said. "I'll give you a lift towards home. Folly willcarry you all right. "

She uttered a tremulous laugh, and lifting her face she kissed him of herown accord. 

"You're--awful good to me, Bunny dear, " she said. "P'raps--p'raps I'll beengaged to you soon. "

"You darling!" said Bunny fervently. 

CHAPTER V

THE CONFIDENCE

A letter with the crest of a fox's head and the motto, _Sans Vertu_, uponthe back lay beside Maud's plate on the following morning. She took it upwith a smile at Jake who had just entered the room. 

"From Charlie--probably about the new yacht. He told me the other daythat he wanted me to perform the christening ceremony. "

"You have my permission, " said Jake. "What does he propose to call her?"

"_The Blue Moon_, I believe. But he was in a freakish mood. He may havechanged his mind by this time. "

Jake glanced round. "Where's the kid?"

"Who? Toby? I thought she went out early. Hasn't she been riding withyou?"

"No, she dodged me, " said Jake. "Went off on her own on one of those rawcolts. I shall have to talk to her when she comes in. "

"I hope she's all right, " said Maud, with a touch of anxiety. 

"She's all right, " said Jake. 

"But why did she dodge you? Have you been quarrelling?" Maud paused inthe act of opening her letter and looked at him with a grave questioningthat brought a gleam of humour into Jake's eyes. 

"We have not, " he said. "I've scarcely seen her since yesterday morning. I can't tell you why she dodged me. I only know she did it. "

"How odd of her!" said Maud. 

He sat down and took up the paper; his face was grim. "I shall know whypresently. Read your letter. I'm in no hurry. "

Maud opened the letter from Saltash and there fell a brief silence. 

It was broken by the sound of light feet outside the door, and Toby, still wearing riding-dress, her face flushed and laughing, swung into theroom. "I'm so sorry I'm late, " she said. "The little fiend ran away withus, and we had a gigantic tussle. Do you mind if I sit down in thesethings?"

She went round to Maud to kiss her, and stopped as Maud's arm came abouther. 

"Do you mind?" she said again. 

"My dear, " Maud said very gently, "Jake is going to scold you for ridingthat half-broken colt by yourself. It was very risky. Why did you do it?"

"Oh, is Jake cross?" said Toby. She looked across at him with an imp ofmischief in her eyes. Then, as he still studied his paper, abruptly sheleft Maud and went round to him. 

"Cheer up, Jake!" she said. "Don't throw a cloud on the proceedings!"

Her voice was half impudent, half wheedling. Jake looked up, his eyesvery direct and somewhat stern. 

"You sit down and have some breakfast!" he said. "I'll talk to youafterwards. "

She obeyed him with a slight shrug of the shoulders. "P'raps I shan'tstay to be talked to, " she remarked, as she did so. "I've promised totake Eileen and Molly out as soon as I've had my tub, so if it's going tobe a lengthy wigging, you'd better begin now. "

Jake did not begin. He turned deliberately from the bravado of her look, and began to take the covers off the breakfast dishes. 

Toby leaned back provocatively in her chair, and whistled under herbreath. She was plainly in a dare-devil mood, but it was not her customto dare Jake. 

"What have you done to your hands?" he said, as she reached out for theplate he offered her. 

She coloured deeply. "Nothing--I mean--nothing serious. I often get myhands scratched. "

"Why don't you tell me the truth?" said Jake. 

Maud looked up from her letter. "It is as I thought. Charlie wants us togo down to Fairharbour to-morrow. He is getting together a luncheon partyon board the yacht. The Melroses will be there and some of the polopeople staying at The Anchor. Jake, you will come and support me, won'tyou?"

Jake shook his head. "Bunny can do that job, my girl. I've got to getready for Goodwood. Forest Fire is going to make his mark there. "

"Oh, bother Forest Fire!" said Maud. "I want you. "

"What for?" said Jake. 

"Well, General Melrose knows you. He was talking of you down at the Clubthe other afternoon. And I want him to meet you--with me. Please come, Jake!" Maud spoke persuasively. 

"All right, " said Jake. 

"You will?"

"I will, " he said, smiling a little. "You don't often interfere with myliberty. I remember old Melrose, met him years ago at Doncaster. He'salways been keen on the Turf, and he stood by me once when--someone--wastrying to queer my pitch. "

"Oh!" said Maud. "You mean the time that Charlie let you down! PoorCharlie! He was horribly ashamed of himself afterwards. "

Toby looked up sharply, and again the colour came into her face, mountingswiftly to her forehead. She appeared to be on the verge of hot speech, but no words came. 

It was Jake who spoke in his soft, easy drawl. "Oh, I guess he's grown abit since then. Anyway, whatever his intentions, he never managed to dome any harm. And I rather think his malice is dead now. "

"It died long ago, " said Maud quietly. "He owes you a great deal, Jake. You've taught him to be a man. "

"I?" said Jake. "My dear, your partiality runs away with your judgment. Have some ham!"

He dismissed the matter in his own calm fashion, and began to talk of hisanimals. Breakfast proceeded, but Toby scarcely spoke and ate verylittle. 

"It's so hot to-day, " she said when presently Maud remonstrated with her. "I can't eat when it's hot--really. " She pushed her plate away and rosefrom the table. "Do you mind if I go?"

"Yes, I mind, " said Jake. "Go and sit in that arm-chair and smoke acigarette! I shall be ready when you've finished. "

He held out his case to her, and, though she made a face at him, sheyielded. She threw herself down in the chair he indicated and smoked insilence. 

Chops came and laid his head upon her knee, and she fondled his silkenears with an understanding touch. But her eyes were fixed before her withsomething of hardness in their look. 

Maud finished her breakfast and got up. "I am going up to the nursery, "she said. "Don't hurry, Toby dear! The children can run in the gardentill you are ready. "

"I shan't keep her long, " Jake said. 

Toby turned in her chair with a sudden flare of defiance. "I'd like tosee any man who would keep me anywhere against my will!" she said. 

Jake nodded. "All right. You can see him now if you want to. Why did yougo and ride that little devil Knuckle-Duster when I told you not?"

"I don't take orders from you!" said Toby hotly. 

"Oh yes, you do--sometimes. " The door closed softly behind Maud and Jaketurned squarely to face the girl on his hearth. "Say now, " he said in hisslow direct way, "it was a fool thing to do. You may as well admit it asnot. "

Toby was on her feet. She stood stiffly braced, but the colour had goneout of her face. It was white and strained. 

"All right, " she said, speaking quickly and nervously. "But what of it? Ibrought him back quite sound and none the worse. "

"I wasn't thinking of the horse, " said Jake. "He's a savage brute and Idoubt if we ever do much with him. He'll certainly never be fit for alady to ride. But that's not the point either. The point is, you did itagainst my orders. And you dodged me to do it. Isn't that so?"

"I didn't dodge you for that reason, " said Toby. "I'd have done itwhether you'd been there or not. "

"I think not, " Jake said. "Anyway, you'll give me your word of honourthat you'll never ride that animal again. "

"My what?" said Toby, and suddenly she broke into a laugh. "Oh, don't befunny, Jake! Bunny rides him. Why shouldn't I?"

"That's quite a different thing, " Jake said. "Bunny has a man's strength. You haven't. It's too dangerous a game for you, see? And I won't haveit. "

"All right, " said Toby, picking up her riding-whip and turning to go. 

He stretched out a hand to detain her. "You'll give me that promise, " hesaid. 

She paused for a second, and met the unswerving determination of hiseyes. Then a sudden gleam of blue fire lit her own. She made a swiftmovement, and struck the outstretched hand lightly with the switch shecarried. 

It was a gesture of supreme insolence, but there was conscious daring inher look. Jake's hand leapt like an angry dog upon the switch and grippedit. 

"That was a mistake, " he said, and the words, though slow, had a cuttingquality that was somehow more imposing than open wrath. 

Toby faced him with unabated courage, but she had begun to quiver. Shespoke no word. 

Jake's hand fell. He turned from her, and pulled out his pipe. There wasdignity in the action--the dignity of strength that refuses to assertitself. 

And Toby suddenly crumpled. She sprang after him like a contrite child, and caught his arm. "Oh, Jake, forgive me! Do please forgive me! I'm abeast--a beast!" she cried tremulously. 

Jake looked at her, the hint of a smile about his rugged mouth. "I guessnot, " he said. "You're just--young. "

She shook her head vehemently. "I'm not! It wasn't that, Jake! Ididn't--hurt you?"

"Shucks, no!" he said. 

She clung to his arm still. "I'll never disobey you again. I won't doanything you don't like. Jake, I mean it! Why are you laughing?"

"I'm not, " said Jake. He put his pipe away again, and patted hershoulder. "All right. Don't say any more!" he said. 

Toby gulped down some obstruction in the throat. "I must. I've got to askyou something. You're so awfully decent. I can't--I won't--do things youdon't like. "

"What do you want to know?" said Jake. 

Her other hand came up and fastened tightly upon his arm. "I don't knowhow to tell you, " she said. "I--I had a rotten night last night. That'swhy I went out alone this morning. And I took Knuckle-Duster because thedevil tempted me. "

"I see, " said Jake. His red-brown eyes were very kindly in theirdirectness. "What did you have a bad night about?"

Her hold upon him tightened. Something of entreaty made itself felt inher grasp. There was fear in the wide blue eyes so resolutely lifted tohis. 

"I don't know how to tell you, " she said again. 

"Maybe I can guess, " said Jake. 

"Ah!" she said, and laid her face down quickly on his sleeve. 

He laid his free hand on her head. "It's Bunny, is it?" he said. 

She answered him quiveringly. "Yes, it's--it's Bunny. "

"Well?" said Jake gently. 

She spoke with her face still hidden. "You don't want me to marry him, doyou? I won't do it either--without your permission. "

"Mine!" said Jake. 

"Yes. " Her words came rapidly. "You love Bunny. You know what's best forhim. You want him to have the best. "

Jake's hand caressed her bent head. "Well, " he said, after a moment. "Iguess that's so. But--I've come to love you in the same way. I'd like youto have the best too. "

She lifted her head and looked at him. "You'd like me to have Bunny? Doyou mean that?"

"If it's going to make you both happy, " said Jake. 

"Ah!" she caught her breath sharply. "But no one can be sure of that, canthey? I mean, marriage is such a speculation, isn't it? I expect Bunnywill soon get tired of me. "

"Why do you say that?" said Jake. 

A little quiver went through her. "I don't know. Men are like that, aren't they? Not men like you of course, but you're the big exception toalmost every rule. "

Jake was frowning a little. "I guess I'm as human as the rest of 'em, " hesaid. "But what makes you think Bunny isn't a stayer?"

"He's so young, " said Toby. 

"That all?" said Jake, beginning to smile. 

She looked at him rather wistfully. "Yes, but it counts, Jake. He'll be aman some day, but he isn't yet--at least only in streaks. "

"Well, there's no hurry, is there?" said Jake. "People shouldn't marry inhaste. "

Toby's eyes flashed sudden accusation. "You did!"

"I!" Jake looked momentarily disconcerted. "Well, I had some excuse. Whatdo you know about it anyway?"

"I know what Bunny told me. Maud didn't love you when she marriedyou. It didn't come on till afterwards. She loved Lord Saltash, and heloved her. " Toby spoke with a certain hardness, as if challengingcontradiction. "She'd have married him--but for you. "

Jake met the challenge squarely. "Quite possibly she would. Think she'dhave been any happier?"

Toby shook her head. "No. I think you were always meant to be her man. But it--it was rather hard on him. " Her voice trembled a little. "Bunnysays that was why he never married. "

"He's not the marrying sort, " said Jake. "I don't mind your marryingBunny, but nothing on this earth would persuade me to let you marry him. "

An odd little smile twitched the corners of Toby's mouth. "No? Well, Ishouldn't consult you about that, " she said. "Sure you don't mind mymarrying Bunny?"

Jake looked at her. "Not if you're sure you want to, " he said. 

Her eyes grew bright and baffling. She drew away from him, but in amoment with a boyish gesture, she held out her hand to him. "Thank you, Jake. You're a brick. Whatever I do, I'll do it--straight, and you'llstand by?"

"Sure!" said Jake, and gave her a close grip. 

CHAPTER VI

THE SACRED FIRE

The party that gathered on the quay at Fairharbour on the hot July daywhen Saltash's new yacht, _The Blue Moon_ lay awaiting her christeningwas of a very gay description. The yacht herself was decked with flags, and the hotel facing the quay, The Anchor, was also decorated withbunting. All the visitors in the town were congregated about the shore, or were rowing in pleasure boats near the centre of attraction. 

The yacht lay moored to the quay on which by Saltash's orders a longstrip of red carpet had been laid leading to the gangway which wasdecorated with trails of flowers. The day was glorious and cloudless, thesea of that intense blue that melts to the horizon without any dividingline--like the blue of a smoked pearl. 

Saltash's idea was to take his guests for a cruise across the bay afterthe ceremony, and he planned to complete the celebrations with a _fête_on the water at night. Everything was in readiness, and by two o'clock hewas already receiving his guests. 

Maud and Jake stood with him, and little Eileen, very intent and serious, held Toby's hand and looked on from the background. Captain Larpent wason the bridge, looking very forbidding, even contemptuous. He had neverhad any liking for the gay crowds with which it was Saltash's pleasure tosurround himself. He had the air of a magnificent Viking, above thefrivolities with which he was surrounded. There was nothing of theornamental about his rugged exterior, but his very aloofness made himimposing. He looked straight over the heads of the buzzing throng thatpoured on to the deck. 

General Melrose and his daughter were among the last to arrive, and withthem came Bunny, very merry and handsome, his dark eyes singling out Tobyin a flash as she stood with her small charge. She had just lifted thechild to stand on a ledge where she might overlook the proceedings whenhe joined them. 

"Hullo!" he said eagerly. "I'm later than I meant to be. I've beenlunching with General Melrose. Ye gods, what a crush! Where do they allcome from? Well, sweetheart!" He bent to the child. "Enjoying yourprecious little self?"

The soft violet eyes met his with a deep contentment as she lifted herface for his kiss. "I think it's lovely, " she said earnestly. 

He stood up and looked again with swift appreciation at Toby. The girlwas dressed very simply in white, her vivid face shadowed by a broadstraw hat. She met his look with a grimace of boyish dissatisfaction. 

"Bunny! What a ghastly gathering! For goodness' sake, don't look at melike that! I feel like a painted marionette!"

"Are you painted?" said Bunny. "You don't look it. "

She made a vehement gesture of disgust. "As soon as this show it over, Ishall get into riding things and go like the--like the--"

"Like the dish when it ran away with the spoon, " suggested Bunny with agrin, as she paused. "Well, if you'll be the spoon, I'll be the dish, andwe'll show 'em all a clean pair of heels. Shall we?"

"I certainly won't be the spoon, " said Toby with decision. "You can findsomeone else to play that part. Try Miss Melrose! She doesn't look as ifshe'd object. "

"She's a very pretty girl, " said Bunny rather aggressively. 

"Of course she's a pretty girl. It's what she's for. " Toby's chin wentup. "She couldn't be anything else. "

Bunny laughed. "Well, cheer up! She's not the only one on board. Do youknow any of these people?"

Toby shook her head promptly. "And don't want! Aren't they awful? Oh, here's Jake! Wonder how much he's enjoying himself. "

Whether Jake were enjoying himself or not was not apparent in his manneras he came up and shook hands with Bunny, then turned to lift his littlegirl on to his shoulder. 

"Hold tight, Innocence! What do you think of it all?"

"I think it's lovely, Daddy, " she answered, clasping him closely. "DoesMummy like it too?"

He smiled at the anxiety in her question. "Guess she'll come through itall right. She's not exactly keen on this sort of thing. But we're here, eh, Innocence? That ought to make a difference. "

Old General Melrose turned sharply at the sound of the soft voice. He hadnot noticed Jake until that moment. 

"Why, Bolton!" he said. "What are you doing here?"

Jake moved forward deliberately. "Well, " he said, "I guess I'm here insupport of my wife who has undertaken the chief part in the ceremonyabout to take place. "

The old soldier looked at him from under beetling brows. "Ah! Your wife!That's Maud Brian, isn't it? Somehow I always think of her as Maud Brian. So she still keeps up the old friendship with Saltash! I wonder you allowthat. "

Jake's red-brown eyes held a smile. "She pleases herself, sir, " he said, "and--she pleases me. "

"That a child of yours?" asked the General abruptly. "But I needn't ask. She's got Maud's eyes. Sheila, come and see this kiddie of Maud's!"

He spoke imperiously over his shoulder, and Sheila turned in answer. Hersoft eyes kindled. 

"Oh, what a darling! How do you do, Mr. Bolton? I know you well by name. And this is your little girl? What is her name?"

"Eileen, " whispered the child, clinging rather nervously to Jake'sshoulder. 

"Innocence!" said Jake. 

"Ah! How sweet!" the girl said. "I must get your mummy to bring you tosee me. Would you like to, I wonder?"

"I think so, " said Eileen shyly. 

"Maybe you'll come and see her first, " said Jake. "I should like you tosee the stud, sir. We've got some stock that I think would interest you. "

"That would be delightful, " Sheila said, in her gracious way. "We arehere for another fortnight. I had no idea it was such a lovely place. "

"Have you seen Burchester?" asked Bunny. 

She turned to him. "Never. I want to see it. Lord Saltash said somethingabout it the other day, so I am hoping there is a chance of doing so. Youare very fond of it, Sir Bernard?"

"Yes. It's my job just now. I'm head keeper, " laughed Bunny. "MissLarpent thinks I'm very inefficient, but I do my best. "

"I never said so, " said Toby. 

She flushed at his obvious intention of drawing her into the group; butSheila Melrose at once held out a welcoming hand. 

"Miss Larpent, do you know I can't help feeling that I've seen yousomewhere before. Yet I can't quite remember where. Could it have been atValrosa?"

"Oh, no, " said Toby. "It couldn't possibly have been there. "

"And yet I can't help thinking it must have been, " said Sheila, lookingat her with knitted brows. "Were you at that fancy-dress affair at theCasino Hotel? I have a feeling I have seen you--somewhere--in fancydress. "

"Never!" said Toby with decision. "You must be thinking of someone else. "

Sheila still looked at her with puzzled eyes. "Wait!" she said. "I shallremember in a moment. It was someone exactly like you. I know--someonedressed as a boy. "

Toby made a sudden sharp movement and clapped her hands excitedly. "Look!Look! There goes the bottle! I hope she'll manage to break it!"

Sheila's attention was instantly diverted. The crowd surged forward. Maud, with Saltash on her right and Larpent on her left, stood by therail. She held up a bottle that gleamed golden in the sun. 

Saltash was laughing. He stood bareheaded, his dark face alight. Toby'seyes went to him in a single flashing glance and remained fixed. Bunny, looking at her, was for the moment curiously moved. It was as if helooked from afar upon some sacred fire that had suddenly sprung intoardent flame before a distant shrine. Then came Maud's voice, sweet andclear, speaking the name of the yacht, and like a golden flame the bottlecurved through the pearl-like ether and crashed upon the bows. 

A murmur went up and then a shout. The bottle had broken and the winerushed in a sparkling cascade to the water. 

Something impelled Bunny. He gripped Toby by the elbow. He almost shookher. "Hooray!" he yelled. "It's done! She's off!"

Toby looked at him with the eyes of a dreamer--eyes in which a latentfear underlay the reverence. Then, meeting his eyes, she seemed to awake. Her features contracted for a moment, but she controlled them swiftly, and laughed. Laughing, she drew him away. 

The yacht had throbbed into movement. The ropes were being flung aboard. They were steaming away, and a great blast went up from the siren as theydrew from the quay. 

Everywhere was tumult, rejoicing. People were shouting, talking, laughing, waving hats and handkerchiefs. The whole world seemed a buzz ofmerriment, and out of the very thick of it, Toby's voice, small andtense, spoke into Bunny's ear. 

"Let's get away! Let's go to Lord Saltash, and--and--and congratulate. "

Her hand was on his arm. She pulled at it urgently, insistently. AndBunny went with her, moved again--he knew not wherefore--by that feelingthat something had frightened her. 

He grasped her hand and made a way for her through the crowd. They wentto the laughing group in the bows. Saltash was standing close to Maud. Hewas making some careless jest to her, when suddenly he turned and foundthe boy and girl hand in hand behind him. 

His swift look flashed over them, and then in his sudden way he put ahand on the shoulder of each. It was a lightning touch, and he laughedoddly as he did it, as a man laughs who covers some hidden hurt. 

"We came to congratulate, " said Bunny. "Good luck to her!"

And Saltash, with his royal air of graciousness, made light reply. 

"I thank you for your congratulations, my children; but may the luck beyours! I see it coming. "

And with that lightly he moved away among his guests, leaving a trail ofmerriment wherever he went, save where the boy and girl stood together inthe bows in a silence that neither seemed able to break. 

CHAPTER VII

SURRENDER

That night Fairharbour Bay looked like a velvet bed on which glitteredmany jewels. _The Blue Moon_, lighted from bows to stern lay in thecentre, and from her deck there went up showers of coloured rockets thatfell like burning rain upon the sea. There was a string band on board, and the strains floated across the water as echoes from another world--awonder-world of soft melodies and laughing voices and lightly splashingoars. 

Toby sat in the stern of a boat with a single rower in front of her, andtrailed her fingers through the magic water. She was bare-headed, and thebreeze of the summer night stirred tenderly the golden ringlets thatclustered about her bow. Her face, seen now and then in the flare of therockets, had a strange look, almost a look of dread. Her blue eyes werevery wide open, like the eyes of a startled child. 

She spoke scarcely at all, and Bunny did not urge her. Only as he rowed, he watched her with grave determination on his boyish face. He hadclaimed her as his partner early in the evening, and she had made noattempt to thwart him; but something in that half scared silence ofhers moved him very deeply. His own was protective, resolutelyreassuring. 

Once, when she started nervously at an unexpectedly loud report from oneof the rockets, he spoke to her as he would have spoken to a small, frightened animal. 

"It's all right. I'll pull out a bit, shall I? These things make such abeastly row. "

She thanked him in an undertone, and he began to row steadily away fromthe yacht and the thronging boats. 

"You tell me when I've gone far enough!" he said. 

But she did not tell him, and he rowed on and on through the dark waterwith only the rhythmic splashing of the oars to fill the silence betweenthem. 

They left the laughter and the noise behind, and began to draw towardsthe far corner of the bay. The shore rose steeply from the water here, and there came to them the soft breaking of the waves against the cliffas they neared it. 

Toby came out of her silence with a jerk. "Bunny, do you really think itwould answer?"

"Sure!" said Bunny promptly. 

He drew in his oars with the words, and they drifted on the summer tide. 

Toby was looking at him in the starlight with a dumb and piteousirresolution in her eyes. 

Bunny leaned to her as he sat, with outstretched hands. "You poor littlefrightened mouse!" he said. "What is it that's troubling you? Do youthink I wouldn't make you happy?"

"I think you'd try, " she said dubiously. 

For a few seconds she hung back, hesitating; then swiftly, almost withthe gesture of one who casts aside a burden, she threw out her tremblinghands and thrust them into his. He took them and held them fast, drawingthem gently to him till he had them against his heart. "I would try, sweetheart, " he said softly. 

"Would you?" whispered Toby. "Would you?"

She went nearer to him; he could feel her trembling from head to foot. 

"You think I wouldn't succeed?" he asked her tenderly. "You think I'dmake you sorry?"

"I don't know, " she answered quiveringly. "I--I'm thinking most of you. "

"Wondering whether it would be good for me to have my heart's desire?"jested Bunny softly. "Think it would be too much for me; what, darling?"

"No, --no!" said Toby. "Not that! Only wondering if you are wanting theright thing--wondering if the thing you call your heart's desire willbring you happiness. It--it doesn't always, you know, Bunny. Life is likethat. "

Her voice sank a little. 

"What do you know about life?" he said. 

She shook her head, her face downcast. "Oh, too much--too much!" shesaid. 

Bunny sat motionless for a moment or two, but his hold was strong andcomforting. At length very gently he began to draw her nearer. 

He almost expected her to resist him, but she did not. As he drew her, she yielded, till with a sob she suffered herself to be drawn close intohis arms. He had her on the thwart beside him, her face hidden againsthis shoulder. He laid his cheek down upon her hair and sat silent. 

Toby was sobbing a little, and he patted her shoulder soothingly, but hedid not speak until with a quivering sigh she relaxed against him and wasstill. 

Then, in a whisper, "Toby mavourneen, " he said, "I'm going to tell yousomething that's come to me lately--something I've guessed. You needn'tanswer me. I don't want you to answer me--only to know that I know. There's another fellow in your heart, and he's got a bigger place than Ihave--at present. No, don't tremble, darling! It's all right. I know--Iknow. He's the sort that women simply can't keep out. He's a fine chaptoo, and I'm fond of him--always have been. But look here, mavourneen, you're not going to break your precious little heart over him; you knowquite well it's no use, don't you? You know--well, anyhow to a certainextent--you know what he is, don't you?"

He paused for an answer, but Toby quivered in his arms and was silent. 

He put up a hand and pressed her head closer to his breast. "He'll nevermarry, " he said. "He doesn't mean to. He almost told me so the other day. But--Toby--he takes a friendly interest in you and me. He'd like usto have each other. Don't you think"--his voice had a hint ofhumour--"don't you think we might fix it up just to please him?P'raps--someday--we may find that we're pleased ourselves as well. "

"Oh, my dear!" Toby whispered. 

Her arm crept round his neck, but she did not lift her head. He claspedher more closely and went on very softly. "I love you enough to think ofyour happiness first, my darling. You're not happy now. I know that allright. But you will be--I swear you shall be--if you will marry me. Youlike me just a bit, don't you? And you wouldn't be afraid to trustyourself to me?"

"No, " murmured Toby, with an effort. "I wouldn't be--afraid. "

"Then you'll give me my chance?" he urged gently. "You'll put your dearlittle hand into mine and trust me? Will you darling? Will you?"

But Toby was silent. 

"Won't you?" he said in a whisper. 

Her arm tightened about his neck. She was breathing quickly, nervously. From across the water came the sounds of laughter and cheering, thesoftened strains of the band that played on the deck of _The Blue Moon_. Close at hand was only the low wash of the waves as they lapped againstthe cliff. They floated quite alone over the dark depths, rising andfalling with the slow heave of the tide, but making no headway. 

"Won't you?" Bunny said again, after a long silence. 

And suddenly Toby raised her head and spoke. "I will do--whatever youwish, " she said. 

There was a slight break in her voice, but it held no indecision. Hereyes looked straight into his in the starlight. He saw them shining andknew that they were big with tears. But she did not flinch from his lookor start as his lips came to hers. She slipped her other arm about hisneck and clasped him close. 

"You'll be good to me, Bunny?" she said in a whisper. 

And he answered her deeply, his lips against her own. "I will be good toyou, my darling, so help me, God!"

CHAPTER VIII

THE MAGICIAN'S WAND

"I can't think where I have seen that girl before, " said Sheilathoughtfully, drumming her fingers on the white rail, her soft eyes fixedupon the jewelled bay. "She has an arresting face. "

"You have never seen her, " said Saltash carelessly, flickingcigarette-ash overboard. "She has the sort of face that the old Italiansworshipped and some of the moderns too. You have seen it in theirpictures. "

Sheila's brows were drawn. "I have seen her--somehow--dressed as a boy, "she said. "Could it have been a picture?"

"Yes. One of Spentoli's. I've got a print somewhere. It's called, 'TheVictim'--a lad with a face like Larpent's daughter, fighting a leopard. "

Saltash spoke with easy conviction, his restless eyes flashing to andfro, often glancing but never resting upon the girl beside him. "That'swhat you're thinking of. It's an unsatisfactory sort of picture. Onewonders which is 'The Victim. ' But that is Spentoli all over. He alwaysleaves one wondering. "

"I know the thing you mean. " Sheila nodded meditatively. "Yes, sheis--rather like that. The boy was 'The Victim' of course. " She turnedtowards him suddenly with the words. "You can't possibly doubt that. Thebrute's teeth are almost in his throat. I think it's a horrible picturemyself. "

Saltash laughed. "A deliverer arrives sometimes, " he remarked, "even inthe last, most awful moment of all. Have you never said to yourself howseldom the thing we really expect comes to pass?"

Sheila's lips parted with a touch of scorn. "Perhaps it is safer not toexpect, " she said. 

"Perhaps, " agreed Saltash, with his quick grimace. "I learnt that lessona long time ago. There are so many slips--especially when the cup isfull. " He added inconsequently, "And even if it gets there, the wine issour as often as not when you come to drink. "

"I can quite believe it, " said the girl, and looked out once more overthe wreathing flowers to the rippling waters of the bay. 

Her mouth took a firm line, and Saltash, glancing at her, began to laugh. "Do you know, Miss Melrose, it's rather curious, but you remind me ofSpentoli too in some ways? I don't know if you and Miss Larpent possessthe same characteristics, but I imagine you might develop them, given thesame conditions. "

Sheila stiffened at the words. "I am sure you are quite wrong, " she saidcoldly. "Captain Larpent's daughter is quite obviously a child ofimpulse. I--am not. "

"I think you would be impulsive enough to fight the leopard if he cameyour way, " contended Saltash with idle insistence. "Or perhaps you wouldcharm him. I imagine that might be more in your line. "

Again the girl's lip curled. She said nothing for a moment, thendeliberately, for the first time in her life, she snubbed him. "No, Ishould never try to charm--a beast, Lord Saltash. "

"You prefer them savage?" countered Saltash. 

She made a careless gesture with one hand, without replying. She did noteven look towards him. "I think Miss Larpent might be quite clever inthat respect, " she said. "She is--a born charmer. "

"By Jove!" he said. "What a cruel compliment!"

Sheila said nothing. She was watching a small boat rowing steadilytowards them through the dark water, with eyes that were grave and fixed. 

Saltash's look followed hers, and he grimaced to himself, oddly, wryly, as a man who accomplishes a task for which he has no liking. Then in amoment he turned the conversation. "Did you ever meet Rozelle Daubeni, the enchantress?"

Sheila's soft eyes came to him at the sudden question. "No. I have heardof her. I have never met her. I don't want to meet her. Why?"

He threw her a daring glance. "It would do you good to meet her. She is aborn charmer if you like. She charms women as well as men--and beasts. "

"An adventuress!" said Sheila. 

"Yes, an adventuress. One of the most wonderful, I should say, who everlived. She is in Paris just now. When she comes to England--" again hislook dared her--"I will take you to see her. It will be--an educationfor you. "

"Thank you, " Sheila said. 

He laughed aloud, and suddenly stretched his hand to her with a movementof good fellowship. "I'm only teasing. Don't be cross! I wouldn't takeyou to see her for all the gold of Ophir. She is rotten--too rotten evenfor me, which is saying much. "

Sheila hesitated momentarily before she gave her hand. 

"Why did you speak of her? What brought her to your mind?"

He glanced again towards the little boat now drawing near to the yacht, but he did not answer her question till her hand met his. 

"I have--a somewhat elastic mind, " he said then, and smiled his mostbaffling smile. "It was your talk of charmers that did it. I was tryingto think of all I had met. "

"All the Rozelles and the Tobies!" said Sheila, with a hard little laugh. 

He gripped her hand and released it. "I have never met more than one ofeach, " he said. "Which may be the secret of their charm. Don't class themtogether in your mind for a moment! Larpent's daughter may be a borncharmer. Young Bunny Brian seems to think so at any rate. But she isnot--and never will be--an adventuress. "

"Is Bunny Brian fond of her--really fond of her?" asked Sheila. 

Saltash nodded. "Sure thing--as Jake would say! And he's a sound chaptoo. I hope he'll get her. "

"She is not very likely to refuse, " said Sheila, turning from the rail. 

The little boat had passed out of sight under the lee of the yacht. Agreat rocket whistled skywards, and broke in a violet flare that lightedsea and shore. The _fête_ was over, and people were crowding on board. The band was playing a selection from a comic opera, and a few voiceswere singing the careless, sentimental words. 

Saltash turned with his companion. "And now we are going to supper at TheAnchor. I must get Mrs. Bolton to lead the way. Poor Jake is bored to thesoul, but he's facing it like a man. Fine fellow--Jake. "

"Oh, is he a friend of yours?" Sheila asked. "A very particular friend, Imean?"

Saltash grimaced to the stars. "No, I don't think so. Ask Jake! He knowsme better than some, that's all. And I know him. "

They left the yacht's rail and joined the on-coming throng. It was likea scene out of a fairy tale--the gaudy Chinese lanterns bobbing to andfro, the gaily-coloured crowd, the shining white yacht rocking gently onthe noiseless swell. Everyone was laughing. Some were singing. There wasnot a serious face to be seen in all the crowd that poured over thered-carpeted gangway from the quay. 

"Where is Toby?" said Maud. 

She was standing with Jake in the many-hued glow of the lanterns, and sheasked the question with a momentary anxiety, for she had looked in vainfor Toby for some time. 

"She's with Bunny. She's safe enough, " said Jake. 

"But they haven't come on board yet, and they've been gone so long, " Maudsaid. "It's curious how little Captain Larpent seems to interest himselfin her doings. "

"Mighty curious, " agreed Jake. 

For Larpent had kept to the bridge morosely, almost throughout theevening. He was standing there now, looking down upon the shifting, chattering crowd. He had no idea how long it would be before Saltashtired of the game and gave orders to set sail. He waited in dumbendurance--as he would wait from day to day until the longed-for momentarrived. It had happened often before, Saltash's caprice had sometimesdriven him to the verge of rebellion, but no one--not even Saltashhimself--ever suspected it. Silent, phlegmatic, inexpressive, Larpentheld on his undeviating course. 

Maud's attention did not linger upon him. No one--save perhapsSaltash--ever paid much attention to Larpent. She turned back to watchthe now empty gangway, and in a moment she gave an exclamation of relief. 

"Ah! Here they come at last!"

A laughing voice spoke behind her. "Enter Cinderella and the Prince!"

She started and saw Saltash's swarthy face close to her. His odd eyeslooked into hers with a flash of mischief. 

"See how all my plans bear fruit!" he said. "I wave my wand, and youbehold the result. "

She turned from him to look again upon the advancing couple. They werecrossing the gangway alone. Toby, slim, girlish, her wide blue eyesshining like the eyes of an awakened child, Bunny close behind her, touching her, his hand actually on her shoulder, possession andprotection in every line of him. He was murmuring into her ear as theycame, and his face was alight with the glory which no earthly lamp cankindle. 

"Behold!" Saltash said again, and moved forward in his sudden fashion toreceive them. 

He met them as they stepped on board, and in a moment they were thecentre of observation. The buzz of talk died down as the generalattention focussed upon them. Maud was aware of Jake standing squarelybehind her, and she put out a hand to him which he grasped and held. 

Saltash was laughing, but they could not hear what he said. Only in amoment he had taken a hand of Bunny's and a hand of Toby's and joinedthem together. Toby's eyes were lifted to his face. She was smiling withlips that trembled, and Maud's heart gave a great throb of pity, shecould not have said wherefore. She had a deep longing to go and gatherthe child into her arms and comfort her. 

Then Toby too was laughing, and she heard Saltash's voice. "These thingsonly happen properly once in a blue moon, _ma chère_. I give you both myblessing for the second time to-day. I wish you better luck than has evercome my way. "

He threw a gay malicious glance towards the bridge, where Larpent stoodlike a grim Viking looking down upon the scene. 

"Come!" he said. "We had better go and tell your daddy next!"

He led them lightly forward, and the crowd opened out with jests andlaughter to let them pass. 

Toby walked between the two men, very pale but still smiling--a smilethat was curiously like the smile of a child that is trying not to cry. 

"Oh, poor little thing!" Maud whispered suddenly and drew back besideJake as if she could not bear to look. 

"She'll be all right, " said Jake stoutly. "Don't you fret any! Bunny'ssound. "

"Oh, yes, I know--I know! But she's so young. " All the yearning ofmotherhood was in Maud's voice. "Does she love him? Does she?"

Jake's hand gripped hers more closely. He looked into her face with asmile in his red-brown eyes. "Maybe not as we know love, " he said. "Itdoesn't come all at once--that sort. "

She smiled back at him, for she could not help it, even as she shook herhead in misgiving. "Sometimes--it doesn't come at all!" she said. 

CHAPTER IX

THE WARNING

It seemed to Maud that in the days that followed her engagement Tobydeveloped with the swiftness of an opening flower. There was no talk ofher leaving them. She fitted into the establishment as though she hadalways been a part of it, and she took upon herself responsibilitieswhich Maud would never have laid upon her. 

Watching her anxiously, it seemed to her that Toby was becoming moresettled, more at rest, than she had ever been before. The look of fearwas dormant in her eyes now, and her sudden flares of anger had whollyceased. She made no attempt to probe below the surface, realizing theinadvisability of such a course, realizing that the first days of anengagement are seldom days of expansion, being full of emotions toovaried for analysis. That Toby should turn to her or to Jake if sheneeded a confident she did not for a moment doubt, but unless the needarose she resolved to leave the girl undisturbed. She had, moreover, great faith in Bunny's powers. As Jake had said, Bunny was sound, and sheknew him well enough to be convinced that he would find a means ofcalming any misgivings that might exist in Toby's mind. 

It appeared as if he had already done so in fact, for Toby was nevernervous in his presence. She greeted him with pleasure and went with himgladly whenever he came to seek her. They met every day, usually in theevening when Bunny was free, and the children gone to bed. Maud wouldwatch them wander out together into the summer solitudes, Chops walkingsedately behind, and would smile to herself very tenderly at the sight. She believed that Toby was winning to happiness and she prayed with allher soul that it might last. 

Saltash came no more during these summer days. He had departed in hisabrupt way for his first pleasure cruise in _The Blue Moon_, taking nofriend, save the ever-present Larpent, to relieve the monotony. No oneknew whither they were bound, or if the voyage were to be long or short. He dropped out of his circle as a monkey drops from a tree, and beyond apassing wonder at his movements no one questioned either motive orintention. Probably he had neither in any appreciable degree. It was onlythe caprice of the moment that ever moved him. So his friends said. Heevidently found his new toy attractive, and he would not return until hewearied of it. 

Meantime, the summer crowds came and went at Fairharbour. The AnchorHotel was crowded with visitors, and Sheila and her father began to talkof departure for Scotland. 

Jake had gone to an important race-meeting in the North, and it seemedthat Bunny's suggestion to show them the stud had been forgotten. But onan afternoon in late August, after a hotly-contested polo match, as hestood with a fizzling drink in his hand, talking to Sheila, she abruptlyreminded him of it. 

"It's quite a fortnight since you promised to show me the horses, " shesaid. 

He started. "Is it? I'm awfully sorry. I hadn't forgotten, but somehowI've had a lot to think about lately. You must come and have tea withMaud. When will you come?"

Sheila laughed a little. "Hadn't you better ask Maud first?"

"Good gracious, no!" said Bunny. "That'll be all right. She and Toby arealways at home just now, and of course she will be pleased to see you anytime. When can you come?"

"Well, we are leaving the day after to-morrow, " Sheila said. 

"To-morrow then!" said Bunny promptly. 

"Your sister may not want us at such short notice, " she said, hesitating. 

"Oh, rats!" said Bunny, with a grin. "Of course she will! Have you seenthe Castle yet?"

"Yes. We lunched there with Lord Saltash before he left. It's a horriblygrim place. I didn't like it much. "

"It's a magnificent place!" said Bunny stoutly. "It's completely thrownaway on Charlie of course, but I love every stone of it. "

"What a pity it doesn't belong to you!" commented Sheila. "I wonder whereyou will live when you are married. "

Bunny flushed a little. "We're not marrying at present, but I'm hoping tostick to my job when we do. "

"Oh, are you? Does Miss Larpent like that idea?" Faint surprise soundedin Sheila's tone. 

"I don't know why she shouldn't, " said Bunny, quick to detect it. "She'skeen on the country, keen on riding and so on. She'd hate to live intown. "

"Would she?" said Sheila, with a hint of incredulity. 

Bunny turned on her. "Why do you say that? She's very young, hardly morethan a kid. She doesn't care for people and towns. Why should she?"

He put the question almost indignantly, and Sheila smiled at himpacifically. "I don't know in the least why she should. I only had a sortof idea that she might. She is very pretty, isn't she? And pretty girlsdon't generally care to be buried before they have had their fling--notalways then. "

"Oh, you think she doesn't get any fun!" said Bunny, still somewhatresentful. 

"No--no, of course I don't! You know best what she likes. I only wonderthat Maud didn't think of giving her just one season in town. It would berather good for her, don't you think?"

"I don't know, " said Bunny rather shortly. "Maud isn't keen on town. Ithink she's better where she is. "

Sheila laughed. "You're afraid she'd slip through your fingers if she sawtoo much of the world?"

"No, I'm not!" declared Bunny, frowning. "I hadn't thought about it. But I'd hate her to get old and sophisticated. Her great charm is inbeing--just what she is. "

"Oh, she has plenty of charm, " Sheila admitted, and her own brows drew alittle in thought. "I wish I could remember who it is she reminds me of. That is the worst of having such a large circle. "

"She isn't like anyone I've ever met, " declared Bunny, and gulped downhis drink abruptly. "Well, I must be going. You'll come up to-morrowthen, you and the General. I shall be there, and I'll tell Maud you'recoming. "

"You are sure we had better come?" Sheila said, as she gave him her hand. 

He gripped it. "Of course! Maud will be delighted. I'm sorry you weren'tasked before. About three then--if that suits you! Good-bye!"

He smiled his pleasant, boyish smile, and departed. 

But as he raced back from Fairharbour in his little two-seater car tomeet his young _fiancée_ on the downs, the memory of Sheila's word cameback to him and he frowned again. It was true that they were not thinkingof marriage for the next few months, and their plans were still somewhatvague, but the idea of waiting while Toby had her fling for a wholeseason in town revolted him. He could not have said definitely wherefore, save that he wanted to keep her just as she was in his eyes--fresh andyoung and innocent. He was angry with Sheila for having suggested it, andhe wanted to thrust the matter from his mind. 

Yet when he found himself alone with Toby, walking along the brow of thefurze-strewn down, he attacked the subject with characteristicdirectness. 

"Sheila Melrose thinks you ought to have a season in town before we getmarried. Would you like to do that?"

Toby looked up at him with her clear eyes wide with surprise. "Whatthe--blazes has it to do with Sheila Melrose?" she said. 

He laughed briefly. "Nothing, of course. Less than nothing. It's just apoint of view. She thinks you're too pretty to be buried before you'vehad your fling--rot of that sort. "

"My--fling!" said Toby, and with a sudden gesture that was almost ofshrinking drew his arm more closely round her shoulders. "I should loatheit and you know it, " she said with simplicity. 

He held her to him. "Of course you would. I should myself. I hate thesmart set. But, you know, you are--awfully pretty; I don't want to doanything unfair. "

"Rats!" said Toby. 

He bent his face to hers. "Are you beginning to care for me--just alittle--by any chance?"

She laughed and flushed, twining her fingers in his without replying. 

Bunny pursued his point. "You'd sooner marry me out of hand than gohunting London for someone more to your liking? Would you?"

"Oh, much, " said Toby. "But, you see, I hate London. "

"And you don't hate me?" persisted Bunny, his dark eyes very persuasive. 

She dropped her own before them, and was silent. 

"Say it, sweetheart!" he urged. 

She shook her head. "Let's talk about something else!" she said. 

"All right, " said Bunny boldly. "Let's talk of getting married! It's hightime we began. "

"Oh, I didn't mean that!" said Toby quickly. 

He laughed at her softly. "Of course you didn't! But you were thinkingabout it all the same. Do you know old Bishop is going to clear out andgo and live in Fairharbour? I shall be left alone then. It's ratherbeastly living alone, you know, darling. "

"You haven't tried it yet, " said Toby. 

"No. But I know what it'll feel like. I shall hate it. " Bunny spoke withgloomy conviction. 

Toby suddenly laughed. "No one to grouse to! It would be rather dullcertainly. Why didn't you fall in love with Sheila Melrose?"

"Sheila Melrose! Why on earth should I?" Bunny spoke with some sharpness. 

Toby lifted mischievous eyes. "She's pretty and graceful andaccomplished. She'd make a charming Lady Brian, and she has an estate ofher own for you to manage. It--it would be--a highly suitable arrangementfor you both. "

"Don't talk rot!" broke in Bunny with sudden heat. 

His hold tightened upon her, and she made a quick, instinctive movementas though to free herself. "I'm not! You know I'm not! You know--quitewell--that if--if--if it hadn't been for me--because you chanced to meetme first--you certainly would have--have fallen in love with her!"

Toby spoke breathlessly, stammering a little as her habit was whenagitated. Her face was averted, and she was trying very, very hard toresist the closer drawing of his arms. 

But there were times when Bunny would not endure resistance, and this wasone of them. He simply ignored it, till abruptly she yielded to hismastery. And then in a moment he was tender again. 

"Why did you say that?" he said, bending low to look into her downcastface. "Tell me why you said it! Are you--jealous--by any chance?"

"Oh, no!" declared Toby with vehemence. "No--no--no!"

"Then why?" he persisted. Then with sudden intuition: "You don't likeher, do you?"

Toby's face was burning. "It--it's she that doesn't like me, " she said. 

"Oh, that's a mistake, " said Bunny, decidedly. "Everyone likes you. "

She shook her head. "She doesn't. She thinks I'm bad form, and I daresayshe's right. She also thinks--" she lifted her face suddenly, challenginghim--"she also thinks that I set out to catch you--and succeeded. "

"She doesn't!" declared Bunny. "That's rot--damn' rot! You are not to sayit. She's a very nice girl and ready to be friendly with you if you'lllet her. "

Toby made a rude face. "I knew you were getting fond of her! She's prettyand stylish and--and much more in your line than I am. Why don't you goand ask her to marry you? She wouldn't say No. "

She flung the words with a little quivering laugh. She was trembling inhis hold. 

Bunny's eyes had flashed to sudden anger. He had taken her by theshoulders almost as if he would shake her. 

"Toby, be quiet!" he commanded. "Do you hear? You're going too far! Whatdo you mean by talking in this strain? What has she done to you?"

"Nothing!" gasped back Toby, backing away from him in a vain effort toescape. "She hardly knows me even. It's just instinct with her and shecan't help it. But she likes you well enough not to want you to marry me. You don't suppose--you don't suppose--" the words came breathlessly, jerkily--"you--you really don't suppose, do you, that--that she made thatsuggestion about a season in town for my sake?"

"What other reason could she have had?" demanded Bunny sternly. 

Toby was laughing, but her laughter had a desperate sound. "How green youare! Must I really tell you that?"

"Yes. Go on! Tell me!" His voice was hard. Hard also was the grip of hishands. He knew that in the moment he released her she would turn and fleelike a fleeing hare. 

There was fear in the blue eyes that looked up to his, but they held aglare of defiance as well. Her small white teeth showed clenched betweenher laughing lips. 

"Go on! Tell me!" he reiterated. "You shan't go--I swear--until you tellme. "

"Think I'm--think I'm afraid of you?" challenged Toby, with boyishbravado. 

"I think you'll answer me, " he said, and abruptly his tone fell level, dead level. He looked her straight in the eyes without anger, withoutmercy. "And you'll answer me now, too. What other reason could MissMelrose have for making that suggestion if it was not intended for yourbenefit? Now answer me!"

His face was pale, but he was master of himself. Perhaps he had learnedfrom Jake that fundamental lesson that those who would control othersmust first control themselves. He still held her before him, but therewas no violence in his hold. Neither was there any tenderness. It wasrather of a judicial nature. 

And oddly at that moment a sudden gleam of appreciation shot up in Toby'seyes. She stood up very straight and faced him unflinching. 

"I don't mind answering you, " she said. "Why should I? Someone willtell you sooner or later if I don't. She said that because she knew--andshe wanted you to know--that I am not the sort of girl that men wantto--marry. "

She was quite white as she spoke the words, but she maintained her tenseerectness. Her eyes never stirred from his. 

Bunny stood motionless, staring at her. He looked as if he had beenstruck a blinding blow. 

"What--on earth--do you mean?" he asked slowly at last. 

The tension went out of Toby. She broke into her funny little laugh. "Oh, I won't tell you any more! I won't! She thinks I'm too attractive, that'sall. I can't imagine why; can you? You never found me so, did you, Bunny?"

The old provocative sweetness flashed back into her face. She went withinthe circle of his arms with a quick nestling movement as of a smallanimal that takes refuge after strenuous flight. She was still panting alittle as she leaned against him. 

And Bunny relaxed, conscious of a vast relief that outweighed every otherconsideration. "You--monkey!" he said, folding her close. "You're playingwith me! How dare you torment me like this? You shall pay for it to thelast least farthing. I will never have any mercy on you again. "

He kissed her with all the renewed extravagance of love momentarilydenied, and the colour flooded back into Toby's face as the dread recededfrom her heart. She gave him more that day than she had ever given himbefore, and in the rapture of possession he forgot the ordeal that shehad made him face. 

Only later did he remember it--her strange reticence, her odd stumblingwords of warning, her curious attitude of self-defence. And he felt asif--in spite of his utmost resolution--she had somehow succeeded inbaffling him after all. 

CHAPTER X

THE MYSTERY

It was late that evening that Bunny strolled forth alone to smoke areminiscent pipe along his favourite glade of larches in Burchester Park. He went slowly through the summer dusk, his hands behind him, his eyesfixed ahead. He had had his way with Toby. She had promised to marry himas soon as old Bishop's retirement left the house in the hollow at hisdisposal. But somehow, though he had gained his end, he was not consciousof elation. Sheila Melrose's words had disturbed him no less than Toby'sown peculiar interpretation of them. There was a very strong instinct offair play in Bunny Brian, and, now that he had won his point, he wasassailed by a grave doubt as to whether he were acting fairly towards thegirl. She was young, but then many girls marry young. It was not reallyher youth that mattered; neither, when he came to sift the matter, was itthe fact that she had had so little opportunity of seeing the world. Butit was something in Toby's eyes, something in Sheila's manner, that gavehim pause. He asked himself, scarcely knowing why, if it would not befairer after all to wait. 

He wished that he could have consulted Jake, but yet it would have beendifficult to put his misgivings into definite words. Jake was a brick andunderstood most things, but he was away for another week at least. 

The thought of the girl's father crossed his mind, only to be instantlydismissed. Even if he had been within reach, Captain Larpent's sternlyunapproachable exterior would have held him back. He was inclined to likethe man, but he could not feel that Toby's welfare was, or ever had been, of paramount importance to him. He had thoughts only for his yacht. 

Bunny began to reflect moodily that life was a more complicated affairthan he had ever before imagined, and, reaching this point, he alsoreached the gate by the copse and became aware of cigar-smoke dominatingthe atmosphere above the scent of his own now burnt-out pipe. 

He removed the pipe from his mouth and looked around him. 

"Hullo!" said a voice he knew. "Do I intrude?"

Saltash stepped suddenly out of the shadow of the larches and met himwith outstretched hand. 

"Hullo!" said Bunny, with a start. 

A quick smile of welcome lighted his face, and Saltash's eyes flashed inanswer. He gripped the boy's hand with fingers that closed like springs. 

"What are you doing here?" he said. 

"Just what I was going to ask you, " said Bunny. "I often come here in theevening. It's my favourite look-out. But you--"

"I do the same for the same reason, " said Saltash. 

"I thought you were far away on the high seas, " said Bunny. 

Saltash laughed. "Well, I was. But I don't stay there, my good Bunny. _The Blue Moon_ developed engine trouble--nothing very serious, but webrought her back to recuperate. You can never tell what you may be infor on a first voyage. Also, I was curious to see how affairs here wereprogressing. How goes it, _mon ami_? Is all well?"

"Well enough, " said Bunny. 

Saltash linked a friendly hand in his arm. "Have you and Nonette settledwhen to get married yet?"

Bunny stiffened momentarily, as if his instinct were to resent the kindlyenquiry. But the next instant he relaxed again with impulsive confidence. "Well, it is more or less settled, " he said. "But I'm wondering--youknow, Charlie, she's rather young to be married, isn't she? She hasn'tseen much of the world so far. You don't think it's shabby, do you, tomarry her before she's had the same sort of chances as other girls?"

"Good heavens, no!" said Saltash. He gave Bunny an odd look from underbrows that were slightly twisted. "What made you think of that?" heasked. 

Bunny's face was red. He leaned his arms on the gate and looked outacross the valley. "Sheila Melrose put it to me this afternoon, " he said, "though I must admit it had crossed my mind before. She hasn't met manypeople, you know, Charlie. And--as I said--she's young. I don't want totake an unfair advantage. "

"Life is too short to think of these things, " said Saltash abruptly. "Marry her while you can get her and don't be an ass about it! If I haddone the same thing in my youth, I should have been better off than I amat present. "

Bunny smiled a little. "You would probably have been wishing you'd donethe other thing by this time. "

"Much you know about it!" returned Saltash with a whimsical frown. "Nowlook here! What I've really come back for is to see you married. All thispreliminary messing about is nothing but a weariness to the flesh. Get itover, man! There's nothing on earth to wait for. Larpent's willingenough. In fact, he agrees with me--the sooner the better. "

"He would!" said Bunny with a touch of bitterness. 

"Well, you can't ask for anything better, " maintained Saltash. "He's gothis job, and he's not what you could call a family man. He's not a wastereither, so you needn't put on any damned airs, _mon vieux_. "

"I didn't!" said Bunny hotly. 

Saltash laughed, and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Look here! I'mtalking for the good of your soul. Don't take any more advice--certainlynot Sheila Melrose's! You go straight ahead and marry her! You've gotmoney, I know, but I hope you won't chuck your job on that account. Stickto it, and you shall have the Dower House to live in while I yet cumberthe ground, and Burchester Castle as soon as I'm under it!"

"What?" said Bunny. He turned almost fiercely. "Charlie! Stop it! You'retalking rot. You always do. I don't want your beastly castle. You've gotto marry and get an heir of your own. I'm damned if I'm going to beadopted by you!"

Saltash was laughing carelessly, mockingly, yet there was about him atthe moment a certain royal self-assurance that made itself felt. "You'lldo as you're told, _mon ami_. And you'll take what the gods send withoutany cavilling. As for me, I go my own way. I shall never marry. I shallnever have an heir of my own blood. Burchester means more to you than itdoes to me. Therefore Burchester will pass to you at my death. Think youand Toby will be happy here?"

"Damn it!" said Bunny, still fiercely disconcerted. "You talk as if youwere going to die to-morrow. "

"Oh, probably not, " said Saltash airily. "But I doubt if I live to arakish old age. I'm a man that likes taking chances, and those who dicewith the high gods are bound to throw a blank some day. " For a moment themockery died down in his eyes, and he looked more nearly serious thanBunny had ever seen him. He patted the shoulder under his hand. "Life israther a rotten old show when you've tried everything and come to theend, " he said. "And you know for a damn' certainty that you'll nevertaste any good fruit again. But you will never know what that feels like, _mon ami_. You've had the sense to play a straight game, and you'll findit pays in the long run. Jake taught you that, eh? You may thank yourown particular lucky star that you had him for a brother-in-law insteadof me. "

"Don't talk rot!" said Bunny gruffly. 

Saltash stretched up his arms with a laugh. "No, we'll talk sense--goodsquare sense. I take it you'll continue to manage the estate for thepresent? If you get bored, we'll find an agent, but I'm satisfied withthings as they are. We'll go round and have a look at the old DowerHouse to-morrow. It has a fairly decent position, you know, --overlooksGraydown. That ought to please you both. "

Bunny turned upon him. "Oh, confound it, Charlie!" he said. "I can't talkabout this. I couldn't possibly take it. You're too damned generous. I'venever done anything to deserve it. "

"Oh yes, you have!" said Saltash unexpectedly, "you've done a good manythings for me. You have always been the _bon ami_ whatever I did--fromyour childhood upwards. " His dark face laughed with friendly warmth intothe boy's troubled eyes. "Always stuck up for me, haven't you, Bunny?" hesaid. 

"Oh, but that's rot, " objected Bunny. "A man is bound to stick up for hispals. "

"Even though he knows they're not worth it?" laughed Saltash. "Yes, that's just what I like about you. It's the one point on which we touch. But I'm not sure that even you would stick up for me if you knewprecisely what sort of rotter you were sticking up for. "

"Oh, shut up!" said Bunny. 

"_Bien, mon cher!_ We return to your affairs. Have you put up the bannsyet? I presume you will allow me to be best man? Get it over soon, Ibeseech you! I can't stay here indefinitely. As a matter of fact, I'mdue in Scotland at the present moment. Can't you fix it up immediately?And you can have the little car and leave of absence till you've got overit. Old Bishop can run this show till the winter. Maud can fit up theDower House for you. And I shall feel at liberty to roam the desert oncemore--unencumbered. "

"You're jolly decent to me!" said Bunny. 

"Think so?" Saltash's brows twitched humorously. "I seem to bedeveloping a taste for worthy deeds. But there's no reason on earth whyyou two shouldn't get married and done for as soon as possible. I'll seeLarpent to-night and tell him, and you can go and see the parson about itto-morrow. You'll find Nonette won't put any obstacles in the way. She'sa good child and does as she's told. "

"No, Toby won't mind, " Bunny said, with a sudden memory of her quicksurrender flooding his soul. "By Jove, Charlie! You are a good sort tohelp me like this. There's no one else that can get things moving as youcan. "

"Oh, you can count on me for that, " laughed Saltash. "I never was adrifter. Life is too short. We'll meet again to-morrow then. Come anddine if you like, and tell me what you've arranged! Good night!" Heturned in his sudden fashion. "Good luck to you!"

He was gone upon the words, vanishing into the larches almost noiselesslyas he had come, and Bunny was left alone. 

He stood motionless at the gate for some time longer gazing out over thequiet, night-wrapt down. There was no elation in his attitude, only adeep thoughtfulness. He had never understood Charlie though oddly enoughhe had always believed in him. But to-night for the first time a curiousdoubt pierced his mind--a doubt that recurred again and again, banishingall sense of exultation. Why had Charlie returned like this? Why was heso eager to meddle in this affair? Why so recklessly generous? He had astrong feeling that there was something behind it all, some motiveunrealized, some spur goading him, of which he, Bunny, might not approveif he came to know of it. He wished he could fathom the matter. It wasunlike Saltash to take so much trouble over anything. He felt as if insome inexplicable fashion he were being tricked. 

He put the thought from him, but he could not drive it away. Just as hehad felt himself baffled a little earlier by Toby, so now he felt thesame inability to comprehend Saltash. He seemed to be groping at a lockeddoor, feeling and feeling for a key, that always eluded him. And again hewished that Jake was within reach. 

He turned homewards at length, dissatisfied and ill at ease, yet callinghimself a fool for scenting a mystery that did not exist. 

CHAPTER XI

SUSPICION

The Graydown Stables were always a model of well-ordered efficiency, andit had ever been Bunny's pride to show them to his friends. But heawaited General Melrose and his daughter on the following afternoon ina mood of some impatience. He had arrived early in the hope of findingToby at liberty, but his young _fianceé_ was nowhere to be found. She hadgone out riding, Maud said, immediately after luncheon, and he realizedwith some disgust that he had forgotten to tell her on the previous dayof his coming. 

"She will be in to tea, dear, " Maud said, and he was obliged to contenthimself with the prospect of seeing her and acquainting her withSaltash's energetic interest on their behalf after the visitors had gone. He had never felt less in the mood for entertaining casual friends thanhe felt on that sunny afternoon in September as he lounged in the widestable-yard and waited for them. He had always liked Sheila Melrose, theyhad a good deal in common. But curiously enough it was that very factthat made him strangely reluctant to meet her now. In some inexplicablefashion, he found her simple directness disconcerting. Toby's words stuckobstinately in his mind, refusing to be dislodged. "She likes you wellenough not to want you to marry me. " He realized beyond question thatthose words had not been without some significance. It might be justinstinct with her, as Toby had declared, but that Sheila regarded hisengagement as a mistake he was fairly convinced. That she herself had anyfeeling for him beyond that of friendship he did not for a momentimagine. Bunny had no vanity in that direction. There was too much of theboy, too much of the frank comrade, in his disposition for that. Theywere pals, and the idea of anything deeper than palship on either sidehad never seriously crossed his mind. He was honest in all his ways, andhis love for Toby--that wild and wonderful flower of first love--filledall his conscious thoughts to the exclusion of aught beside. The odd, sweet beauty of her had him in thrall. She was so totally different fromeveryone else he had ever encountered. He felt the lure of her more andmore with every meeting, the wonder and the charm. 

But Sheila did not want him to marry her, and a very natural feeling ofirritation against her possessed him in consequence. Doubtless Sheila hada perfect right to her opinions, but she might keep them to herself. Between Saltash's headlong resolve to help and Sheila's veiled desire tohinder, he felt that his course was becoming too complicated, as if inspite of his utmost efforts to guide his own craft there were contrarycurrents at work that he was powerless to avoid. 

He had an urgent desire for Toby that afternoon, and he was inclinedsomewhat unreasonably to resent her absence. But when at length the hootof the General's car warned him of his visitors' advent as they turned inat the gate, he was suddenly conscious of a feeling of relief that he wasalone. Toby was not at her ease with them. She fancied they disapprovedof her, and whether the fancy were justified or not he was glad that shewas not there to meet them. He determined to get the business over asquickly as possible. 

Sheila in her dainty summer attire was looking even prettier than usual, and almost against his will Bunny noted the fact. Against his will also, his barely-acknowledged feeling of resentment vanished before he had beenfive minutes in her company. Sheila's charms went beyond mere prettiness. She had the tact and ready ease of manner which experience of the worldalone can impart. She was sympathetic and quick of understanding. Withoutflattering, she possessed the happy knack of setting those about her attheir ease. It was very rarely that she was roused to indignation;perhaps only Saltash knew how deep her indignation could be. And he wasnot the man to impart the knowledge to anyone else. 

So on that warm September afternoon in her gracious way she restoredBunny's good humour and reinstated their friendship without effort, without apparent consciousness of any strain upon it. They went throughthe stables, and Bunny displayed his favourites with an enthusiasm ofwhich he had not believed himself capable a little earlier. The stud hadalways been his great delight from boyhood, and both the General and hisdaughter took a keen interest in all they saw. 

The time passed with astounding rapidity, and the chiming of the greatstable-clock awoke Bunny at length to the fact that the afternoon waspractically over. 

"Maud will think we are never going in to tea, " he said, with a laugh, turning back from the gate into the training field where they had beeninspecting some of the colts. "You'll come round to the house, won't you?She is expecting you--said I was to be sure to bring you in. "

Sheila smiled and accepted the invitation. "We were hoping to see Mrs. Bolton to say good-bye, " she said. "Is Miss Larpent not here to-day?"

"Yes, she's out riding, " Bunny said. "She may be in any moment. It's apity Jake is away. He is expected back some time next week. "

"Yes, I'm sorry to have missed him, " said the General. "Tell him thatI've enjoyed seeing the animals, and I think he has a very fine show! Inever could understand how Saltash could bring himself to part with thestud. "

"He's so seldom at home, " said Bunny. "Yachting is much more in hisline--though as a matter of fact he is at the Castle just now, came backyesterday. "

"Is he indeed? Are you sure of that?" Sheila spoke with surprise. "Ithought he meant to be away much longer. "

"His intentions never last more than a couple of days, " remarked theGeneral with a touch of acidity. "Nothing he does ever surprises me. "

"He's a very good chap, " began Bunny. "He's been no end decent to me. Why, --" he broke off suddenly--"Hullo! There he is! And--Toby!"

Two figures had come suddenly round the corner of some stables, walkingside by side. Both were in riding-dress, but the day being hot, the girlhad discarded her long coat and was carrying it without ceremony over herarm. Her silk shirt was open at the neck, her soft hat pushed jauntilydown on the side of her head. She was laughing as she came, and shelooked like a merry little cow-boy straight from the prairies. 

The man who moved beside her was laughing also. There was no grace abouthim, only that strange unstudied kingliness that had earned for him thetitle of "Rex. " He was swift to see the advancing visitors and sweptthe hat from his head with a royal gesture of greeting. 

Toby's face flushed deeply; she looked for the moment inclined to runaway. Then with an impulse half-defiant, she restrained herself andcaught back the smile that had so nearly vanished. She slapped the switchagainst her gaitered leg with boyish swagger and advanced. 

A quick frown drew Bunny's forehead as he observed her attitude. He spokeimpetuously, almost before they met. 

"You look like a girl out of a comic opera. Why don't you put your coaton?"

Toby made a face at him. "Because it's cooler off. You can carry it ifyou like. " She threw it to him nonchalantly with the words, and turnedforthwith to Sheila. "Have you just been round the Stables? Grilling, isn't it? I've been exercising one of the youngsters. He nearly pulled myarms off. We've been practising some jumps. "

"Then you shouldn't, " put in Bunny. "The ground's too hard for jumping. "

Toby turned upon him with a flash of temper. "No one asked for youropinion. I know a safe jump when I see one. Are you coming in to tea, Miss Melrose? I should think you're wanting it. Yes? What's the matter?"

She flung the two questions in a different tone, sharply, as thoughstartled. Sheila was looking at her oddly, very intently, a species ofpuzzled recognition in her eyes. 

Toby backed away from her, half-laughing, yet with something that was notlaughter on her face. "What can be the matter?" she said. "Is it--is itmy riding breeches? Here, Bunny! Let me have my coat!" She turned swiftlywith extended arms. "Quick! Before Miss Melrose faints! I've given herthe shock of her life. "

"No! No!" protested Sheila, recovering. "Don't be absurd! You reminded meso vividly of someone, that's all. I don't quite know who even yet. "

Bunny helped Toby into the coat without a word. There was grimdispleasure on his face. The General and Saltash were talking togetherand for the moment they three stood there alone. 

Toby turned round laughing. "How ridiculous you are!" she said to Bunny. "You've seen me in this get-up heaps of times before--and will again. Miss Melrose, I forgot you hadn't. I'm horribly sorry to have shockedyou. Shall we go in for tea now?"

The puzzled look was still in Sheila's eyes though she smiled in answer. "I am not shocked--of course, " she said. "But--but--"

"Yes?" said Toby. 

She spoke in the same brief, staccato note; the word was like achallenge. Saltash turned suddenly round. 

"I have just been complimenting Miss Larpent on the excellence of herget-up, " he said lightly. "We met at the gate on the downs, and I havebeen witnessing some very pretty horsemanship. Miss Melrose, I hear youare leaving tomorrow, and am quite desolated in consequence. It is alwaysmy luck to be left behind. "

The hard little smile that only he could ever provoke was on Sheila'slips as she turned to him. 

"For such a rapid rider, you are indeed unfortunate, " she said. 

He laughed with careless effrontery. "Yes, the devil usually takes thehindmost, --so I've been told. Miss Larpent anyway is quite safe, for shewill always be an easy first. "

"There is such a thing as going too fast, " commented Bunny. 

"There is such a thing as getting away altogether, " flung back Toby withspirit. 

Bunny's eyes flashed into sudden, ominous flame. He could not have saidwhy the contrast between the two girls--the one in her dainty summerattire and the other in her boyish riding-kit--had such an effect uponhim, but for the moment it almost infuriated him. 

Toby saw it, and her own eyes lit in response. She stood waiting for hisrejoinder--the spirit of mischief incarnate, wary, alert, daring him. 

But Bunny did not speak in answer. He drew in a hard breath through teeththat gripped his lower lip, and restrained himself. The next instant hehad turned away. 

"Oh, damn!" said Toby, and swung upon her heel. 

Saltash and the General walked beside her, rallying her. But Bunny andSheila came behind in silence. 

CHAPTER XII

THE ALLY

They found Maud awaiting them in the long low room that overlooked herfavourite view of the down. Saltash entered as one who had the right, andshe greeted him with momentary surprise but evident pleasure. 

"I couldn't spend twenty-four hours at Burchester without calling uponyou, " he said. 

"You know you are always welcome, " she made answer, with the smile whichonly her intimate friends ever saw. 

They sat down by one of the wide French windows and General Melrose beganto occupy his hostess's attention. Sheila took a chair that Bunny pushedforward, and Saltash glanced round for Toby. She was sitting on the endof a couch, playing with the silky ears of the old red setter. Her hatwas flung down beside her; her pretty face downcast. He crossed to herdeliberately and bent also to fondle the dog. 

She started slightly at his coming, and a faint flush rose in her cheeks;but she neither glanced at him nor spoke. 

For the moment they were alone, unobserved by the laughing group at thewindow. Saltash bent suddenly lower. His quick whisper came down to her:

"Go and put on the most girlish thing you've got!"

She looked up at him then, her blue eyes seeking his. A rapid flash ofunderstanding passed between them. Then, without a word she rose. 

When Maud looked round for her a few seconds later, Saltash was loungingalone against the sofa-head pulling Chops absently by the ear while hestared before him out of the window in a fit of abstraction that seemedto her unusual. 

She called to him to join them at the tea-table, and he jerked himself tohis feet and came across to her with the monkeyish grin on his face thatshe had learned long since to regard as the shield wherewith he maskedhis soul. 

He sat down by her side, devoting himself to her with the gallantry thatalways characterized him when with her. No one seemed to notice that Tobyhad disappeared. They talked about the horses, about Jake and his recentvictories, about the season at Fairharbour, about the Melroses' plans forthe winter. 

When questioned by the General on this subject, Saltash declared airilythat he never made any. 

"If I do, I never stick to them, so what's the use?" he said. 

"How weak of you!" said Maud. 

And he threw her the old half-tender, half-audacious look, and tossed thesubject banteringly away. 

He was the first to make a move when the careless meal was over, but notto go. He sauntered forth and lounged against the door-post smoking, while Bunny and Sheila talked of tennis and golf, and Maud listened withwell-disguised patience to the old General's oft-repeated Frenchreminiscences. 

And then when the tea was cold and forgotten and Sheila was beginning toawake to the fact that it was growing late, there came a sudden, ringinglaugh across the lawn and Toby scampered into view with little Mollyon her shoulder and Eileen running by her side. She was dressed in white, and she looked no more than a child herself as she danced across thegrass, executing a fairy-like step as she came. The tiny girl's tinklinglaughter mingled with hers. Her little hands were fondly clasped aboutthe girl's neck; she looked down into her face with babyish adorationwhile Eileen, the elder child, gazed upward with a more serious devotion. 

General Melrose interrupted his narrative to look at the advancing trio. "My Jove, Mrs. Bolton, " he said, "but that's a pretty sight!"

Sheila also ceased very suddenly to converse with Bunny, while Saltashmade a scarcely perceptible movement as though he braced and restrainedhimself in the same instant. 

"The prettiest picture I've seen for years!" vowed the General. "How thatlittle Larpent girl changes! She is like a piece of quicksilver. There'sno getting hold of her. How old is she?"

"She is nearly twenty, " said Bunny with the swiftness of ownership. 

"Nearly twenty! You don't say so! She might be fourteen at the presentmoment. Look at that! Look at it!" For Toby was suddenly whizzing like abutterfly across the lawn in a giddy flight that seemed scarcely totouch the ground, the little girl still upon her shoulder, the elderchild standing apart and clapping her hands in delighted admiration. 

"Yes, she is rather like fourteen, " Maud said, with her tender smile. "Doyou know what she did the other day? It was madness of course, and myhusband was very angry with her. I was frightened myself though I havemore faith in her than he has. She climbs like a cat, you know, and sheactually took both those children up to a high bough of the old beechtree; I don't know in the least how she did it. None of the party seemedto think there was any cause for alarm till Jake came on the scene. Hefetched them down with a ladder--all but Toby who went higher and peltedhim with beech nuts till he retreated--at my urgent request. "

"And what happened after that?" questioned Saltash, with his eyes stillupon the dancing figure. "From what I have observed of Jake, I should saythat an ignominious retreat is by no means in his line. "

Maud laughed a little. "Oh, Jake can be generous when he likes. He had itout with her of course, but he wasn't too severe. Ah, look! She is goingto jump the sun dial!"

Sheila turned to her. "Surely you are nervous! If she fell, the littleone might be terribly hurt. "

"She won't fall, " Maud said with confidence. 

And even as she spoke, Toby leapt the sun dial, leaving the ground as abird leaves it, without effort or any sort of strain, and alighting againas a bird alights from a curving flight with absolute freedom and anatural adroitness of movement indescribably pleasant to watch. 

"A very pretty circus trick!" declared the General, and even Bunny'sclouded brow cleared a little though he said nothing. 

"A circus trick indeed!" said Sheila, as if speaking to herself. "How onearth did she do it?"

"She is like a boy in many ways, " said Maud. 

Sheila looked at her. "Yes. She is just like a boy, or at least--" Herlook went further, reached Saltash who lounged on Maud's other side, andfell abruptly away. 

As Toby came up with the two children, all of them flushed and laughing, Toby herself in her white frock looking like a child just out of school, she rose and turned to Bunny. 

"We ought to go now, " she said. "I am going to fetch the car round forDad. "

"I'll do it, " he said. 

But she went with him as he had known she would. They left the group atthe window and moved away side by side in silence as they had walked thatafternoon. 

Saltash stood up and addressed Maud. "I'm going too. Bunny is dining withme tonight. I suppose you won't come?"

She gave him her hand, smiling. "I can't thank you. Ask me another day!You and Bunny will really get on much better without me. "

"Impossible!" he declared gallantly, but he did not press her. 

He turned to the General and took his leave. 

Toby and the two children walked the length of the terrace with him, allchattering at once. She seemed to be in a daring, madcap mood and Saltashlaughed and jested with her as though she had been indeed the child shelooked. Only at parting, when she would have danced away, he suddenlystopped her with a word. 

"Nonette!"

She stood still as if at a word of command; there had been something ofcompulsion in his tone. 

He did not look at her, and the smile he wore was wholly alien to thewords he spoke. 

"Be careful how you go! And don't see Bunny again--till I have seen him!"

A hard breath went through Toby. She stood like a statue, the twochildren clasping her hands. Her blue eyes gazed at him with a widequestioning. Her face was white. 

"Why? Why?" she whispered at length. 

His look flashed before her vision like the grim play of a sword. "Thatgirl remembers you. She will give you away. She's probably at it now. I'll see him--tell him the truth if necessary. Anyhow--leave him to me!"

"Tell him--the truth?" The words came from her like a cry. There was asudden terror in her eyes. He made a swift gesture of dismissal. "Go, child! Go! Whatever I do will make it all right for you. I'm standingby. Don't be afraid! Just--go!"

It was a definite command. She turned to obey, the little girls stillclinging to her. The next moment she was running lightly back with them, and Saltash turned in the opposite direction and passed out of sightround the corner of the house on his way to the stable-yard. 

CHAPTER XIII

THE TRUTH

He went with careless tread as his fashion was, whistling the gay air towhich all England was dancing that season. His swarthy countenance worethe half-mischievous, half-amused expression with which it was his customto confront--and baffle--the world at large. No one knew what lay behindthat facile mask. Only the very few suspected that it hid aught beyond agenial wickedness of a curiously attractive type. 

His spurs rang upon the white stones, and Sheila Melrose, standing besideher father's car in the shadow of some buildings, turned sharply and sawhim. Her face was pale; it had a strained expression. But it changed atsight of him. She regarded him with that look of frozen scorn which onceshe had flung him when they had met in the garish crowd at Valrosa. 

Bunny was stooping over the car, but he became aware of Saltash almost inthe same moment, and stood up straight to face him. Sheila was pale, buthe was perfectly white, and there were heavy drops of perspiration on hisforehead. He looked full at Saltash with eyes of blazing accusation. 

Saltash's face never changed as he came up to the car. He ceased towhistle, but the old whimsical look remained. He seemed unaware of anytension. 

"Car all right?" he asked smoothly. "Can I lend a hand? The general isbeginning to move. "

Sheila turned without a word and got into the car. 

Bunny neither moved nor spoke. He stood like a man paralysed. It wasSaltash who, with that royal air of amusing himself, stooped to thehandle and started the engine. 

The girl at the wheel did not even thank him. She looked beyond. Only ashe stood aside and the car slid forward, she turned stiffly to Bunny. 

"Good-bye!" she said. 

He made a jerky movement. Their eyes met for a single second. "You willwrite?" he said. 

His throat was working spasmodically, the words seemed to come withgigantic effort. She bent her head in answer and passed between themthrough the white gate into the drive that led round to the house. 

Saltash turned with a lightning movement to Bunny. "Walk back with me andwe can talk!" he said. 

Bunny drew sharply back. The movement was one of instinctive recoil. Butstill no words came. He stood staring at Saltash, and he was tremblingfrom head to foot. 

"Don't be an ass now!" Saltash said, and his voice was oddly gentle, evencompassionate. "You've stumbled on a mare's nest. It's all right. I canexplain. "

Bunny controlled himself with a jerk. His face was like death, but hefound his voice. "You can keep your damned lies to yourself, " he said. "I've no use for them. "

The prod of a riding-switch against his shoulder made him start as aspirited animal starts at the touch of a spur. But Saltash only laughed. 

"You'll fight me for that!" he said. 

"I wouldn't touch you!" flung back Bunny. 

"Oh, wouldn't you?" The odd eyes mocked him openly. "Then you withdrawthe insult--with apologies?"

"Apologise--to you!" said Bunny. 

"Or fight!" said Saltash. "I think that would do you more good than theother, but you shall decide. "

"I will do neither, " said Bunny, and turned his back with the words. "I've--done with you. "

"You're wrong!" said Saltash. "You've got to face it, and you won't getthe truth from anyone but me. That girl knows nothing, Bunny!" His voicewas suddenly curt, with that in it which very few ever heard. "Turnaround! Do you hear? Turn round--damn you! I'll kick you if you don't!"

Bunny turned. It was inevitable. They stood face to face. Then Saltash, the mockery gone from his eyes, reached out abruptly and gripped himby the arm. His touch was electric. For that moment--only for thatmoment--he was dangerous. There was something of the spring of a tiger inhis action. 

"You damn fool!" he said, and he spoke between his teeth. "Do you supposeeven I would play such a blackguard's game as that?"

"Let me go!" Bunny said through white lips. "Facts are facts. "

Saltash's hold did not slacken. "Where's Jake?" he said. 

"Jake's away. "

"Confound him! Just when he's wanted!" The ferocity died out of Saltashlike the glow from cinders blown from a furnace. "Well, listen! I swearto you by all that is sacred that you're making a mistake. Sheila hastold you a certain thing that is true, so far as it goes. But you've letyour imagination run away with you. The rest is false. "

He spoke with an emphasis that carried weight, and Bunny was moved inspite of himself. His own fire died down. 

Saltash saw his advantage and pressed it. "If Jake were here, he'd tellyou I was speaking the truth, and you'd believe him. You're on a wrongscent. So far as I'm concerned, you're welcome to follow it to blazes. I'm used to pleasantries of that sort from my friends. But I'm damned ifI'll let that child be tripped for nothing. Do you hear, Bunny?" He shookthe arm he gripped impatiently. "I'll see you in hell first!"

Bunny's mouth twisted with a painful effort to smile. "I'm in hell now, "he said. 

"Why the devil did you listen?" said Saltash. "Look here! We've got tohave this thing out. Send a man along with my horse and walk across thepark with me!"

He had gained his point by sheer insistence, and he knew it. Bunny knewit also and cursed himself for a weak fool as he moved to comply. WithSaltash's blade through his heart, he yet could somehow find it possibleto endure him. 

He went with him in silence, hating the magnetism he found it impossibleto resist. They passed through the shrubberies that skirted the house, and so to the open down. 

Then in his sudden fashion, crudely and vehemently, Saltash began hisdefence. 

"It's not my way, " he said, "to give an answer to any man who questions;but you haven't stooped to question. So I tell you the truth. Sheila sawToby working as a page at the Casino Hotel at Valrosa. That right? Ithought so. It's the whole matter in a nutshell. I must have seen hertoo, but never noticed her till my last night in the place. Then I foundAntonio hammering the poor little beggar out in the garden, and I stoppedit. You'd have done the same. Afterwards, late that night, I went onboard the yacht and found her down in the saloon--a stowaway. The yachthad started. I could have put back. I didn't. You wouldn't have doneeither. She took refuge with me. I sheltered her. She came to me as aboy. I treated her as such. "

"You knew?" flung in Bunny. 

Saltash's grin flashed across his dark features like a meteor through acloudy sky and was gone. "I--suspected, _mon ami_. But--I did not eventell myself. " That part of him that was French--a species of volatilesentimentality--sounded in the words like the echo of a laugh in a minorkey. "I made a valet of her. I suffered her to clean my boots and brushmy clothes. I kept her in order--with this--upon occasion. "

He held up the switch he carried. 

"I don't believe it, " said Bunny bluntly. 

Saltash's shoulders went up. "You please yourself, _mon cher_. I amtelling you the truth. I treated her like a puppy. I was kind to her, butnever extravagantly kind. But I decided--eventually I decided--that itwas time to turn home. No game can last forever. So we returned, and onour last night at sea we were rammed and sunk. Naturally that spoilt--orshall I say somewhat precipitated?--my plans. We were saved, the twoof us together. And then was started that scandalous report of the womanon the yacht. " Again the laughter sounded in his voice. "You see, _monami_, how small a spark can start a conflagration. In self-defence I hadto invent something, and I invented it quickly. I said she was Larpent'sdaughter. I wonder if you would have thought of that. You'd have done itif you had, I'll wager. "

He turned upon the boy who strode in silence by his side with a gleam oftriumph in his eyes, but there was no answering gleam in Bunny's. Hemoved heavily, staring straight before him, his face drawn in hard linesof misery. 

"Well, " Saltash said, "that's all I have done. You now know the truth, simple and unadorned, as Sheila Melrose in her simplicity does not knowit and probably would not comprehend it if she did. "

"Leave her out of it!" said Bunny, in a strangled voice. "It was--theobvious conclusion. "

"Oh, the obvious!" Cynicism undisguised caught up the word. "Only theyoung and innocent can ever really say with any conviction what is theobvious way of blackguards. You don't know it--neither do I. A singledecent impulse on the part of a blackguard can upset all the calculationsof the virtuous. Oh, Bunny, you fool, what do you want to wreck thingsfor at this stage? Can't you see you've got a gift from the gods? Takeit, man, and be thankful that you're considered worthy of it!"

Bunny made a sharp movement of protest. Saltash was looking at him withhalf-humorous compassion as one looks at a child with a damaged toy, andhe was keenly conscious of being at a disadvantage. But though checked, he was not defeated. Saltash had made out a case for himself. He had in ameasure vindicated Toby. But that was not the end of the matter. 

He stopped and faced him. "Why were you so anxious for me to marry her?"he said. "I've got to know that. "

He was instantly aware that Saltash eluded him, even though he seemed tomeet his look as he made reply. "You are quite welcome to know it, _monami_. I chance to take a fatherly interest in you both. "

Bunny flinched a little. Something in the light reply had pierced himthough he could not have said how. "That's all?" he asked rather thickly. 

"That is quite all, " said Saltash, and faintly smiled--the smile of thepractised swordsman behind the blade. 

Bunny stood for some moments regarding him, his boyish face stern andtroubled. Up to that point, against his will, he had believed him; fromit, he believed him no longer. But--he faced the truth however it mightgall him--he was pitted against a skilled fencer, and he was powerless. Experience could baffle him at every turn. 

"Do you tell me you have never realized that she cared for you?" heblurted forth abruptly, and there was something akin to agony in hisutterance of the words. He knew that he was baring his breast for thestroke as he forced them out. 

But Saltash did not strike. Just for an instant he showed surprise. Then--quite suddenly he lowered his weapon. He faced Bunny with a smileof comradeship. 

"Quite honestly, Bunny, " he said, "if I had realized it, it wouldn't havemade any difference. I have no use for sentimental devotion at my age. She has never been more to me than--a puppy that plays with your hand. "

"Ah, " Bunny said, and swung away from him with the words. "I suppose thatis how you treat them all. Women and dogs--they're very much alike. "

"Not in every respect, " said Saltash. "I should say that Toby is anexception anyway. She knows play from earnest. "

"Does she?" said Bunny. He paused a moment, as if trying to concentratehis forces; then he turned to Saltash again. "I'm going back now. I can'tdine with you--though I've no desire to quarrel. But you see--you mustunderstand--that I can never--accept anything from you again. I'msorry--but I can't. "

"What are you going to do?" said Saltash. 

Bunny hesitated, his boyish face a white mask of misery. 

Saltash reached out a second time and touched him lightly, almostcaressingly, with the point of his switch. "What's the matter with you, Bunny?" he said. "Think I've lied to you?"

Bunny met his look. "I don't want to quarrel with you, " he said. "Itisn't--somehow it isn't--worth it. "

"Thanks!" said Saltash, and briefly laughed. "You place my friendship ata pretty high figure then. Tell me what you're going to do!"

"What is it to you what I do?" A quick gleam shone for an instant inBunny's eyes, dispelling the look of stricken misery. "I'm not asking youto help me. "

"I've grasped that, " said Saltash. "But even so, I may be able to lend ahand. As you say, there is not much point in our quarrelling. There'snothing to quarrel about that I can see--except that you've called me aliar for no particular good reason!"

"Do you object to that?" said Bunny. 

Saltash made a careless gesture. "Perhaps---as you say--it isn't worthit. All the same, I've a certain right to know what you propose to do, since, I gather, I have not managed to satisfy you. "

"A right!" flashed Bunny. 

"Yes, a right. " Saltash's voice was suddenly and suavely confident. "Youmay forget--or possibly you may remember--that I gave my protection toNonette on the day she came to me for it, and I have never withdrawnit since. What matters to her--matters to me. "

"I see. " Bunny stood stiffly facing him. "I am responsible to you, am I?"

"That is what I am trying to convey, " said Saltash. 

The fire in Bunny's eyes leapt high for a moment or two, then died downagain. Had Jake been his opponent, he would have flung an open challenge, but somehow Saltash, with whom he had never before striven in his life, was less easy to resist. In some subtle fashion he seemed able to evaderesistance and yet to gain his point. 

He gained his point on this occasion. Almost before he knew it, Bunny hadyielded. 

"I am going to her, " he said, "to ask her for the whole truth--about herpast. "

"Is any woman capable of telling the truth to that extent?" questionedSaltash. 

"I shall know if she doesn't, " said Bunny doggedly. 

"And will that help?" The note of mockery that was never long absent fromhis voice sounded again. "Isn't it possible--sometime--to try to know toomuch? There is such a thing as looking too closely, _mon ami_. And thenwe pay the price. "

"Do you imagine I could ever be satisfied not knowing?" said Bunny. 

Saltash shrugged his shoulders. "I merely suggested that you are goingthe wrong way to satisfy yourself. But that is your affair, not mine. Thegods have sent you a gift, and because you don't know what it is madeof, you are going to pull it to pieces to find out. And presently youwill fling it away because you cannot fit it together again. You don'trealize--you never will realize--that the best things in life are thethings we never see and only dimly understand. "

A vein of sincerity mingled with the banter in his voice, and Bunny wasaware of a curious quality of reverence, of something sacred in a wasteplace. 

It affected him oddly. Convinced though he was that in one point at leastSaltash had sought to deceive him it yet influenced him very strongly inSaltash's favour. Against his judgment, against his will even, he saw himas a friend. 

"Do you mean to tell me, " he said, speaking slowly, his eyes upon theswarthy, baffling countenance, "that you have never even tried to knowwhere she came from--what she is?"

Saltash made a quick gesture as of remonstrance. "_Mon ami_, the last Ihave always known. The first I have never needed to know. "

"Then, " Bunny spoke with difficulty, but his look never wavered, "tellme--as before God--tell me what you believe her to be!"

"What I know her to be, " corrected Saltash, "I will tell you--certainly. She is a child who has looked into hell, but she is still--a child. "

"What do you mean?" questioned Bunny. 

Saltash's eyes, one black, one grey, suddenly flashed a direct challengeinto his own. "I mean, " he said, "that the flame has scorched her, but ithas never actually touched her. "

"You know that?" Bunny's voice was hoarse. There was torture in his eyes. "Man--for God's sake--the truth!"

"It is the truth, " Saltash said. 

"How do you know it? You've no proof. How can you be sure?" He could nothelp the anguish of his voice. The words fell harsh and strained. 

"How do I know it?" Saltash echoed the words sharply. "What proof? Bunny, you fool, do you know so little of the world--of women--as that? Whatproof do you need? Just--look into her eyes!"

A queer note of passion sounded in his own voice, and it told Bunny veryclearly that he was grappling with the naked truth at last. It arrestedhim in a moment. He suddenly found that he could go no further. Therewas no need. 

Impulsively, with an inarticulate word of apology, he thrust out hishand. Saltash's came to meet it in a swift, hard grip. 

"Enough?" he asked, with that odd, smiling grimace of his that revealedso little. 

And, "Yes, enough!" Bunny said, looking him straight in the face. 

They parted almost without words a few minutes later. There was no moreto be said. 

CHAPTER XIV

THE LAST CARD

Saltash dined alone that night. He was in a restless mood andpreoccupied, scarcely noticing what was put before him, pushing away thewine untasted. In the end he rose from the table almost with a gesture ofdisgust. 

"I'm going to smoke on the ramparts, " he said to the decorous butler whowaited upon him. "If anyone should call to see me, let them wait in themusic-room!"

"Very good, my lord! And where would you like to take coffee?" enquiredthe man sedately. 

Saltash laughed. "Not on the ramparts--emphatically. I'll have mercy onyou to that extent. Put it on the spirit-lamp in the music-room, andleave it! You needn't sit up, any of you. I'll put out the lights. "

"Very good, my lord. "

The man withdrew, and Saltash chose a cigar. An odd grimace drew hisfeatures as he lighted it. He had the look of a man who surveys his lastcard and knows himself a loser. Though he went out of the room and upthe great staircase to the music-room with his head up and completeindifference in his carriage, his eyelids were slightly drawn. He did notlook as if he had enjoyed the game. 

A single red lamp lighted the music-room, and the long apartment lookeddim and ghostly. He stood for a moment as he entered it and looked round, then with a scarcely perceptible lift of the shoulders he passed straightthrough to the curtain that hung before the door leading to the turret. The darkness of the place gaped before him, and he turned back with amuttered word and recrossed the room. There were Persian rugs upon thefloor, and his feet made no sound. He went to the mantel-piece and, feeling along it, found a small electric torch. The light of it flaredbefore him as he returned. The door yielded to his touch and swung shutbehind him. He passed into vault-like silence. 

The stone steps gave back the sound of his tread as he mounted, witheerie, wandering echoes. The grey walls glimmered with a ghostlydesolation around him. Halfway up, he stopped to flick the ash from hiscigar, and laughed aloud. But the echoes of his laughter sounded likevoices crying in the darkness. He went on more swiftly, like a phantomimprisoned and seeking escape. The echoes met him and fell away behindhim. The loneliness was like a curse. The very air felt dead. 

He reached the top of the turret at last, and the heavy door that gaveupon the ramparts. With a sound that was almost a gasp, he pushed itopen, and passed out into the open air. 

A full moon was shining, and his acres lay below him--a wonderful picturein black and silver. He came to the first gap in the battlements, mountedthe parapet, and stood there with a hand resting on each side. 

The wash of the sea came murmurously through the September silence. His restless eyes flashed hither and thither over the quiet scene, takingin every detail, lingering nowhere. The pine trees stirred in thedistance below him, seeming to whisper together, and an owl hooted with aweird persistence down by the lake. It was like the calling of a humanvoice--almost like a cry of distress. Then it ceased, and the trees werestill again. 

The spell of the silence fell like the falling of a curtain. Theloneliness crept about his heart. 

He took the cigar from his mouth and spoke, ironically, grimly. 

"There is your kingdom, Charles Rex!" he said. 

He turned with the words and leaped down upon the narrow walk between thebattlements. The owl began to call again, but the desolation remained. Hepaced forward with his hands behind him, his head bent. No one could seehim here. The garment of mockery could be flung aside. He was like aprisoner tramping the stone walls from which he could never escape. 

He paused once to toss away his cigar, but he did not look out again overthe fair prospect of his lands. He was looking at other things, seeingthe vast emptiness of a life that had never been worth while stretchingbehind and before him. Like a solitary traveller pausing in the heart ofthe desert, he stood to view the barrenness around him. 

He had travelled far, had pursued many a quest with ardour; but theardour had all gone out of him now. Only the empty solitude remained. Hehad lived a life of fevered variety, he had drunk deep of many waters;but he had never been satisfied. And now it seemed to him that all he hadever looked upon, all he had ever achieved, was mirage. Nothing of allthat he had ever striven for was left. The fruit had turned to ashes inhis mouth, and no spring remained whereat to quench his thirst. 

Perhaps few men have ever realized the utter waste of wickedness asCharles Rex realized it that night. He met it whichever way he turned. Togratify the moment's whim had ever been his easy habit. If a generousimpulse had moved him, he had gratified that also. But it had never beenhis way to sacrifice himself--until a certain night when a child had cometo him, wide-eyed and palpitating like a driven bird, and had soughtshelter and protection at his hands. 

That, very curiously, had been the beginning of a new era in his life. Ithad appealed to him as nothing had ever appealed before. He had nevertasted--or even desired--the Dead Sea fruit again. Something had enteredhis being on that night which he had never been able to cast out, and allother things had been dwarfed to insignificance. 

He faced the fact as he paced his castle walls. The relish had gone outof his life. He was gathering what he had sown, and the harvest wasbarren indeed. 

Time passed; he walked unheeding. If he spent the whole night on theramparts, there was no one to know or care. It was better than tossingsleepless under a roof. He felt as if a roof would suffocate him. Butsheer physical weariness began to oppress even his elastic frame at last. He awoke to the fact that he was dead tired. 

He sat down in an embrasure between the battlements, and drifted into thenumb state between waking and sleeping in which visions are born. For aspace nothing happened, then quite suddenly, rising as it were out ofa void, a presence entered his consciousness, reached and touched hisspirit. Intangibly, but quite unmistakably, he was aware of the summons, of a voice that spoke within his soul. 

He lifted his head and looked about him. Emptiness, stark emptiness, wasall he saw. Yet, in a moment, as though a hand had beckoned, he arose. Without a backward glance he traversed the distance that lay betweenhim and the turret-door. He went through it into utter darkness, and inutter darkness began the descent. 

A shaft of moonlight smote through a slit in the stone wall as he roundedthe corner of the stair. It lay like a shining sword across his path, andfor a second he paused. Then he passed over it, sure-footed andconfident, and plunged again into darkness. When he reached the end ofthe descent, he was breathing heavily, and his eyes were alight with astrange fire. He pulled upon the door and put aside the thick curtainwith the swift movements of a man who can brook no delay. He passed intothe long, dim room beyond with its single red lamp burning at the farend. He prepared to pass on to the door that led out upon the gallery andso to the grand staircase. But before he had gone half-a-dozen paces hestopped. It was no sound that arrested, no visible circumstance of anysort. Yet, as if at a word of command, he halted. His quick look sweptaround the room like the gleam of a rapier, and suddenly he swung uponhis heel, facing that still, red light. 

Seconds passed before he moved again. Then swiftly and silently he walkedup the room. Close to the lamp was a deep settee on which the spots of aleopard skin showed in weird relief. At one end of the settee, againstthe leopard skin, something gold was shining. Saltash's look was fixedupon it as he drew near. 

He reached the settee treading noiselessly. He stood beside it, lookingdown. And over his dark face with its weary lines and cynical mouth, itsmelancholy and its bitterness, there came a light such as neither man norwoman had ever seen upon it before. For there before him, curled up likea tired puppy, her tumbled, golden hair lying in ringlets over theleopard skin, was Toby, asleep in the dim, red lamplight. 

For minutes he stood and gazed upon her before she awoke. For minutesthat strange glory came and went over his watching face. He did not stir, did not seem even to breathe. But the fact of his presence must havepierced her consciousness at last, for in the end quite quietly, supremely naturally, the blue eyes opened and fixed upon him. 

"Hullo!" said Toby sleepily. "Time to get up?"

And then, in a moment, she had sprung upright on the couch, swift dismayon her face. 

"I--I thought we were on the yacht! I--I--I never meant to go to sleephere! I came to speak to you, sir. I wanted to see you. "

He put a restraining hand upon her thin young shoulder, and his touchvibrated as with some unknown force controlled. 

"All right, Nonette!" he said, and his voice had the same quality; it wasreassuring but oddly unsteady. "Sorry I kept you waiting. "

She looked at him. Her face was quivering. "I've had--a hell of a time, "she said pathetically. "Been here hours--thought you'd never come. Yourman--your man said I wasn't to disturb you. "

"Damn the fool!" said Saltash. 

She broke into a breathless laugh. "That's--that's just what I said. ButI thought--I thought perhaps--you'd rather--rather I waited. " Sheshivered suddenly. "I don't like this place. Can you take me somewhereelse?"

He bent lower, put his hand under her elbow and helped her to herfeet. She came up from the couch with a spring, and stood before him, half-daring and half-shy. 

Saltash kept his hold upon her arm, and turned her towards the wallbeside the tall mantel-piece. She went with him readily enough, watching, eager-eyed, as he stretched his free hand up to the oak panelling. 

"Now I'm going to find out all your secrets!" she said boyishly. 

"Not quite all, " said Saltash. 

There came the click of a spring and the panel slid to one side, leavinga long, narrow opening before them. Toby glanced up at him and, with asmall, nestling movement, slipped within the circle of his arm. Ittightened upon her in an instant, and she laughed again, a quivering, exultant laugh. 

"I'm glad you've come, " she said. 

They paused on the edge of darkness, but there was no hesitation aboutToby. She was all athrill with expectancy. Then in a flash the roombefore them was illuminated, and they entered. 

It was a strange chamber, panelled, built in the shape of a cone. A glassdome formed its roof, and there was no window besides. The lights werecunningly concealed behind a weirdly coloured fresco of Oriental figures. But one lamp alone on a small table burned with a still red glow. Thislamp was supported on the stuffed skin of a hooded cobra. 

Toby's eyes were instantly drawn towards it. They shone with excitement. Again she glanced up at the man beside her. 

"What a wonderful place!"

"Better than the music-room?" suggested Saltash. 

"Oh, yes, far better. " Her shining eyes sought his. "It might be yourcabin on the yacht. "

He stretched a hand behind him and again the spring clicked. Then he drewher forward. They trod on tiger skins. Everywhere were tiger skins, onthe floor and on a deep low settee by the table which was the only otherfurniture the room possessed. Toby was clinging to the arm that held her, clinging very closely. There was unspoken entreaty in her hold. For therewas something about Saltash at the moment, something unfamiliar andunfathomable that frightened her. His careless drollery, his two-edgedironies, were nought to her; but his silence was a barrier unknown thatshe could not pass. She could only cling voicelessly to the support hehad not denied her. 

He brought her to the settee and stood still. His face was strangelygrim. 

"Well--Toby?" he said. 

She twisted in his hold and faced him, but she kept his arm wound closeabout her, her hand tight gripped on his. "Are you--angry with me forcoming?" she asked him quiveringly. "I--had to come. "

He looked down into her eyes. "_Bien, petite!_ Then you need--a friend, "he said. 

Her answering look was piteous. "I need--you, " she said. 

One of the old gay smiles flashed across his face. He seemed to challengeher to lightness. The grimness went out of his eyes like a shadow. 

"And so you have come, _ma mignonette_, at the dead of night--at the riskof your reputation--and mine--"

Toby made an excruciating grimace, and broke impulsively in upon him. "Itwasn't the dead of night when I started. I've been waiting hours--hours. But it doesn't matter. I've found you--at last. And you can't send meaway now--like you did before--because--because--well, I've no one to goto. You might have done it if you'd come down earlier. But you can't doit--now. " Her voice thrilled on a high note of triumph. "You've got tokeep me--now. I've come--to stay. "

"What?" said Saltash. He bent towards her, looking closely into her face. "Got to keep you, have I? What's that mean? Has Bunny been a brute toyou? I could have sworn I'd made him understand. "

She laughed in answer. "Bunny! I didn't wait to see him!"

"What?" Saltash said again. 

She reached up a quick, nervous hand and laid it against his breast. Hereyes, wide and steadfast, never flinched from his. "I've come--to stay, "she repeated. And then, after a moment, "It's all right. I left a notebehind for Bunny. I told him I wasn't going back. "

He caught her hand tightly into his. His hold was drawing her, and sheyielded herself to it still with that quivering laughter that was somehowmore eloquent than words, more piteous than tears. 

Saltash spoke, below his breath. "What am I going to do with you?" hesaid. 

Her arms reached up to him suddenly. Perhaps it was that for which shehad waited. "You're going--to keep me--this time, " she told himtremulously. "Oh, why did you ever send me away--when I belonged toyou--and to no one else? You meant to give me my chance? What chance haveI of anything but hell and damnation away from you? No, listen! Let mespeak! Hear me first!" She uttered the words with passionate insistence. "I'm not asking anything of you--only to be with you. I'll be to youwhatever you choose me to be--always--always. I will be your valet, yourslave, your--plaything. I will be--the dust under your feet. But I mustbe with you. You understand me. No one else does. No one else ever can. "

"Are you sure you understand yourself?" Saltash said. 

His arms had closed about her. He was holding her in a vital clasp. Buthis restless look did not dwell upon her. It seemed rather to be seekingsomething beyond. 

Toby's hands met and gripped each other behind his neck. She clung to himwith an almost frenzied closeness. 

"You can't send me away!" she told him brokenly. "If you do, I shall die. And I'm asking such a little--such a very little. "

"You don't know what you're asking, child, " he said, and though he heldher fast pressed to him his voice had the sombre ring of a man whobattles with misgiving. "You have never known. That's the hell of it. "

"I do know!" she flung back almost fiercely. "I know--all I need toknow--of most things. I know--very well--" her breath came quickly, butstill her eyes remained upraised--"what would have happened--what wasbound to happen--if the yacht had never gone down. I wasn't afraid then. I'm not now. You're the only man on this earth that I'd say it to. I hatemen--most men! But to you--to you--" a sudden sob caught her voice, shepaused to steady it--"to you I just want to be whatever you're needingmost in life. And when I can't be that to you any longer--I'll just dropout--as I promised--and you--you shall never know a thing about it. That I swear. "

His look came swiftly to her. The blue eyes were swimming in tears. Hemade a sudden gesture as of capitulation, and the strain went out of hislook. His arms tightened like springs about her. He spoke lightly, jestingly. 

"_Bien!_ Shall I tell what you shall be to me, _mignonne_?" he said, andsmiled down at her with his royal air of confidence. 

She trembled a little and was silent, realizing that he had suddenlyleapt to a decision, fearing desperately what that decision might be. Hisold baffling mask of banter had wholly replaced the sombreness, but shewas aware of a force behind it that gripped her irresistibly. She couldnot speak in answer. 

"I will tell you, " he said, and his dark, face laughed into hers with amerriment half-mischievous, half-kindly. "I am treading the path ofvirtue, _mignonne_, and uncommon lonely I'm finding it. You shall relievethe monotony. We will be virtuous together--for a while. You shall be--mywife!"

He stooped with the words and ere she knew it his lips were on her own. But his kiss, though tender, was as baffling as his smile. It was not thekiss of a lover. 

She gasped and shrank away. "Your--wife! You--you--you're joking! Howcould I--I--be your wife?"

"You and none other!" he declared gaily. "Egad, it's the very thing forus! Why did I never think of it before? I will order the state-coach atonce. We will go to town--elope and be married before the world beginsto buzz. What are you frightened at, sweetheart? Why this alarm? Wouldn'tyou rather be my wife than--the dust beneath my feet?"

"I--I don't know, " faltered Toby, and hid her face from the dancingraillery in his eyes. 

His hold was close and sheltering, but he laughed at her without mercy. "Does the prospect make you giddy? You will soon get over that. You willtake the world by storm, _mignonne_. You will be the talk of the town. "

"Oh, no!" breathed Toby. "No, I couldn't!"

"What?" he jested. "You are going to refuse my suit?"

She turned and clung to him with a passionate, even fierce intensity, butshe did not lift her face again to his. Her voice came muffled againsthis breast. "I could never refuse you--anything. "

"_Eh, bien!_ Then all is well!" he declared. "My bride will hold her ownwherever she goes, save with her husband. And to him she will yield herwifely submission at all times. Do you know what they will say--all ofthem--when they hear that Charles Rex is married at last?"

"What?" whispered Toby apprehensively. 

He bent his head, still laughing. "Shall I tell you? Can't you guess?"

"No. Tell me!" she said. 

He touched the soft ringlets of her hair with his lips. "They will say, 'God help his wife!' _mignonne_. And I--I shall answer 'Amen'. "

She lifted her face suddenly and defiantly, her eyes afire. "Do you knowwhat I shall say if they do?" she said. 

"What?" said Saltash, his own eyes gleaming oddly. 

"I shall tell them, " said Toby tensely, "to--to--to go to blazes!"

He grimaced his appreciation. "Then they will begin to pity the husband, _chérie_. "

She held up her lips to his, childishly, lovingly. "I will be good, " shesaid. "I will be good. I will never say such things again. "

He kissed the trembling lips again, lightly, caressingly. "Oh, don't betoo good!" he said. "I couldn't live up to it. You shall say what youlike--do what you like. And--you shall be my queen!"

She caught back another sob. Her clinging arms tightened. "And you willbe--what you have always been, " she said--"my king--my king--my king!"

In the silence that followed the passionate words, Charles Rex verygently loosened the clinging arms, and set her free. 

PART IV

CHAPTER I

THE WINNING POST

"I never thought it would be like this, " said Toby. 

She spoke aloud, though she was alone. She stood at an immense window onthe first floor of a busy Paris hotel and stared down into the teemingcourtyard below. Her fair face wore a whimsical expression that was halfof amusement and half of discontent. She looked absurdly young, almostchildish; but her blue eyes were unmistakably wistful. 

Below her seethed a crowd of vehicles of every description and the babelthat came up to her was as the roar of a great torrent. It seemed tosweep away all coherent thought, for she smiled as she gazed downwardsand her look held interest in the busy scene even though the hint ofmelancholy lingered. There was certainly plenty to occupy her, and it wasnot in her nature to be bored. 

But yet at the opening of a door in the room behind her, she turned veryswiftly, and in a moment her face was alight with ardent welcome. 

"Ah! Here you are!" she said. 

He came forward in his quick, springy fashion, his odd eyes laughingtheir gay, unstable greeting into hers. He took the hands she held out tohim, and bending, lightly kissed them. 

"Have you been bored? _Mais non!_ I have not been so long gone. Why areyou not still resting, _chérie_, as I told you?"

She looked at him, and still--though her eyes laughed their gladness--thewistfulness remained. "I am--quite rested, _monseigneur_. And thetiredness--quite gone. And now you are going to take me to see the sightsof Paris?"

"Those of them you don't know?" suggested Saltash. 

She nodded. "I don't know very many. I never went very far. I wasafraid. "

He twisted his hand through her arm, and his fingers closed upon herwrist. "You are not afraid--with me?" he questioned. 

Her eyes answered him before her voice. "Never, _monseigneur_. "

"Why do you call me that?" said Saltash. 

She coloured at the abrupt question. "It suits you. "

He made his monkeyish grimace, and suddenly dropped his eyes to theblue-veined wrist in his grasp. "Are you happy, _mignonne_?" he askedher, still obviously in jesting mood. 

Toby's eyes dropped also. She mutely nodded. 

"The truth, Nonette?" His look flashed over her; his tone was imperious. 

She nodded again. "I always tell you--the truth. "

He began to laugh. "_Mais vraiment_! I had not thought that likely. Thenyou do not want to leave me--yet?"

"Leave you!" Her eyes came up to his in wide amazement. "I!"

"We have been married three days, " he reminded her, with comicallyworking brows. "And I--have I not already begun to leave you--to neglectyou?"

"I--I--I never expected--anything else, " stammered Toby, suddenlyaverting her face. 

He patted her cheek with careless kindliness. "How wise of you, my dear!How wise! Then you are not yet--sufficiently _ennuyée_ to desire to leaveme?"

"Why--why do you ask?" questioned Toby. 

There was a species of malicious humour about him that made her uneasy. Saltash in a mischievous mood was not always easy to restrain. He did notimmediately reply to her question, and she turned with a hint of panicand tightly clasped his arm. 

"It is--you who are--_ennuyé_!" she said, with piteous eyes upraised. 

He flicked her cheek with his thumb, his odd eyes gleaming. "Not so, _Miladi_ Saltash! For me--the game is just begun. But--should you desireto leave me--the opportunity is yours. A knight has arrived to therescue--a very puissant knight!"

"A knight!" gasped Toby, trembling. "Ah! Tell me what you mean!"

His look was openly mocking. "A knight in gaiters!" he told herlightly. "A knight who bears--or should bear--a horsewhip in place ofa sword--that is, if I know him aright!"

"Jake!" she gasped incredulously. 

He laughed afresh. "Even so! Jake! Most worthy--and most obtrusive! Whatshall we do with him, lady mine? Slay him--or give him a feed and sendhim home?"

She stared at him, aghast. "You--you--you are joking!" she stammered. 

"I always joke when I am most serious, " Saltash assured her. 

"Oh, don't!" She clung closer to his arm. "What shall we do? He--he can'tdo anything, can he? We--we--we really are married, aren't we?"

Saltash's most appalling grimace fled like a hunted goblin across hisface. "Married? Heavens, child! What more do you want? Haven't you seenit--actually seen it--in our greatest London daily? And can a Londondaily lie? You may have dreamed the wedding, but that paragraph--thatparagraph--it takes a genius of the first literary degree to dream aparagraph, though it may only need quite an ordinary fool to write it!Why, what is the matter? What is it? Did you see something? Not a mouse?Not a beetle? I prithee, not a beetle!"

For Toby had suddenly hidden her face against his shoulder and there wasactual panic in the clinging of her arms. He laid a hand upon her head, and patted it lightly, admonishingly. 

She did not speak for a second or two, only gulped with desperate effortat self-restraint. Then, at length, in a muffled voice, "Don't let himtake me away!" she besought him shakily. "You--you--you've promised tokeep me--now. "

"But, of course I'm keeping you, " said Saltash. "It's what I did it for. It's the very essence of the game. Cheer up, Nonette! I'm not partingwith any of my goods, worldly or otherwise, this journey. "

"You are sure?" whispered Toby. "Sure?"

"Sure of what?" He bent swiftly, and for a second, only a second, hislips touched her hair. 

"Sure you--don't--want to?" came in a gasp from Toby, as she burrowed alittle deeper. 

"Oh, that!" Saltash stood up again, and his face was sardonic, for themoment almost grim. "Yes, quite sure of that, my dear. Moreover, --it willamuse me to meet the virtuous Jake on his own ground for once. A newsensation, Nonette! Will you help me to face him? Or do you prefer themore early-Victorian _rôle_ of the lady who retires till the combat isover and then emerges to reward the winner?"

She lifted her head at that, and uttered a scoffing little laugh, withdrawing herself abruptly from his support. Her pointed chin went upwith a hint of defiance. All signs of agitation were gone. "I'll stay andhelp you, " she said. 

He made her an elaborate bow. "Then we will ring up the curtain. Icongratulate you, madam, upon your spirit. I trust the interview will nottry your fortitude too far. Remember, should your feminine ears beshocked by anything that may pass between us, it is up to you to retireat any moment. "

Toby's blue eyes caught sudden fire. She broke into an unexpectedchuckle. "I do not think I am likely to retire for that reason, _monseigneur_, " she said. "Where is he? How did you know he was coming?"

"Because he is already here, " said Saltash. "I passed him at the office, making enquiries. He had his back to me, but there is no mistaking thatbull-neck of his. Ah!" He turned his head sharply. "I hear a stepoutside! Sit down, _mignonne_! Sit down and be dignified!"

But Toby's idea of dignity was to sit on the corner of the table andswing one leg. If any apprehension lingered in her mind, she concealed itmost successfully. She looked like an alert and mischievous boy. 

There came a knock at the door, and for a moment her eyes sought Saltash. He grinned back derisively, and pulled out his cigarette-case. "_Entrez!_" he called. 

The door opened with a flourish. A waiter entered with a card. 

Saltash barely looked at him. His eyes flashed beyond to the opendoorway. "You can come in, " he remarked affably. "We've been expectingyou for some time. "

Jake entered. His square frame seemed to fill the space between thedoor-posts. He was empty-handed, but there was purpose--grim purpose--inevery line of him. 

Saltash dismissed the waiter with a jerk of the eyebrows. He was utterlyunabashed, amazingly self-assured. He met Jake's stern eyes with cheeryeffrontery. 

"Quite like old times!" he commented. "The only difference being, my goodJake, that on this occasion I have reached the winning-post first. "

Jake's look went beyond him to the slight figure by the table. Toby wason her feet. Her face was flushed, but her eyes were wide and defiant. Heregarded her steadily for several seconds before, very deliberately, hetransferred his attention to Saltash, who nonchalantly awaited his turn, tapping the cigarette on the lid of his case with supreme indifference. 

Jake spoke, his voice soft as a woman's, yet strangely dominating. "Ishould like two minutes alone with you--if you can spare them. "

Saltash was smiling. His glance shot towards Toby, and came back to Jakewith a certain royal arrogance that held its own without effort. "Inother words, you wish--Lady Saltash--to leave us?" he questioned easily. 

"I'm not going, " said Toby quickly, with nervous decision. 

Her hands were tightly clasped in front of her. She stood as one strungto the utmost limit of resistance. 

Jake did not again look at her. His eyes were upon Saltash, and theynever wavered. "Alone with you, " he repeated, with grim insistence. 

Saltash regarded him curiously. His mouth twitched mockingly as he putthe cigarette between his lips. He held out the case to Jake in muteinvitation. 

Jake's look remained fixed. He ignored the action, and the case snappedshut in Saltash's hand with a sharp sound that seemed to denote amomentary exasperation. But Saltash's face still retained the monkey-likeexpression of calculated mischief habitual to it. 

"Bunny with you?" he enquired casually, producing a match-box. 

"No. " Very quietly came Jake's answer. "I have come to see you--alone. "

Saltash lighted his cigarette, and blew a careless cloud of smoke. "Areyou proposing to shoot me?" he asked, after a pause. 

"No, " said Jake grimly. "Shooting's too good for you--men like you. "

Saltash laughed, and blew another cloud of smoke. "That may be why I havesurvived so long, " he remarked. "I don't see the horsewhip either. Jake, my friend, you are not rising to the occasion with becoming enthusiasm. Any good offering you a drink to stimulate your energies?"

"None whatever, " said Jake, still very quietly. "I don't go--till I havewhat I came for--that's all. Neither do you!"

"I--see!" said Saltash. 

An odd little gleam that was almost furtive shone for a second in hiseyes and was gone. He turned and crossed the room to Toby. 

"My dear, " he said, "I think this business will be more quickly settledif you leave us. "

She looked at him piteously. He took her lightly by the arm, and led herto a door leading to an adjoining room. "By the time you have smoked onecigarette, " he said, "I shall be with you again. "

She turned with an impulsive attempt to cling to him. "You'll--keep me?"she said, through trembling lips. 

He made a royal gesture that frustrated her with perfect courtesy. "Areyou not my wife?" he said. 

He opened the door for her, and she had no choice but to go through. Shewent swiftly, without another glance, and Saltash closed the door behindher. 

CHAPTER II

THE VILLAIN SCORES

"Now, sir!" said Saltash, and turned. His tone was brief; the smile hadgone from his face. He came to Jake with a certain haughtiness, and stoodbefore him. 

Jake squared his shoulders. "So--you've married her!" he said. 

"I have. " There was a note of challenge in the curt rejoinder. Saltash'sbrows were drawn. 

"I should like to see--proof of that, " Jake said, after a moment. 

"The devil you would!" Again the hot gleam shone in the odd eyes. Saltashstood for a second in the attitude of a man on the verge of violence. Then, contemptuously, he relaxed. 

He lounged back against the mantel-piece and smoked his cigarette. "Thedevil you would, Jake!" he said again, in a tone so different that thewords might have been uttered in another language. "And why--if one bepermitted to ask?"

"I think you know why, " Jake said. 

"Oh, do I? You virtuous people are always the first to suspect evil. "Saltash spoke with deliberate cynicism. "And suppose the marriage is notgenuine--as you so politely hint--what then, my worthy Jake? What then?"

Jake faced him unwaveringly. "If not, " he said, "she goes back with me. "

Saltash's eyes suddenly flashed to his, but he did not alter hisposition. "Sure of that?" he asked casually. 

"Sure!" said Jake. 

"And if I refuse to part with her? If she refuses to go?"

"Either way, " said Jake immovably. 

"And why?" Saltash straightened suddenly. "Tell me why! What in hell hasit got to do with you?"

"This, " said Jake. "Just the fact that she's a girl needing protectionand that I--can give it. "

"Are you so sure of that?" gibed Saltash. "I think you forget, don't you, that I was her first protector? No one--not even Bunny--could have gotnear her without my consent. "

"She was your find right enough, " Jake admitted. "I always knewthat--knew from the first you'd faked up a lie about her. But I hoped--Ieven believed--that you were doing it for her sake--not your own. "

"Well?" flung Saltash. "And if I was?"

"And if you were, " said Jake, "it was a thing worth doing--worth stickingto. Bunny is a respectable citizen. He'd have married her--made herhappy. "

Saltash's mouth twisted. "Bunny had his chance--missed it, " he said. "He'll know better next time. I'm not troubling about Bunny. He didn'tdeserve to win. "

"And so you decided to play him a damn trick and cut him out?" said Jake. 

Saltash snapped his fingers. "I did my best for him, but I couldn't pushhim through against his will. Why didn't he come after her when he foundshe had gone? Didn't he know where to look?"

"Just because he knew, " said Jake. 

Saltash moved abruptly. "Damnation! You shall have what you've come for. If seeing is believing--then you shall believe--that even CharlesBurchester can protect a girl at a pinch from the snares of thevirtuous!" He pulled an envelope from an inner pocket, and flung it witha passionate gesture upon the table in front of Jake. 

Jake's eyes, red-brown and steady, marked the action and contemplated himthereafter for several silent seconds. Then, at length, very slowly. "Maybe--after all--I don't need to see, my lord, " he said. "Maybe--I'vemade a mistake. "

He spoke with the utmost quietness, but his manner had undergone achange. It held a hint of deference. He made no move to touch theenvelope upon the table. 

Saltash's brows went up. "Satisfied?" he questioned curtly. 

"On that point, yes. " Jake continued to look at him with a close andsearching regard. 

"Not on all points?" Saltash flicked the ash from his cigarette with amovement of exasperation. 

Jake turned and slowly walked to the window. There fell a silence betweenthem. He stood staring down upon the scene that Toby had gazed upon alittle earlier, but he saw nothing of it. The hardness had gone out ofhis face, and a deep compassion had taken its place. 

Saltash continued to smoke for several restless seconds. Finally, hedropped the end of his cigarette into a tray and spoke. 

"Anything more I can do for you?"

Jake wheeled in his massive way, and came back. "Say!" he said slowly. "I'm kind of sorry for that little girl. "

Saltash made an abrupt movement that passed unexplained. "Well?" he said. 

Jake faced him squarely. "If I'd been at home, " he said, "this wouldnever have happened. Or if it had happened--if it had happened--" Hepaused. 

"You'd have made a point of coming to the wedding?" suggested Saltash. 

Jake passed the suggestion by. "I'd have known how to deal with it, anyway. Now, it seems, it's too late. "

Saltash took up the envelope from the table, and returned it to hispocket. "I believe you'd have been better pleased if I hadn't marriedher, " he observed. 

Jake shook his head. "I'd be better pleased--maybe--if I knew for certainwhat you did it for. "

"My good Jake. I don't go in for aims and motives, " protested Saltash. "Call it a marriage of convenience if you feel that way! It's all thesame to me. "

Jake's brows contracted. "I'd give a good deal not to call it that, " hesaid. 

Saltash laughed. "Call it what you like--a whim--a fancy--the craze ofthe moment! You needn't waste any sentiment over it. I'm sorry aboutBunny, but, if he hadn't been an ass, it wouldn't have happened. Youcan't blame me for that anyhow. You did the same thing yourself. "

"I!" The red-brown eyes suddenly shone. "I don't follow you, " said Jakedeliberately. 

"You married your wife to deliver her from--a fate you deemedunsuitable. " Saltash's teeth showed for a moment in answer to the gleamin Jake's eyes. "You did it in an almighty hurry too. "

"But--damn it--she needed protection!" Jake said. "And--at least--I lovedher!"

Saltash bowed. "Hence your motive was an entirely selfish one. Mywife--_au contraire_--is quite unhampered by a husband's devotion. I havenever made love to her--yet. I have only--protected her. "

He paused, and suddenly the old monkey-like look of mischief flashed backinto his face. 

"I lay claim to the higher virtue, Jake, " he said. "Heaven alone knowshow long it will last. I've never scored over you before, but on thisoccasion--" He stopped with a careless wave of the hand. 

"Yes, " Jake said. "On this occasion--you've got me beat. But--I didn'tfight for my own sake, nor yet for the off chance of downing you, which Iown would have given me considerable pleasure once. It was for thechild's sake. " An unwonted note of entreaty suddenly sounded in hisvoice. "I don't know what your game is, my lord; but she's yours now--tomake--or break. For God's sake--be decent to her--if you can!"

"If I can!" Saltash clapped a sudden hand upon Jake's shoulder, butthough the action was obviously a kindly one, it held restraint as well. "Do you think I don't know how to make a woman happy, Jake? Think Ihaven't studied the subject hard enough? Think I'm a fool at the game?"

Jake looked him straight in the face. "No. I don't think you a fool, mylord, " he said. "But I reckon there's one or two things that even you mayhave to learn. You've never yet made any woman permanently happy. There'sonly one way of doing that. Bunny would have done it--and won out too. But you--I'm not so sure of you. "

"Oh, Bunny would have won out, would he?" Saltash's hand closed like atrap upon Jake's shoulder. There was a challenging quality in his smile. 

Jake nodded. "Yes. Bunny's got the real stuff in him. Bunny would haveput her happiness before his own always. He would have given her the lovethat lasts. It's the only thing worth having, after all. "

"Well?" The challenge became more marked upon the swarthy face. The smilehad vanished. "And you think I am incapable of that?"

"I haven't said so, " Jake said sombrely. 

"But it's up to me to prove it?" There was a certain insistence inSaltash's tone, albeit a mocking spirit looked out of his eyes. 

Jake faced it unwaveringly for several seconds. Then: "Yes. I reckon itis up to you, " he said, and turned deliberately away. "I'm going now. "

"All right. " Saltash's hand fell. "I give you credit for one thing, Jake, " he said. "You haven't offered to take her off my hands. For thatpiece of forbearance I congratulate you. Do you want to see her beforeyou go?"

"Not specially, " said Jake. 

Saltash's eyes followed him with a look half-malicious, half-curious. "Nor to send her a message?" he questioned. 

"No. " Jake's tone was brief. 

"You're not wanting to offer her a safe harbour when her presentanchorage fails her?" jested Saltash. 

Jake turned at the door as one goaded. "When that happens, " he said verydeliberately. "I guess she'll be past any help from me, poor kid!"

Saltash's black brows descended. He scowled hideously for a moment. Then, "I congratulate you again, " he said coolly. "You are just beginning tosee things--as they are. "

Jake made a brief sound that might have indicated contempt and opened thedoor. He went out with finality, and Saltash listened to the tread of hisretreating feet with a grin of sheer cynical triumph. 

"So, " he said lightly, "the villain scores at last!"

But as he turned towards the other room, the cynicism passed from hisface. He stood for a moment or two motionless at the door; then brokeinto a careless whistle and opened it. 

CHAPTER III

A WIFE IS DIFFERENT

"Has he gone?" said Toby eagerly. She came into the room with a swiftglance around. "What did he say? What did he do? Was he angry?"

"I really don't know, " Saltash said, supremely unconcerned. "He went. That's the main thing. "

Toby looked at him critically. "You were so quiet, both of you. Was therea row?"

"Were you listening?" said Saltash. 

She coloured, and smiled disarmingly. "Part of the time--no, all thetime. But I didn't hear anything--at least not much. Nothing thatmattered. Are you angry?"

He frowned upon her, but his eyes reassured. "I told you to smoke acigarette. "

"I'm sorry, " said Toby meekly. "Shall I smoke one now?"

He pinched her ear. "No. We'll go out. You've got to shop. First though, I've got something for you. I'm not sure you deserve it, but that's adetail. Few of us ever do get our deserts in this naughty world. "

"What is it?" said Toby. 

Her bright eyes questioned him. She looked more than ever like an eagerboy. He pulled a leather case out of his pocket and held it out to her. 

"Oh, what is it?" she said, and coloured more deeply. "Youhaven't--haven't--been buying me things?"

"Open it!" said Saltash, with regal peremptoriness. 

But still she hesitated, till he suddenly laid his hands on hers andcompelled her. She saw a single string of pearls on a bed of blue velvet. Her eyes came up to his in quick distress. 

"Oh, I ought not to take them!" she said. 

"And why not?" said Saltash. 

She bit her lip, almost as if she would burst into tears. "Monseigneur--"

"Call me Charles!" he commanded. 

His hands still held hers. She dropped her eyes to them, and suddenly, very suddenly, she bent her head and kissed them. 

He started slightly, and in a moment he set her free, leaving the case inher hold. "_Eh bien!_" he said lightly. "That is understood. You like mypearls, _chérie_?"

"I love--anything--that comes from you, " she made low reply. "Butthese--but these--I ought not to take these. "

"But why not?" he questioned. "May I not make you a present? Are younot--my wife?"

"Yes. " More faintly came Toby's answer. "But--but--but--a wife isdifferent. A wife--does not need--presents. "

"_Mais vraiment!_" protested Saltash. "So a wife is different!How--different, _mignonne_?"

He tried to look into the downcast eyes, but she would not raise them. She was trembling a little. "Such things as these, " she said, under herbreath, "are what a man would give to--to--to the woman he loves. "

"And so you think they are unsuitable for--my wife?" questioned Saltash, with a whimsical look on his dark face. 

She did not answer him, only mutely held out the case, still withoutlooking at him. 

He stood for a second or two, watching her, an odd flame coming and goingin his eyes; then abruptly he moved, picked up the pearls from theircase, straightened them dexterously, and clasped them about her neck. 

She lifted her face then, quivering and irresolute, to his. "And I cangive you--nothing, " she said. 

He took her lightly by the shoulders, as one who caresses a child. "_Machérie_, you have given me already much more than you realize. But wewill not go into that now. We will go to the shops. Afterwards, we willgo out to Fontainebleau and picnic in the forest. You will like that?"

"Oh, so much!" she said, with enthusiasm. 

Yet there was a puzzled look of pain in her eyes as she turned away, andthough she wore his pearls, she made no further reference to them. 

They went forth into the streets of Paris and Toby shopped. At first shewas shy, halting here and hesitating there, till Saltash, looking on, careless and debonair, made it abundantly evident that whatever shedesired she was to have, and then like a child on a holiday she flungaside all indecision and became eager and animated. So absorbed was shethat she took no note of the passage of time and was horrified when atlength he called her attention to the fact that it was close upon theluncheon-hour. 

"And you must be so tired of it all!" she said, with compunction. 

"Not in the least, " he assured her airily between puffs of his cigarette. "It has been--a new experience for me. "

Her eyes challenged him for a moment, and he laughed. 

"_Mais oui, madame!_ I protest--a new experience. I feel I am doing myduty. "

"And it doesn't bore you?" questioned Toby, with a tilt of the chin. 

His look kindled a little. "If we were on board the old _Night Moth_, you'd have had a cuff for that, " he remarked. 

"I wish we were!" she said daringly. 

He flicked his fingers. "You're very young, Nonette. "

She shook her head with vehemence. "I'm not! I'm not! I'm onlypretending. Can't you see?"

He laughed jestingly. "You have never deceived me yet, _ma chère_, --notonce, from the moment I found you shivering in my cabin up to thepresent. You couldn't if you tried. "

Toby's blue eyes suddenly shone with a hot light. "So sure of that?" shesaid quickly. "You read me--so easily?"

"Like a book, " said Saltash, with an arrogance but half-assumed. 

"I cheated you--once, " she said, breathing sharply. 

"And I caught you, " said Saltash. 

"Only--only because--I meant you to, " said Toby, under her breath. 

He raised his brows in momentary surprise, and in a flash she laughed andclapped her hands. "I had you there, King Charles! You see, you are but aman after all. "

He gave her a swift and piercing glance. "And what are you?" he said. 

Her eyes fell swiftly before his look; she made no reply. 

They returned to the hotel and lunched together. The incident of themorning seemed to be forgotten. Jake's name was not once mentionedbetween them. Toby was full of gaiety. The prospect of the run toFontainebleau evidently filled her with delight. 

She joined Saltash in the vestibule after the meal, clad in a light bluewrap they had purchased that morning. 

He went to meet her, a quick gleam in his eyes; and a man to whom he hadbeen talking--a slim, foreign-looking man with black moustache andimperial--turned sharply and gave her a hard stare. 

Toby's chin went up. She looked exclusively at Saltash. Her bearing atthat moment was that of a princess. 

"The car is ready?" she questioned. "Shall we go?"

"By all means, " said Saltash. 

He nodded a careless farewell to the other man, and followed her, a smiletwitching at his lips, the gleam still in his eyes. 

"That man is Spentoli the sculptor, " he said, as he handed her into thecar. "A genius, Nonette! I should have presented him to you if you hadnot been so haughty. "

"I hate geniuses, " said Toby briefly. 

He laughed at her. "_Mais vraiment!_ How many have you known?"

She considered for a moment, and finally decided that the question didnot require an answer. 

Saltash took the wheel and spun the little car round with considerabledexterity. "Yes, a genius!" he said. "One of the most wonderful of theage. His work is amazing--scarcely human. He paints too. All Paris ravesover his work--with reason. His picture, 'The Victim'--" he looked at hersuddenly--"What is the matter, _chérie_? Is the sun too strong for you?"

Toby's hand was shielding her eyes. Her lips were trembling. "Don'twait!" she murmured. "Don't wait! Let's get away! I am all right--just alittle giddy, that's all. "

He took her at her word, and sent the car swiftly forward. They passedout into the crowded thoroughfare, and in a moment or two Toby leanedback, gazing before her with a white, set face. 

Saltash asked no question. He did not even look at her, concentrating allhis attention upon the task of extricating himself as swiftly as possiblefrom the crush of vehicles around them. 

It was a day of perfect autumn, and Paris lay basking in sunshine; butSaltash was a rapid traveller at all times, and it was not long beforeParis was left behind. But even when free from the traffic, he did notspeak or turn towards his companion, merely gave himself to the taskof covering the ground as quickly as possible. 

In the end it was Toby who spoke, abruptly, boyishly. "By jingo! You candrive!"

Saltash's face showed its own elastic grin. "You like this?"

"Rather!" said Toby with enthusiasm. 

She threw off her silence and plunged forthwith into careless chatter--amood to which he responded with the utmost readiness. When at length theyran into the shade of the forest, they were both in the highest spirits. 

They had their tea in a mossy glade out of sight of the road. The sun wasbeginning to slant. Its rays fell in splashes of golden green all aboutthem. 

"Just the place for a duel!" said Saltash appreciatively. 

"Have you ever fought a duel?" Toby looked at him over the picnic-basketwith eyes of sparkling interest. 

She had thrown aside her hat, and her fair hair gleamed as if it gaveforth light. Saltash leaned his shoulders against a tree and watched her. 

"I have never fought to kill, " he said. "Honour is too easilysatisfied in this country--though after all--" his smile was suddenlyprovocative--"there are very few things worth fighting for, Nonette. "

Her eyes flashed their ready challenge. "Life being too short already?"she suggested. 

"Even so, " said Charles Rex coolly. 

Toby abruptly bent her head and muttered something into thepicnic-basket. 

"What?" said Saltash. 

She pulled out a parcel of cakes and tossed them on to the ground. "Nothing!" she said. 

He leaned forward unexpectedly as she foraged for more, and gripped thesmall brown hand. 

"Tell me what you said!" he commanded. 

She flung him a look half-frightened, half-daring. "I said there was onlyone cup. "

She would have released her hand with the words, but his fingerstightened like a spring. "_Pardonnez-moi!_ That was not what you said!"

She became passive in his hold, but she said nothing. 

"Tell me what you said!" Saltash said again. 

A little tremor went through Toby. "Can we do--with only one cup?" sheasked, not looking at him, her eyelids flickering nervously. 

"Going to answer me?" said Saltash. 

She shook her head and was silent. 

He waited for perhaps ten seconds, and in that time a variety ofdifferent expressions showed and vanished on his ugly face. Then, just asToby was beginning to tremble in real trepidation, he suddenly set herfree. 

"We have drunk out of the same glass before now, " he said. "We can do itagain. "

She looked at him then, relief and doubt struggling together in her eyes. "Are you angry?" she said. 

His answering look baffled her. "No, " he said. 

She laid a conciliatory hand upon his arm. "You are! I'm sure you are!"

"I am not, " said Saltash. 

"Then why aren't you?" demanded Toby, with sudden spirit. 

The monkeyish grin leapt into his face. "Because I know what you said, "he told her coolly. "It is not easy--you will never find it easy--todeceive me. "

She snatched her hand away. Her face was on fire. "I said you did notmake the most of life, " she flung at him. "And it's true! You don't! Youdon't!"

"How do you know that?" said Saltash. 

She did not answer him. Her head was bent over the basket. She threw outone thing after another with nervous rapidity, and once, as he watchedher, there came a faint sound that was like a hastily suppressed sob. 

Saltash got to his feet with disconcerting suddenness and walked away. 

When he returned some minutes later with a half-smoked cigarette betweenhis lips, she was sitting demurely awaiting him, the picnic ready spread. 

He scarcely looked at her but he flicked her cheek as he sat down, and ina moment she turned and smiled at him. 

"I have found another cup, " she said. 

"So I see, " said Saltash, and before she could realize his mood he pickedit up and flung it at the trunk of a tree some yards away. It shivered infragments on the moss, and Toby gasped and stared at him wide-eyed. 

He laughed in his careless fashion at her amazement. "Now we shall drinkout of one cup!" he said. 

"Was that--was that--why you did it?" she stammered breathlessly. 

He blew a cloud of smoke into the air with a gesture of royalindifference. "Even so, --_madame_!" he said. "One does these things--witha wife. You see, a wife--is different. "

"I--I see, " said Toby. 

CHAPTER IV

THE IDOL OF PARIS

It was dark when they returned to the hotel, but Paris shone with amillion lights. The hotel itself had a festive air. There were flowers inall directions, and a red carpet had been laid upon the steps. 

"Rozelle Daubeni is expected, " said Saltash. 

"Who?" Toby stopped short in the act of descending. Her face shone whitein the glare. A moment before she had been laughing but the laugh wentinto her question with a little choked sound. "Who did you say?" shequestioned more coherently. 

"Mademoiselle Daubeni--the idol of Paris. Never heard of her?" Saltashhanded her lightly down. "She is coming to a dance in the great _salon_tonight. You shall see her. She is--a thing to remember. "

Toby gave a quick shiver. "Yes, I have heard of her too much--too much--Idon't want to see her. Shall we dine upstairs?"

"Oh, I think not, " said Saltash with decision. "You are too retiring, _machère_. It doesn't become--a lady of your position. "

He followed her towards the lift. The vestibule was full of people, laughing and talking, awaiting the coming of the favourite. But as thegirl in her blue cloak went through, a sudden hush fell. Women liftedglasses to look at her, and men turned to watch. 

Saltash sauntered behind her in his regal way, looking neither to rightnor left, yet fully aware of all he passed. No one accosted him. Therewere times when even those who knew him well would have hesitated to doso. He could surround himself with an atmosphere so suavely impersonal asto be quite impenetrable to all. 

It surrounded him now. He walked like a king through a crowd ofcourtiers, and the buzz of talk did not spring up again till he was outof sight. 

"So you do not want to see _le premiere danseuse du siècle!_" hecommented, as he entered the sitting-room of their suite behind Toby. 

She turned, blue eyes wide with protest in her white face. "Do you wishme to see her, my lord? That--woman!"

He frowned upon her suddenly. "Call me Charles! Do you hear? We will playthis game according to rule--or not at all. "

"You are angry, " Toby said, and turned still whiter. 

He came to her, thrust a quick arm about her. "I am not angry, _mignonne_, at least not with you. But you must take your proper place. Ican't keep you in hiding here. Those gaping fools downstairs--they havegot to understand. You are not my latest whim, but a permanentinstitution. You are--my wife. "

She shivered in his hold, but she clung to him. "I don't feel like--apermanent institution, " she told him rather piteously. "And when you areangry--"

"I am not angry, " said Saltash, and tweaked her ear as though she hadbeen a boy. "But--whether you feel like it or not--you are my wife, andyou have got to play the part. _C'est entendu, n'est-ce-pas?_"

"Whatever you wish, " said Toby faintly. 

He set her free. "You must look your best tonight. Wear blue! It is yourcolour. I shall present Spentoli to you. And tomorrow he will want topaint you. "

Toby stiffened. "That--_canaille_!" she said. 

He looked at her in surprise. "What is the matter with you tonight, Nonette? You are hating all the world. "

Her blue eyes blazed. "I don't want to meet Spentoli, " she said. "He hasan evil eye. You--you--I look to you to--to--to protect me. "

"My good child!" said Saltash. 

He turned aside to light a cigarette, and there was a pause. But Tobystill stood rigid, as it were on guard. He spoke again after a moment, and his voice was kind though it had a certain dominant quality also. 

"Nonette, you need not be afraid when you are with me. I shall protectyou. Now go and dress! When you are ready, come to me for inspection! Andremember! You are to look your best tonight. "

He turned with the last words and looked at her. His brows went up as herealized her attitude--the tense resistance of the slight figurewithstanding him. 

But it was only for a moment or two that the girl maintained her stand. At sight of the look that leaped to his eyes, her own were swiftlylowered. She drew back from him. 

"I will do--whatever you wish, " she said again nervously. "You knowthat. "

"Yes, I know that, " said Saltash with his quick grimace. "You have mysympathy, Nonette. Now go, _ma chère_, go!"

She went from his presence like a small hunted animal. 

Saltash shrugged his shoulders and sauntered down again to the vestibule. The crowd had grown. They were watching the great entrance-doorexpectantly for the coming of the celebrated dancer. Saltash called for adrink, and mingled with the throng. 

The Italian, Spentoli, came up presently and joined him. "I am hoping, "he said, "that you will presently give me the great honour of presentingme to your bride. "

Saltash looked at him. Spentoli was one of the very few men for whom heentertained respect. The Italian's work had always held an immenseattraction for his artistic soul, and he had never troubled to disguisethe fact. 

"My wife is young and shy, " he said, after a moment. "I will presentyou--some day, Spentoli, but it may not be yet. "

"This is her first visit to Paris?" questioned Spentoli. 

"Not her first. But she does not know Paris well. " Saltash spokecarelessly. "I am not showing her everything at once. I think that is amistake. "

"That is true, " agreed Spentoli. "The freshness of youth is gone all toosoon. But she will be superbly beautiful in a few years' time. Will youpermit me to congratulate you on the excellence of your choice?"

Saltash grimaced. "Do we ever choose?" he said. "Do we not rather receivesuch gifts as the gods send us in more or less of a grudging spirit?"

Spentoli smiled. "I did not think you would marry one so young, " he said. "She has the athletic look of a boy. She reminds me--"

"Of a picture called 'The Victim' by one--Spentoli!" Saltash's voice wassuave. "A cruel picture, _mon ami_, but of an amazing merit. I have seenthe likeness also. Where did you get it?"

The Italian was still smiling, but his eyes were wary. 

"From a little circus-rider in California, " he said. "A child--an imp ofa child--astonishingly clever--a wisp of inspiration. Yes, a girl ofcourse; but she had all the lines of a boy--the perfect limbs of anathlete. I took her from her circus. I should have paid her well had sheremained with me. But before the picture was finished, she was tired. Shewas a little serpent--wily and wicked. One day we had a small discussionin my studio--oh, quite a small discussion. And she stuck her poison-fanginto me--and fled. " Spentoli's teeth gleamed through his black moustache. "I do not like these serpent-women, " he said. "When I meet her again--itwill be my turn to strike. "

"Our turn so seldom comes, " said Saltash lazily, his eyes wandering tothe door. "Mademoiselle Rozelle for instance would hold her own againstany of us. "

"Ah! Rozelle!" Spentoli's face changed magically. "But she isbeautiful--and without venom--a rose without a thorn!"

Saltash's mouth twitched mockingly. "And without a heart also?" hesuggested. 

"She is all heart!" cried Spentoli, with flashing eyes. 

Saltash laughed aloud. "That also is sometimes a drawback, _mon ami_. Igather she is the attraction who has drawn you here. "

"She draws all the world, " said Spentoli. 

And with that he sprang to his feet, for there was a general stir in thevestibule, such as might herald the coming of a queen. In a moment thebuzz of voices died down, and a great silence fell. Saltash remainedseated, a certain arrogance in his pose, though his eyes also watched thedoor. 

There came the sound of a laugh--a clear, ringing laugh, childishly, irresistibly gay--and a figure in blue came in through the marblepillars. As a queen they had prepared for her, and as a queen sheentered--a being so exquisite, so goddess-like, that every breath wasdrawn in wonder. 

She looked around her with eyes that shone like sapphires. Her red lipswere parted. She had the expectant look of girlhood, yet her beauty had aquality unknown to youth. And it was to that quality, almost unknown tohimself, that Saltash did homage as he rose. 

Her look flashed across to him, comprehended his action, and laughed opentriumph. Then with a suddenness almost too swift to follow, she turned toa man who had entered behind her and softly spoke. 

Saltash's eyes went to the man, and he drew a low whistle between histeeth. It was well known that Rozelle Daubeni never travelled without anescort; but this man--this man--He was tall and broad, and he carriedhimself with a supreme contempt for his fellow-men. He did not look atSaltash, did not apparently even see the hushed crowd that hung uponevery movement of that wonderful woman-creature who took the world bystorm wherever she went. 

He was superbly indifferent to his surroundings, gazing straight beforehim with the eyes of a Viking who searches the far horizon. He walkedwith the free swing of a pirate. And as the woman turned her dazzlingface towards him, it was plain to all that she saw none but him in thatvast and crowded place. 

He was by her side as they moved forward, and they saw her lightly touchhis arm, with an intimate gesture, as though they were alone. Then thewhole throng broke into acclamations, and the spell was broken. She sawthem all again, and laughed her gracious thanks. The great hall rang withtheir greeting as she passed through, but no one sought to detain her andshe did not pause. 

Later, she would give them all they desired, but her moment had notarrived. So she went on to the great curving staircase, side by side withher fair-bearded Viking, still laughing like a happy child who looks forthe morrow. 

As she rounded the curve of the stair, she snatched a red rose from herbreast and threw it down to her worshippers below. It was aimed atSaltash, but it fell before Spentoli, and he caught and held it with wildadoration leaping in his eyes. As he pressed it to his lips, he wassobbing. 

"_Mon ami_, " said Saltash's voice behind him, maliciously humorous, "youhave stolen my property. But--since I have no use for it--you may keepit. "

Spentoli looked at him with burning eyes. "Ah! You may laugh!" he said, in a fierce undertone. "You are--without a soul. "

"Isn't it better to laugh?" queried Saltash. "Did you expect a blow inthe face?"

Spentoli glared for a moment, and recovered himself. "Do you know whatthey are saying of her?" he said. "They say that she is dying. But it isnot true--not true! Such beauty as that--such loveliness--could neverdie!"

The cynical lines in Saltash's face deepened very perceptibly. Heshrugged his shoulders and said nothing. 

"Who is the man with her?" demanded Spentoli. "I have never seen himbefore--the man with the face of a Dane. Do you know him?"

"Yes, I know him, " said Saltash. 

"Then who is he? Some new lover?" There was suppressed eagerness in thequestion. Spentoli's eyes were smouldering again. 

Saltash was looking supremely ironical. "Perhaps new, " he said. "Morelikely--very old. His name is Larpent, and he is the captain of myyacht. "

CHAPTER V

THE DANCE OF DEATH

"We will watch from the gallery, " said Saltash. 

Toby looked up at him with quick gratitude. "There won't be so manypeople there, " she said. 

He frowned at her, but his look was quizzical. "But everyone will knowthat Lady Saltash is present--with her husband, " he said. 

She slipped a persuasive hand on to his arm. "King Charles, " she said, "let us leave Paris!"

"Bored?" said Saltash. 

Her face was slightly drawn. "No--no! Only--" she paused; then suddenlyflashed him her swift smile--"let it be as you wish!" she said. 

He flicked her cheek in his careless, caressing way. "Shall I tell yousomething, _mignonne_? We are going--very soon. "

Her eyes shone, more blue than the frock she wore She stooped impulsivelyand touched his hand with her lips, then, as though she feared to angerhim, drew quickly away. 

"Shall we go on the yacht?" she asked, eagerness half-suppressedin her voice. 

"Yes, " said Saltash, and he spoke with finality, even with a certaingrimness. 

Toby's face lighted up for a second, and then clouded again. She glancedat him doubtfully. "If Paris amuses you--" she ventured. 

"Paris does not amuse me, " said Saltash emphatically. "Have a cigarette, _ma chère_, while I go and dress. "

"Can I help you dress?" said Toby, with a touch of wistfulness. "I haveput everything ready. "

His odd eyes flashed her a smile. "Not here, _chérie_, not now. Perhaps--when we get on a yacht again--"

He was gone, leaving the sentence unfinished, leaving Toby looking afterhim with the wide eyes of one who sees at last a vision long desired. Shestretched out both her arms as the door closed upon him and her lipsrepeated very softly the words that he had last uttered. 

"Perhaps--when we got on a yacht again--"

When they went down to the great _salle-à-manger_ a little later, herface was flushed and her smile ready, though she glanced about her in ashy, half-furtive fashion as they entered. They found a secluded tablereserved for them in a corner, and her eyes expressed relief. She shrankinto it as if she would make herself as small as possible. Again no oneaccosted them though a good many looked in their direction. Saltash wasfar too well known a figure to pass unnoticed in any fashionable crowd. But the general attention did not centre upon them. That was absorbed bya far greater attraction that night. 

She sat at the end of the room like a queen holding her court, and besideher sat the Viking, stern-faced and remote of mien, as supremely isolatedas though he sat with her on a desert island. He spoke but seldom, andthen to her exclusively. But when he spoke, she turned to him the radiantface of the woman who holds within her grasp her heart's desire. 

She was superbly dressed in many-shaded blue, and jewels sparkled withevery breath she drew. Above her forehead, there nestled in the gold ofher hair a single splendid diamond that burned like a multi-colouredflame. She was at the acme of her triumph that night. Of all who knewher, there was not one who had seen her thus. They watched her almostwith bated breath. She was like a being from another world. Shetranscended every expectation of her. 

The band played only dance-music, by her desire, it was said; but suchmusic as wrought irresistibly upon the senses and emotions. She waspreparing her audience for what should follow. Throughout the meal, excitement was steadily rising. There was almost a feeling of delirium inthe air. 

Before the bulk of diners had finished, she rose to go. Her cavalier rosewith her, flinging her gauzy wrap of blue and gold over his arm. It wasthe signal for a demonstration. In a moment a youth with eyes ablazewith adoration sprang on to a table in the centre of the vast room with aglass of red wine held high. 

"A Rozelle! A Rozelle!"

The cry went up to the domed roof in a great crescendo of sound, andinstantly the place was a pandemonium of shouting, excited figures. Theycrowded towards the table at which the _danseuse_ still stood. And justfor a second--one fleeting second--her eyes showed a curious fear. Shestood almost as one at a loss. Then in a flash her irresolution was gone. Her beautiful face smiled its own inimitable smile. The music of herlaughter rang silvery through the tumult. She made a dainty gesture ofacceptance, of acknowledgment, of friendly appreciation; then lightly sheturned to go. 

Her companion made a path for her. He looked as if he could have hewn hisway through a wall of rock at that moment, and his uncompromising bearinggained him respect. No one attempted to gainsay him. 

They were gone almost before they realized that their idol had not spokena word to them. The moment was past, and the excitement died down to abuzz of talk. 

"An amazing woman!" said Saltash. 

Toby glanced at him, and said nothing. She had watched the whole episodefrom her corner with eyes that missed nothing; but she had not spoken aword. 

He bent suddenly towards her. "Drink some wine, _chérie_! You are pale. "

She started a little at the quick peremptoriness of his speech. Shelifted her glass to drink, and splashed some of the wine over. He leanedfarther forward, screening her from observation. 

"Go on! Drink!" he said, with insistence, and in a moment his hand closedupon hers, guiding the wine to her lips. 

She drank obediently, not meeting his look, and he took the glass fromher, and set it down. 

"Now we will go. Are you ready?"

She rose, and he stood aside for her. As she passed him, his hand closedfor an instant upon her bare arm in a grasp that was close and vital. Shethrew him a quick, upward glance; but still she said no word. 

They passed out through the throng of diners almost unobserved, but inthe corridor Spentoli leaned against a pillar smoking a long, blackcigar. He made no movement to intercept them, but his eyes with theirrestless fire dwelt upon the girl in a fashion that drew her ownirresistibly. She saw him and slightly paused. 

It was the pause of the hunted animal that sees its retreat cut off, butin an instant Saltash's voice, very cool, arrogantly self-assured, checked the impulse to panic. 

"Straight on to the lift, _ma chère_! See! It is there in front of you. There will be no one in the gallery. Go straight on!"

She obeyed him instinctively as her habit was, but in the lift shetrembled so much that he made her sit down. He stood beside her insilence, but once lightly his hand touched her cheek. She moved thenswiftly, convulsively, and caught it in both her own. But the next momenthe had gently drawn it free. 

The gallery that ran round three sides of the great _salon_ was deserted. There was only one point at the far end whence a view of the stage thathad been erected for the dancer could be obtained. Towards this Saltashturned. 

"We shall see her from here, " he said. 

The place was but dimly illumined by the flare of the many lightsbelow--two great crystal candelabra that hung at each end being leftunlighted. Under one of these was a settee which Saltash drew forward tothe balcony. 

"No one will disturb us here, " he said. "We can smoke in peace. "

He offered her his cigarette-case, but she refused it nervously, sittingdown in a corner of the settee in the crouched attitude of a frightenedcreature seeking cover. The band was playing in the _salon_ now, andpeople were beginning to crowd in. 

Saltash leaned back in his corner and smoked. His eyes went to and froceaselessly, yet the girl beside him was aware of a scrutiny aspersistent as if they never left her. She sat in silence, clasping andunclasping her hands, staring downwards at the shining stage. 

Very soon the _salon_ was full of people, and the lights were loweredthere while on the stage only a single shaft of blinding violet lightremained, shooting downwards from the centre. Toby's eyes became fixedupon that shaft of light. She seemed to have forgotten to breathe. 

The band had ceased to play. There fell a potent silence. The multitudebelow sat motionless, as if beneath a spell. And then she came. 

No one saw her coming. She arrived quite suddenly as though she had sliddown that shaft of light. And she was there before them dancing, dancing, like a winged thing in the violet radiance. Not a sound broke thestillness save a single, wandering thread of melody that might have comefrom the throat of a bird, soft, fitful, but half-awake in the dawning. 

The violet light was merging imperceptibly into rose--the unutterablerose of the early morning. It caught the dancing figure, and she liftedher beautiful face to it and laughed. The gauzy scarf streamed out fromher shoulders like a flame, curving, mounting, sinking, now envelopingthe white arms, now flung wide in a circle of glittering splendour. 

A vast breath went up from the audience. She held them as by magic--allsave one who leaned back in his corner with no quickening of the pulsesand watched the girl beside him sitting motionless with her blue eyeswide and fixed as though they gazed upon some horror from which there wasno escape. 

The rose light deepened to crimson. She was dancing now in giddy circleslike a many-coloured moth dazzled by the dawn. The melody was growing. Other bird-voices were swelling into sound--a wild and flute-like musicof cadences that came and went--elusive as the laughter of wood-nymphs inan enchanted glade. And every one of that silent crowd of watchers sawthe red light of dawn breaking through the trees of a dream-forest thatno human foot had ever trod. 

Slowly the crimson lightened. The day was coming, and the silent-flittingmoth of night was turning into a butterfly of purest gold. The scarfstill floated about her like a gold-edged cloud. The giddy whirl wasover. She came to rest, poised, quivering in the light of the newly-risensun, every line of her exquisite body in the accord of a perfectsymmetry. Yes, she was amazing; she was unique. Wherever she went, thespell still held. But to-night she was as one inspired. She did not seeher spellbound audience. She was dancing for one alone. She was as awoman who waits for her lover. 

In some fashion this fact communicated itself to her worshippers. Theyguessed that somewhere near that dazzling figure the stranger whom no oneknew was watching. Insensibly, through the medium of the dancer, hispresence made itself felt. When that wonderful dance of the dawn was overand the thunder of applause had died away, they looked around, asking whoand where he was. But no one knew, and though curiosity was rife itseemed unlikely that it would be satisfied that night. 

Up in the gallery Toby drew a deep breath as of one coming out of atrance, and turned towards the man beside her. The light had been turnedon in the _salon_ below, and it struck upwards on her face, showing itwhite and weary. 

"So she has found another victim!" she said. 

"It seems so, " said Saltash. 

She looked at him in the dimness. "Did you know that--that CaptainLarpent was with her?"

"No, " said Saltash. He leaned forward abruptly, meeting her look with asudden challenge. "Did you?"

She drew back sharply. "Of course not! Of course not! What--what should Iknow about her?"

He leaned back again without comment, and lighted another cigarette. 

At the end of several seconds of silence, Toby spoke again, her lockedfingers pulling against each other nervously. 

"I wonder--do you mind--if I go soon? I--I am rather tired. "

The lights went out as she spoke, and Saltash's face became invisible. Hespoke quite kindly, but with decision, out of the darkness. 

"After this dance, _ma chère_--if you desire it. "

The music began--weird and mournful--and a murmur went round among theeager watchers. It was her most famous dance--the dance of Death, themost gruesome spectacle, so it was said, that any dancer had everconceived. She came on to the stage like the flash of an arrow, dressedin black that glittered and scintillated with every amazing movement. Andthen it began--that most wonderful dance of hers that all the world wasmad to see. 

It was almost too rapid for the eye to follow in its first stages--afever of movement--a delirium indescribable--a fantasy painful to watch, but from which no watcher could turn away. Even Saltash, who had takensmall interest in the previous dance, leaned forward and gave his fullattention to this, as it were in spite of himself. The very horror of itwas magnetic. They seemed to look upon a death-struggle--the wild fightof a creature endowed with a fiery vitality against an enemy unseen butwholly ruthless and from the first invincible. 

Those who saw that dance of Rozelle Daubeni never forgot it, and therewas hardly a woman in the audience who was not destined to shudderwhenever the memory of it arose. It was arresting, revolting, terrible;it must have compelled in any case. A good many began to sob with thesheer nervous horror of it, yearning for the end upon which they wereforced to look, though with a dread that made the blood run cold. 

But the end was such as no one in that assembly looked for. Just as theawful ecstasy of the dance was at its height, just as the dreaded crisisapproached, and they saw with a gasping horror the inevitable finalclutch of the unseen enemy upon his vanquished victim; just as she liftedher face in the last anguish of supplication, yielding the last hope, sinking in nerveless surrender before the implacable destroyer, therecame a sudden flare of light in the _salon_, and the great crystalcandelabra that hung over the end of the gallery where the man and thegirl were seated watching became a dazzling sparkle of overwhelminglight. 

Everyone turned towards it instinctively, and Toby, hardly knowing whatshe did, but with the instinct to escape strong upon her, leapt to herfeet. 

In that moment--as she stood in the full light--the dancer's eyes alsoshot upwards and saw the sum young figure. It was only for a moment, butinstantly a wild cry rang through the great _salon_--a cry of agony sopiercing that women shrieked and trembled, hiding their faces from whatthey knew not what. 

In the flash of a second the light was gone, the gallery again indarkness. But on the stage a woman's voice cried thrice: "Toinette!Toinette! Toinette!" in the anguished accents of a mother who cries forher dead child, and then fell into a tragic silence more poignant thanany sound--a silence that was as the silence of Death. 

And in that silence a man's figure, moving with the free, athletic swingof a sailor, crossed the stage to where the dancer lay huddled in thedimness like a broken thing, lifted her--bore her away. 

CHAPTER VI

THE NEW LOVER

Very late that night when all the crowds who had assembled to watchRozelle Daubeni had dispersed with awe-struck whisperings, two men camedown the great staircase into the empty vestibule and paused at the foot. 

"You are leaving Paris again?" said Saltash. 

The other nodded, his face perfectly emotionless, his eyes the eyes of asailor who searches the far horizon. "There is nothing to keep me here, "he said, and absently accepted a cigarette from the case that Saltashproffered. "I have always hated towns. I only came--" He stopped, considered a moment, and said no more. 

Saltash's eyes were upon him, alert, speculative, but wholly withoutmalice. "You came--because you were sent for, " he said. 

Larpent nodded twice thoughtfully, more as if in answer to some mentalsuggestion than as if the words had been actually uttered. He struck amatch and held it for Saltash. Then, as he deliberately lighted his owncigarette, between slow puffs he spoke: "There was only--one reason onearth--that would have brought me. "

"Yes?" said Saltash. He dropped into a chair with the air of a man whohas limitless leisure at his disposal, but his tone was casual. He didnot ask for confidence. 

Larpent stood still gazing before him through the smoke with keen, unwavering eyes. 

"Only one reason, " he said again, and still he seemed to speak as one whocommunes with his inner soul. "She was dying--and she wanted me. " Hepaused a moment, and an odd tremor went through him. "After twentyyears, " he said, as if in wonder at himself. 

Saltash's look came swiftly upwards. "I've heard that before, " he said. "Those she caught she kept--always. No other woman was ever worth whileafter Rozelle. "

Larpent's hand clenched instinctively, but he said nothing. 

Saltash went on in the same casual tone. "She never caught me, _mon ami_. I met her too late in life--when I was beginning to get fastidious. " Hismonkey-like grin showed for a moment. "I appreciated her charm, but--itleft me cold. "

"You never saw her in her first youth, " said Larpent, and into his fixedeyes there came a curious glow--the look of a man who sees a vision. 

"What was she like then?" said Saltash. 

Slowly the sailor answered him, word by word as one spelling out astrange language. "She was like a butterfly that plays among theflowers in the early morning. She had the look of a boy--the wide-openeyes, the fearless way, the freedom, the daring. Her innocence--herloveliness--" Something rose unexpectedly in his throat. He stopped andswallowed hard. "My God! How lovely she was!" he said, in a strangledvoice. 

Saltash got up in his sudden, elastic fashion. "Look here! You want adrink. Sit down while I get you one!"

He was gone with the words, not waiting for the half-uttered remonstrancethat the other man sent after him. 

Larpent stood staring heavily before him for a space, then turned with amechanical movement and dropped into a chair. He was sitting so, bentforward, his hands clasped in front of him when Saltash returned. He hadthe worn, grey look of a man tired out with hard travel. 

Saltash poured out a drink and held it down to him. "Here's the stuff!Drink, man! It'll put new life into you. "

Larpent drank, still in that slow, mechanical fashion. But as he drainedthe glass his eyes met Saltash's alert look and a faint, grim smilecrossed his haggard features. 

"Don't let me spoil your holiday, my lord!" he said. 

"Don't be a damn' fool!" said Saltash. 

Larpent sat in silence for several seconds. Then in a more normal tone hespoke again. "I had to come to her. God knows what made her want me afterall these years. But I couldn't refuse to come. I had her message twodays ago. She said she was alone--dying. So I came. " He paused and wipedhis forehead. "I thought she had tricked me. You saw her as she wasto-night. She was like that--full of life, superb. But--I had come toher, and I found I couldn't leave her. She wanted me--she wanted me--totake her back. " He got up, but not with any agitation, and began to paceto and fro as though he paced a deck. "You will think me mad of course. You never came under the spell. But I, I was first with her; andperhaps it was fitting that I should be the last. Had she lived--afterto-night--I would have taken her away. She would never have danced again. I would have taken her out of this damnable world that had dragged herdown. I'd have saved her somehow. "

"You wouldn't, " said Saltash. "It's like a recurrent fever. You'd neverhave held her. "

"I say I would. " Larpent spoke deeply, but still without emotion. "Icould have done it--and no one else on earth. I tell you I was first withher, and a woman doesn't forget the first. I had a power that no otherman ever possessed, or ever could possess. I was--her husband. "

"What?" said Saltash. 

Larpent paced on with bent head. "I was her husband. But I was at sea andshe was on shore. And so I lost her. She was not made to stand againsttemptation. It came to her when I was on the other side of the world. When I got back, she was gone. And I--I never followed her. The thing washopeless. She was that sort, you understand. It was first one and thenanother with her. I dropped her out of my life, and let her go. I didn'trealize then--what I know now--that the power to rescue and to hold herwas mine. If I had, I might have gone after her. I can't say. But I wastoo bitter at the time to feel it was worth while. I went back to the seaand left her to work out her own damnation. "

"And yet you loved her?" Saltash said, with a queer twist of the featuresthat was not of mirth. 

"I loved her, yes. If I hadn't loved her I would never have come to herwhen she called. That is love--the thing that doesn't die. " A suddenthrob sounded in Larpent's voice. He paused for a moment in his walk, then paced on. "You may laugh at it--call it what you will--but there isa power on the earth that is stronger than anything else, and when thatpower speaks we have got to obey. I didn't want to come. You think me adamn fool for coming. But I had to. That's all there is to it. "

"I don't think you any sort of a fool, " Saltash threw in briefly. "Youdid the only thing possible. "

"Yes, the only thing. I came to her. If I hadn't come, she'd havedied--alone. But that alone wasn't why she sent for me--it was theprimary reason, but not the only one. There was another. " Larpent ceasedhis pacing and deliberately faced the man who stood listening. "You knowwhat happened to-night, " he said. "That child--the scaramouch you pickedout of the gutter at Valrosa--Toby--do you realize--have you grasped--themeaning of that yet?"

Saltash flung up his head with an arrogant gesture. "There is one thingabout her you have not grasped, " he said. "But go on! I may as well hearit. "

Larpent went on steadily. "When I came to her yesterday she told me of achild that had been born to her--a child she had loved but had beenunable to protect. It was a long story. Spentoli the Italian artist knowsit from beginning to end. You know Spentoli?"

"I know him, " said Saltash. 

"Spentoli is a blackguard, " Larpent said, "the sort that is born, notmade afterwards. He has painted Rozelle over and over again. He ravesabout her. He may be a genius. He is certainly mad. He wanted the childfor a model, and Rozelle could not prevent it. So she told me. I believeshe was dependent upon him at the time. She had been ill. She has beenill for years with heart trouble. And so he had the child, but only for atime. The girl had a will of her own and broke away, joined a circus inCalifornia. He tracked her down, captured her again, tried to make aslave of her. But she was like a wild creature. She stabbed him one nightand fled. That was Rozelle's trouble. She had never been able to hear ofher again. She begged me to find--and save her. I promised to do my best. But--there was no need to search very far. To-night Spentoli pulled thewires again. It was he who switched on that light. It was he who killedRozelle. The girl in the gallery with you--Toby--was her daughter--andmine. You heard Rozelle cry out when she saw her. She never spoke again. "

Larpent ceased to speak. He was no longer looking at Saltash. The farvision seemed to have caught his gaze again. He stared beyond. 

Saltash watched him with working brows. "Are you wanting to lay claim tothe girl?" he asked abruptly. 

Larpent's face was grim. "I make no claim, my lord, " he said. "But I havesworn to do my best for her. I shall keep that oath of mine. "

"Meaning?" said Saltash. 

The sailor's look met his squarely. "You know what I mean, " he said. 

Saltash began to grin. "A fight to a finish, what? I'm sorry, _mon ami_. But I've got you beaten at the start. Shall I tell you how you can bestkeep that somewhat rash oath of yours?"

"Well?" The word fell brief and uncompromising. Larpent's face was ascarved granite. 

Saltash thrust forth a sudden hand and took him by the shoulder. "Just byeffacing yourself, _mon vieux_, " he said lightly. "Go back to _The BlueMoon_, take her to Fairharbour, and await my orders there!"

It was carelessly, even jestingly, spoken, but a certain authority lurkedbehind the words. Charles Rex knew how to assert his kingship uponoccasion, knew also how to temper it with the touch of friendship. 

Larpent's look did not waver, but some of the grimness went from it. Neither anger nor indignation had any place here. He continued to lookSaltash straight in the face. 

"And that would be keeping my oath?" he said. 

"Even so, " said Saltash. 

"You mean, " Larpent spoke with slow emphasis, "that to leave her whereshe now is, is to leave her in safe and honourable keeping?"

The old mocking smile gleamed in Saltash's eyes. "Yes, I mean that, " hesaid. "Do you believe me, Larpent?"

"Believe you, my lord?" Larpent seemed to hesitate. 

The hand that held him moved with a hint of impatience. "I am asking, "said Saltash royally, "if you consider that my protection is adequatefor--my wife. "

"Your--wife!" Larpent started in sharp surprise. "Your wife, did yousay?"

Saltash broke into a chuckle and dropped his hand from his captain'sshoulder. "Yes, just that, " he said. "You are behind the times, myfriend. Are you going to congratulate me? We were married four days ago. "

Larpent's hand came out to him abruptly. "It's the best thing you've everdone, my lord, " he said. "And you will never regret it. "

"What makes you say that?" said Saltash curiously. 

Their hands gripped and fell apart. Larpent answered him in the brieffashion of the man whose words are few. "Mainly because you loved herenough to marry her when you could have had her without. "

Saltash's laugh had the old derisive ring but there was no correspondinggleam of mockery in his eyes as he turned carelessly aside. "What is thisthing called love?" he said. 

CHAPTER VII

THE REFUGEE

It was by no means characteristic of Jake to linger on a quest which hadalready proved fruitless but he was a man who possessed acquaintances inalmost all parts of the world, and Paris was no exception. For the restof the day after leaving Saltash he was philosophically occupied inseeking out old friends. Eventually he dined at a restaurant and betookhimself to the station to catch the night train to Calais. It was all oneto Jake whether he travelled by night or by day, so wholly accustomed washe to adapt himself to circumstances. Maud was wont to say with a smilethat the luxuries of decent living were utterly thrown away upon him. Hewas a man who scarcely noticed physical discomfort. He could sleep underpractically any conditions. 

Walking solidly down the platform, carrying his own baggage, his thoughtswere completely astray from his surroundings. They had reverted to thememory of the girlish figure he had seen that morning seated on a table, swinging one leg in studied nonchalance while every line was instinctwith defiance. Yes, she had defied him, but deep in her heart she hadfeared--how she had feared!--that Saltash would fail to hold her againsthim. Again, a deep compassion came over Jake, stirring the very depthsof him. Poor little girl, flung to and fro as flotsam in the cruel surfof life's breakers! He had done his best to deliver her, but Fate hadbeen against him. Fate had ordained that she should be the victim of thisman's caprice, the slave of impulses which might or might not be herdestruction. It was as if he watched her trying to walk on a quicksand. And he was powerless to help her. Saltash had defeated him, and he had noinsight into his motives. Unstable, baffling, irresponsible as a monkeythat swings from tree to tree, he had snatched his prize, and even Jake, who knew him better than most, could only speculate as to whether hewould carry it high above disaster or tire and idly fling it away. Somevagrant sense of honour seemed to have actuated him so far, but neveryet had he known such a motive to last for long. The man's face wasbeyond him, too fantastic for comprehension. He recognized that he wascapable of greatness, but very few were the occasions on which he hadachieved it. If the motive power were lacking in this instance, Toby'schances were indeed small. 

He found an empty carriage and threw his belongings on to a seat. Thetrain was not a favourite one, and there would be no crowd. He had someminutes to wait, and he lighted his pipe and began to pace the platformunencumbered. A few travellers straggling by eyed him with some interest. He was not a man to be passed unnoticed. The massive, thick-set shouldershad a bull-dog strength that must have marked him in any crowd. Hisheight was unremarkable, but there was power in every dominant line ofhim. He had the free carriage of one accustomed to the wide places of theearth. 

He took small note of his fellow-travellers, being engrossed in his ownthoughts. He wondered how Maud would regard the situation, and halfwished she had been with him to deal with it. For Maud possessedundoubted influence over Saltash. He reflected that she was probablythe only person in the world who did. 

He had strolled almost to the barrier and was in the act of turningback when something--some impulse for which he could never afterwardsaccount--induced him to pause and take stock of the passengers passingthrough. The train was almost due to start, and there was some slightconfusion and a quickening of feet on the platform. He realized that heought to be going back to his own carriage, but something stayed him. Hestood still, his keen eyes searching the hastening figures. 

And so standing, in a moment his attention was focussed upon a girl in ablue cloak who came towards him at a run evidently intent upon catchingthe train. She passed him swiftly without seeing him, almost brushedagainst him. And behind her came a dark man with black moustache andimperial, following her closely with an air of proprietorship. 

Jake wheeled in his tracks, for a second amazed out of all composure. Butan instant later he was in pursuit. He had had but a fleeting glimpse ofher face, and the blue cloak was quite unfamiliar to him; but there wasno mistaking the boyish freedom of her gait, the athletic swing of her asshe turned and leaped into a compartment that her companion opened forher. 

The black-browed Italian was in the act of following when Jake arrived. The realization of another hand upon the door was the first intimationthat reached him of the Englishman's presence. He turned and lookedinto a pair of red-brown eyes that regarded him with the utmoststeadiness as a quiet voice made slightly drawling explanation. 

"This lady is a friend of mine, " said Jake Bolton. "I should like a wordwith her. "

The Italian looked murderous for a moment, but he gave ground almost inspite of himself. Perhaps the calm insistence of the other man's bearingwarned him at the outset of the futility of attempting any other courseof action; Jake was actually in the carriage before he could jerk out aword of protest. 

"_Sapristi!_ You go too far!" he blustered then. But Jake was alreadyconfronting the girl who had started up at his coming, and stood facinghim white and shaken. He spoke, still quite quietly, even gently, but inthe tone that no delinquent ever heard unmoved. 

"Say, " he said, "are you playing the game?"

She put up a hand to her throat. His sudden coming had unnerved her, andshe had no words. But her quivering face and tragic eyes were more thansufficient answer for Jake. He had dealt with sudden emergencies before, and he treated this one with characteristic decision. 

"You've no business here, " he said, "and you know it. If you can't stickto the man you've married, come home with me to Maud!"

She made a sharp gesture toward him, as if on the verge of falling, andas sharply recovered herself. "Oh, I wish--how I wish I could!" shebreathed. 

Jake's hand, perfectly steady, full of sustaining strength, closed withauthority upon her arm. "That's settled then, " he said. "Come now!"

But at this point the Italian burst furiously in upon them with a floodof unintelligible language that made all further speech impossible. 

Jake glanced momentarily over his shoulder as if disturbed by the buzzingof some insect, then with unruffled composure turned back to the girl. His eyes looked straight into hers for perhaps ten seconds, then in thesame purposeful fashion he set her free and deliberately turned upon theman who raged behind him. 

As he did so, there came a shouting and banging of doors along theplatform, and the train began to move. Jake's massive shoulders bracedthemselves. Without words he seized the raving Italian in a grip therewas no resisting, swept him, as a sudden gale sweeps a leaf, acrossthe compartment, sent him with a neat twist buzzing forth upon theplatform, and very calmly shut the door and came back. 

Then there came a wild shriek of laughter from Toby, and she doubled upin her corner with hysterical mirth, gasping and gasping for breath, tillhe sat squarely down beside her and pulled her into the circle of hisarm. 

"Easy, my girl! Easy!" he said. "We're not going to have an exhibition atthis stage. You keep a stiff upper lip till you feel better!"

But the stiff upper lip was rather painfully lacking on that occasion. She very soon ceased to laugh, but for a long time thereafter she laysobbing and shuddering like a little terrified animal against his breastwhile the train rushed on through the night. 

He was very gentle with her. Jake's stock of patience was practicallylimitless, and he and Toby had always had a certain comradeship betweenthem. But when she grew calmer at last he began to talk in the quiet, direct fashion habitual to him. 

"Say now! You've had a bit of a facer over this. But you needn't befrightened. You're safe enough from that damned Italian anyway. Andyou'll find me a better refuge than he is--if that's what you'rewanting. "

She shivered and pressed closer. "You--don't know--what you're in for, "she whispered piteously. 

"That so?" said Jake, unmoved. "Well, maybe you'd like to enlighten me. "

But Toby shook her head with a sob. "I couldn't! I just couldn't, Jake. Do you mind?"

Jake considered the point with slightly drawn brows. "I guess there's nohurry, " he decided at length. "We'll get home first anyway. That's themain point. You won't be sorry to get back to Maud, I take it?"

She answered him with a swift and passionate fervour that spoke moreclearly than any words of the anguish of her soul. "Oh, Jake, I wish I'ddied--I wish I'd died--before I left her!"

Jake's brows contracted more decidedly, but he said nothing further onthe subject. Only after a moment or two he patted her shoulderreassuringly. "I'll take care of you, " he said. "You go to sleep!"

CHAPTER VIII

THE TURNING-POINT

"You've brought her back!" said Bunny in amazement. "You've actuallybrought her back! Here, Jake? Not here?"

"It was the only thing to do. " said Jake between puffs at his pipe. "I'msorry on your account, but--well, you can keep out of her way. "

Bunny's face was flushed. He stood on the hearth and stared down at Jakewith a troubled countenance. "But you won't be able to keep her, " heprotested after a moment. "Charlie will come and get her away again--assoon as he knows. He's such a wily devil. "

"He does know, " said Jake. 

"He knows? Who told him?"

"I told him, " said Jake. 

"You told him! What the devil for? I don't understand you, Jake. " Bunny'stone had a touch of fierceness in it, almost of challenge. 

Jake's eyes came up to him with absolute steadiness. "I told him, " hesaid deliberately, "because he is the one person who has a right to know. He is her husband. "

"I don't believe it!" said Bunny violently. "He'd never marry her! It wasa damn trick if he pretended to. "

"No, " Jake said, "it was not a trick. He has married her, and it's up tohim to make the next move. "

"But what on earth for?" demanded Bunny. "What made him do such a thing?"

"God knows, " said Jake, with a certain sombreness. "He did it. That's allI know. "

Bunny stamped round in a sudden fury and began to pace the room. "Isuppose he did it to defeat me! Did he actually think I should want herafter--after--"

"Bunny!" Swift and sharp as a whip-lash Jake's voice cut across thewords. "Stop that! Pull up and sit down!"

Bunny wheeled and came back in silence. His face was deadly pale, but hesat down on the edge of the table by Jake's side. 

Jake reached out a leisurely hand and gripped him by the knee. "Betweenyou and me, my son, " he said, "I don't think you came into the reckoningat all. I can't tell you exactly what happened, because I don't know, butI'm pretty sure that Saltash married her from a somewhat stronger motivethan just to put you out of the running. As you say, he could have donethat without taking all that trouble. He's treated you damn badly, Iadmit, but it's just possible he couldn't help himself, and anyway Idon't think he's hurt you seriously--except in the place where you keepyour pride. "

"You think I didn't love her!" broke in Bunny, moving restlessly underhis hand. 

Jake's eyes had the glimmer of a smile as he met the boy's hot look. "Ithink you don't love her now anyway, Bunny, " he said. 

"You're quite right, " said Bunny shortly. "I don't. I never want to seeher again--now I know what she is. "

"You don't know, " said Jake. "She has always been an unknown quantity toyou. That's why I've always felt doubtful about you. Guess you neverloved her quite enough, boy. That was your trouble. "

"Didn't love her!" ejaculated Bunny. 

Jake nodded. "Or you'd have understood her better--stood by her better. "

"I'd have loved her fast enough if she'd loved me, " protested Bunny. "Butthat scoundrel always came first with her. I never had a chance. "

"Oh yes, you had. " Again the faint smile showed for an instant in theelder man's eyes. "Not much of one, perhaps, but you had a chance. Ifshe'd been quite sure of you, she wouldn't have run away. "

"Wouldn't she? Then she can't be very sure of Saltash either. " Bunnyspoke with a certain gloomy triumph. 

Jake blew forth a cloud of smoke and watched it rise thoughtfully. "I'mwaiting for Saltash, " he said. "I've got him on test. "

"You believe in him?" questioned Bunny contemptuously. 

Jake's eyes remained fixed. "I believe, " he said slowly, "that therecomes a turning-point in every man's life--whatever he's been--when heeither makes good or throws in his hand altogether. I've been through itmyself, and I know what it means. It's Saltash's turn now. "

"Oh, rot, Jake!" Bunny turned on him with the old boyish admirationshining in his eyes. "You--why, you've made good every time--just aboutas often as Charlie has done the other thing. "

"No. " Jake spoke without elation. "I did make good, but I went throughhell first, and I very nearly failed. It may be the same with him. Ifso--well, poor devil, he has my sympathy. "

"You can't be sorry for a hound like Saltash!" remonstrated Bunny. 

Jake turned squarely and faced him. "Well, there you're wrong, Bunny, " hesaid. "I reckon I'm sorrier for him than I am for you. You've got a cleanrecord, and you'll win out and marry Sheila Melrose. But Saltash--well, he's got a damn heavy handicap, and if he pulls off this, it'll be one ofthe biggest events I've ever seen. Say, what's the matter?"

Bunny had sprung to his feet. He stood looking at Jake with an expressionhalf-startled and half-indignant. "Jake--you beast! What made you saythat?" he demanded. 

"What?" said Jake, and began to smile openly. "Well, guess it's prettynear the mark, isn't it? I saw which way the wind was trying to blow sometime ago. Mean to say you didn't?"

Bunny swung upon his heel. "Confound you!" he said, and was silent forseveral seconds. 

Jake smoked imperturbably on. He knew all the workings of Bunny's mindwith the sure intuition of long intimacy. When finally the boy spokeagain without turning he almost knew what he would say. 

"Think I'm--very despicable, Jake?"

The question had a shamed and sullen ring. Bunny's head was bent. He wasexamining a little china figure on the mantelpiece with nervousconcentration. 

Jake arose without fuss or preliminary, and pushed a brotherly arm roundthe bent shoulders. "Guess you've never been that, sonny, " he said verykindly. "But--you take an old man's advice and go a bit slow! She'llthink all the better of you for it. "

"She'll never look at me, " muttered Bunny, gripping the hand that pressedhis shoulder without raising his eyes. 

"Ho, won't she?" said Jake. "I've seen her look at you more thanonce--and the old General too. Reckon they both thought you were throwingyourself away on Toby, and maybe they had some reason to think so. Anyway, she never was your sort. I seem to remember telling you so once. "

"I was a fool, " said Bunny, and then in a moment straightened himselfand looked Jake in the eyes. "It wasn't Toby's fault, " he said withabrupt generosity. "She didn't want to get engaged to me. I made her. I knew--all along--she wasn't very keen. But I thought I loved her enoughto make it all right. I was wrong. I didn't. "

"Beginning to know better?" suggested Jake, with a smile. 

"Beginning to realize what a fool I've been, " said Bunny ruefully. "Youdon't think I've done for myself then? Think I've still got a chance?"

"Sure thing!" said Jake. "But go carefully. You've got a fence or two toclear before you get home. " He paused a moment, then gave him a kindlyhand-grip. "Say, Bunny, " he said, "there's nothing despicable aboutmaking a mistake. It's only when things go wrong and we don't play thegame that there's anything to be ashamed of. I've always been ready tostake my last dollar that you'd never do that. "

"Oh, man, " Bunny said, in swift embarrassment, "that shows how much youknow about me!"

Jake stooped to knock out the ashes of his pipe in the fender. "What Idon't know about you, my son, " he said, "ain't worth a donkey's bray, Ireckon, so you can shut your mouth on that! I'm going back to Maud now. Any messages?"

"Yes. " Bunny was standing up very straight; his eyes were shining. "Loveto Maud of course. I shan't come round at present. But tell Toby thatwhen I do, she needn't be worried over anything. We're all square. Tellher that!"

"I will, " said Jake. He turned to the door, then paused, looking back. "And say!" he said. "Don't you butt in with Saltash! Just leave him tomanage his own fate! He's riding a bucking horse, but I've a notion he'llyet make good--if he can. "

"He's a rum devil, " said Bunny. "All right. I shan't interfere. "

After Jake had gone, he sat down and pulled a letter from his pocket. Allthe lines of perplexity smoothed out of his boyish face as he read it. Itwas the letter of a woman who had written because she wanted to write, not because she had anything to say, and Bunny's eyes were very tender ashe came to the end. He sat for a space gazing down at the signature, andat length with a gesture half-shamefaced he put it to his lips. 

"Yes, I've been a fool, Sheila, " he said softly. "But, thank heaven, Iwas pulled up in time. And I shan't--ever--make that mistake again. "

Which was perhaps exactly what the writer had meant him to say. 

CHAPTER IX

LARPENT

"Shall we dig a deep, deep hole for you to lie in?" asked Eileen withserious violet eyes upraised. 

"And then cover you right up to your head so as you won't catch cold?"chimed in Molly. 

"Betty dig too! Betty dig too!" cried the youngest of the party withzest. "Zite up over Auntie Toy's head!"

"What an excellent idea!" said Toby with resignation. 

She sat down in the golden afternoon sunshine that flooded the beach, thethree children buzzing happily about her, and rested her chin on herhands. The blue eyes that dwelt upon the misty horizon were very tired. They had the heavy look of unshed tears, and all the delicate colourwas gone from her face. Her slight figure drooped pathetically. She satvery still. All the elasticity of youth seemed to have gone out of her. Once or twice a sharp sigh caught her that was almost like a sob. 

Betty's shrill voice at her side recalled her from her dreams. "Bettytired now, Auntie Toy. Betty tummin' to sit down. "

She turned and took the child upon her lap with a fondling touch andtender words. Betty pillowed a downy head against her neck and almostimmediately fell asleep. Eileen and Molly laboured on at theirself-imposed task in the autumn sunshine, and Toby returned to herdreams. 

Perhaps she also had begun to doze, for the day was warm and sound sleephad forsaken her of late; when the falling of a shadow aroused her veryswiftly to the consciousness of someone near at hand whose approach shehad not heard. She controlled her quick start before it could awaken thesleeping child, but her eyes as they flashed upwards had the strained, panic-stricken look of a hunted animal. She made an almost involuntarymovement of shrinking and the blood went out of her lips, but she spokeno word. 

A man in a navy-blue yachting-suit stood looking down at her withblue-grey eyes that tried to be impersonal but failed at that slightgesture of hers. 

"You needn't be afraid of me, heaven knows, " he said. 

"I'm not, " said Toby promptly, and flung him her old boyish smile. "Iwasn't expecting just you at that moment, that's all. Sit down and talk, Captain--if that's what you've come for!"

Apparently it was. He lowered himself to the sand beside her. But atonce--as by irresistible habit--his eyes sought the horizon, and he satand contemplated it in utter silence. 

Toby endured the situation for a few difficult seconds, then took briskcommand. "Why don't you have a smoke?" she said. "You'd find it a help. "

He put his hand mechanically into his pocket and took out hiscigarette-case. His eyes came back out of space as he did so, and restedupon the fair-haired child in the girl's arms. 

"So you've come back to the old job!" he said. 

Toby nodded. "Yes. Jake's doing. I'm waiting to--to--to be divorced. "

He made a slight movement of surprise, but his face remained inscrutable. "You'll have to wait some time for that, " he said. 

Toby tilted her chin with a reckless gesture that was somehow belied bythe weariness of her eyes. "That wasn't what you came to talk aboutthen?" she suggested after a pause. 

"No. " Larpent's voice had a curious, almost deprecating quality. "I cameto bring you a message. "

"A message!" She started slightly, and in a moment the defiance went outof her attitude. She turned towards him. "Who--who is it from?"

Larpent's far-seeing eyes came gravely to meet her own. "From RozelleDaubeni, " he said. 

"Ah!" A quick shiver went through Toby. She averted her look. "I don'twant to hear it, " she said. 

"I've got to deliver it, " said Larpent, with a hint of doggedness. "Andyou've got to listen. But you needn't be afraid. It isn't going to makeany difference to you. The time has gone for that. "

He paused, but Toby sat in silence, her face bent over Betty's fair head. When he spoke again, his eyes had gone back to the quiet sea and the farhorizon. There was a hint of pathos about him, albeit his face was grim. 

"It may have surprised you to see me in Paris with her, " he said. "I'mnot the sort of man that runs after--that type of woman. But I went toRozelle because she was dying, and because once--long ago--she was mywife. "

A faint sound came from Toby, but still she did not speak or lift herface. 

Larpent went on steadily, unemotionally. "She went wrong--ran away--whileI was at sea. She was too young to be left alone. Afterwards--too late--achild was born. She told me the night before she died that the child wasmine. "

"Good God!" said Toby under her breath. 

He went on, grimly monotonous. "I never knew of the child's existence. IfI had known, it might have made a difference. But it's too late now. Shewanted me to find and protect the child. I promised to do my best. Andwhen I found her, I was to tell her one thing. Rozelle prayed for herchild's forgiveness every day. "

He ceased to speak, and there fell a silence, long and painful. The tidewas turning, and the soft wash of tiny breakers came up the sand. Sea andsky mingled together, opalescent in the misty sunlight. The man's eyesgazed without seeing. Toby's were full of tears. 

He turned at last and looked at her, then, moved by what he saw, laid anawkward hand upon her arm. 

"I'm not asking anything from you, " he said. "But I'd like you to knowI'd have done more--if I'd known. "

She threw him a quick look, choking back her tears. "It--it--it's ratherfunny, isn't it?" she said, with a little crack of humour in her voice. "I'm--I'm very sorry. Captain Larpent. "

"Sorry?" he said. 

"For you, " said Toby, with another piteous choke. "I've been foisted onto you so often. And you--you've hated it so. "

"That's the tragic part of it, " said Larpent. 

She brushed away her tears and tried to smile. "I wonder you bothered totell me, " she said. 

His hand closed almost unconsciously upon her arm. "I had to tell you, "he said. "It's a thing you ought to know. " He hesitated a moment, thenconcluded with obvious effort. "And I wanted to offer you my help. "

"Thank you, " whispered Toby. "You--you--that's very--generous of you. "She gulped again, and recovered herself. "What do you want to do aboutit?" she said. 

"Do? Well, what can I do?" He seemed momentarily disconcerted by thequestion. 

Toby became brisk and business-like. "Well, you don't want to retire andlive in a cottage with me, do you? We shouldn't either of us like that, should we?"

"There's no question of that now, " said Larpent quietly. "Your home iswith your husband, not with me. "

Toby flinched a little. "My home isn't anywhere then, " she said. "When Ileft him, it was--for good. "

"Why did you leave him?" said Larpent. 

Toby's lips set in a firm line, and she made no answer. 

Larpent waited a few moments; then: "It's no matter for my interference, "he said. "But it seems to me you've made a mistake in one particular. Youdon't realize why he married you. "

Toby made a small passionate movement of protest. "He ought not to havedone it, " she said, in a low voice. "I ought not to have let him. Ithought I could play the part. I know now I can't. And--he knows it too. "

"I think you'll have to play the part, " Larpent said. 

"No!" She spoke with vehemence. "It's quite impossible. He has been fartoo good--far too generous. But it shan't go on. He's got to set me free. If he doesn't--" she stopped abruptly. 

"Well? If he doesn't?" Larpent's voice was unwontedly gentle, and therewas compassion in his look. 

Toby's eyes avoided his. "I'll find--a way for myself, " she said almostinarticulately. 

Larpent's fingers tightened again upon the thin young arm. "It's no goodfighting Fate, " he said. "Why has it become impossible? Just because heknows all about you? Do you suppose that--or anything else--is going tomake any difference at this stage? Do you imagine he would let yougo--for that?"

Toby's arm strained against him. "He'll have to, " she declaredstubbornly. "He doesn't know all about me either---any more than you do. And--and--and--he's never going to know. "

Her voice shook stormily. She glanced about her desperately as if insearch of refuge. The child in her arms stirred and woke. 

Larpent got up as if the conversation were ended. He stood for a momentirresolute, then walked across to the two little girls digging busily afew yards away. 

Eileen greeted him with her usual shy courtesy. "Won't you wait a littlelonger?" she said. "We've very nearly finished. "

"Nearly finished, " echoed Molly. "Isn't it a booful big hole?"

"What's it for?" asked Larpent. 

Toby's voice answered him. She had risen and followed him. It had an oddbreak in it--the sound of laughter that is mingled with tears. "They'redigging a hole to bury me in. Isn't it a great idea?"

He wheeled and looked at her. There was no sign of tears in the wide blueeyes that met his own. Yet he put his hand on her shoulder with thegesture of one who comforts a child. 

"Before I go, " he said, "I want to tell you something--something no onehas told me, but that I've found out for myself. There is only one thingon this earth worth having--only one thing that counts. It isn't rank orwealth or even happiness. It swamps the lot, just because it's the onlything in God's creation that lasts. And you've got it. In heaven's name, don't throw it away!"

He spoke with the simplicity and strength of a man who never wastes hiswords, and having spoken, he released her without farewell and turnedaway. 

Toby stood quite motionless for several seconds, watching him; then, ashe did not look round, hurriedly she addressed the eldest child. 

"Take care of Betty a moment, Eileen darling! I shall be back directly. "And with the words she was gone, like an arrow, in pursuit. 

He must have heard her feet upon the sand, but he did not turn. Perhapshis thoughts were elsewhere, for when at the quick pressure of her handon his arm he paused to look at her, she saw that his eyes were very sad. 

"Well?" he said, with the glimmer of a smile. "Well, --Toinette?"

She clasped her two hands upon his arm, holding it very tightly, her faceuplifted. "Please--I want to thank you, " she said breathlessly. "You havebeen--so very good. "

He shook his head. "I have done--nothing, " he said. "Don't thank me!"

She went on with nervous haste. "And it does make a difference to me. I--I--I'm glad I know, though it must have been--a great shock to you. "

"It would have been a much worse shock if it had been anyone else, " hesaid. 

"Would it? How nice of you!" Her lip trembled. "Well then, I'm glad itwasn't. " She began to walk on with him. "Do you mind telling me--didyou--did you--forgive her?"

"Yes, " he said very quietly. 

A quick shiver went through her. "Then I must too, " she said. "Atleast--I must try. She--she--I loved her once, you know, before I beganto understand. "

"Everyone loved her, " he said. 

"But life is very difficult, isn't it?" she urged rather tremulously. 

"Your life has been, " he said. 

She nodded. "One can't help--can't help--making mistakes--even badones--sometimes. "

"You've just made one, " he said. 

She faced him valiantly. "Ah, but you don't understand. You--you can'tthrow away--what you've never had, can you--can you?"

"What you've got, " he corrected gravely. "Yes, you can. "

She flung out her hands with a wide gesture. "But I haven't got it! Inever had it! He took me out of pity. He never--pretended to love me. "

"No, " said Larpent, with grim certitude. "He isn't pretending this time. "

She stared at him, wide-eyed, motionless. "Not pretending? What do youmean? Please--what do you mean?"

He held out his hand. "Good-bye!" he said abruptly. "I mean--just that. "

Her lips were parted to say more, but something in his face or actionchecked her. She put her hand into his. "Good-bye!" she said. 

He held her hand for a moment, then, moved by some hint of forlornness inthe clear eyes, he bent, as he had bent at the Castle on that summerevening weeks before, and lightly touched her forehead with his lips. 

"Oh, that's nice of you, " said Toby quickly. "Thank you for that. "

"Don't thank me for anything!" said Larpent. "Play a straight game, that's all!"

And with the words he left her finally, striding away over the sand withthat careless sailor's gait of his, gazing always far ahead of him out tothe dim horizon. Perhaps as long as he lived his look would never againdwell upon anything nearer. 

CHAPTER X

IN THE NAME OF LOVE

"It's been--a funny game, " said Saltash, with a wry grimace. "We've bothof us been so damned subtle that it seems to me we've ended up in muchthe same sort of hole that we started in. "

"But you're not going to stay in it, " said Maud. 

He turned and looked down at her, one eyebrow cocked at a comic angle. "_Ma belle reine_, if you can help us to climb out, you will earn myundying gratitude. "

She met his look with her steadfast eyes. "Charlie, do you know thatnight after night she cries as if her poor little heart were broken?"

Saltash's eyebrow descended again. He scowled hideously. "_Maispourquoi?_ I have not broken it. I have never even made love to her. "

Maud's face was very compassionate. "Perhaps that is why. She is soyoung--so forlorn--and so miserable. Is it quite impossible for you toforgive her?"

"Forgive her!" said Saltash. "Does she want to be forgiven?"

"She is fretting herself ill over it, " Maud said. "I can't bear to seeher. No, she has told me nothing--except that she is waiting for you tothrow her off--to divorce her. Charlie, you wouldn't do that even if youcould!"

Saltash was silent; the scowl still upon his face. 

"Tell me you wouldn't!" she urged. 

His odd eyes met hers with a shifting gleam of malice. "There is only onereason for which I would do that, _ma chère_, " he said. "So she has nottold you why she ran away with my friend Spentoli?"

Maud shook her head. "She does not speak of it at all. I only know thatshe was unspeakably thankful to Jake for protecting her from him. "

"Ah!" Saltash's teeth showed for an instant. "I also am grateful to Jakefor that. He seems to have taken a masterly grip of the situation. Is heaware that he broke Spentoli's arm, I wonder? It was in the papers, alongside the tragic death of Rozelle. 'Fall of a Famous Sculptor from aTrain. ' It will keep him quiet for some time, I hear, and has saved methe trouble of calling him out. I went to see him in hospital. "

"You went to see him!" Maud exclaimed. 

Saltash nodded, the derisive light still in his eyes. "And conveyed myown condolences. You may tell _la petite_ from me that I do not proposeto set her free on his account. He is not what I should describe as agood and sufficient cause. "

"Thank heaven for that!" Maud ejaculated with relief. 

"Amen!" said Saltash piously, and took out his cigarette-case. 

She watched him with puzzled eyes till the cigarette was alight and hesmiled at her through the smoke, his swarthy face full of mocking humour. 

"Now tell me!" she said then, "how can I help you?"

He made a wide gesture. "I leave that entirely to your discretion, madam. As you may perceive, I have wholly ceased to attempt to help myself. "

"You are not angry with her?" she hazarded. 

"I am furious, " said Charles Rex royally. 

She shook her head at him. "You're not in earnest--and it wouldn't helpyou if you were. Besides, you couldn't be angry with the poor littlething. Charlie, you love her, don't you? You--you want her back?"

He shifted his position slightly so that the smoke of his cigarette didnot float in her direction. His smile had a whimsical twist. "Do I wanther back?" he said. "On my oath, it's hard to tell. "

"Oh, surely!" Maud said. She rose impulsively and stood beside him. "Charlie, " she said, "why do you wear a mask with me? Do you think Idon't know that she is all the world to you?"

He looked at her, and the twisted smile went from his face. "There isno woman on this earth that I can't do without, " he said. "I learntthat--when I lost you. "

"Ah!" Maud's voice was very pitiful. Her hand came to his. "Butthis--this is different. Why should you do without her? You know sheloves you?"

His fingers closed spring-like about her own. A certain hardness was inhis look. "If she loves me, " he said, "she can come back to me of her ownaccord. "

"But if she is afraid?" Maud pleaded. 

"She has no reason to be, " he said. "I have claimed nothing from her. Ihave never spoken a harsh word to her. Why is she afraid?"

"Have you understood her?" Maud asked very gently. 

He made an abrupt movement as though the question, notwithstanding theabsolute kindness of its utterance, had somehow an edge for him. The nextmoment he began to laugh. 

"Why ask these impossible riddles? Has any man ever understood awoman? Let us dismiss the subject! And since you are here, _ma bellereine_, --you of all people--let us celebrate the occasion with adrink!--even if it be only tea!"

His eyes laughed into hers. The western light was streaming in across themusic-room. They stood together in the turret beyond Saltash's piano, where she had found him pouring out wild music that made her warm heartache for him. 

She had come to him with the earnest desire to help, but he baffled herat every turn, this man to whom once in the days of her youth she hadbeen so near. She could not follow the complex workings of his mind. Hewas too quick to cover his feelings. His inner soul had long been hiddenfrom her. 

Yet the conviction persisted that if any could pass that closed door thathe kept so persistently against all comers, it would be herself. She hadonce possessed the key, and she could not believe that it was no longerin her power to turn it. He would surely yield to her though he barredout all beside. 

Perhaps he read her thoughts, for the laugh died out of his eyes, meltinginto the old tender raillery that she remembered so well. 

"Will you drink with me?" he said. "You have actually stooped to entermy stronghold without your bodyguard. Will you not honour me stillfurther--partake of my hospitality?"

She smiled at him. "Of course I will have tea with you with pleasure, Charlie. Didn't you realize I was waiting to be asked?"

"You are very gracious, " he said, and crossed the room to ring a bell. 

She remained in the western turret, looking out over the beech woods thatblazed golden in the sun to the darker pine-woods beyond. 

"What a paradise this is!" she said, when he joined her again. 

His restless eyes followed hers without satisfaction. A certain moodinesshad come upon him. He made no answer to her words. 

"Why doesn't Bunny come up to see me?" he asked suddenly. "He knows I amhere. "

She looked at him in surprise. "Are you expecting him?"

He nodded with a touch of arrogance. "Yes. Tell him to come! I shan'tquarrel with him or he with me. Is he still thirsting for my blood? He'swelcome to it if he wants it. "

"Charlie!" she protested. 

He turned from her and sat down at the piano. His fingers began to caressthe keys, and then in a moment the old sweet melody that he had played toher in the long ago days came softly through the room. Her lips formedthe words as he played, but she made no sound. 

"There has fallen a splendid tearFrom the passion-flower at the gate. She is coming, my dove, my dear;She is coming, my life, my fate. The red rose cries, 'She is near, she is near!'And the white rose weeps, 'She is late!'The larkspur listens, 'I hear, I hear!'And the lily whispers, 'I wait!'"

"She is certainly very late, " commented Charles Rex quizzically from thepiano. "And the lily is more patient than I am. Why don't you sing, Maudof the roses?"

She started a little at his voice, but she did not answer. She could nottell him that her throat was dumb with tears. 

He played softly on for a space, then as the old butler entered with atea-tray, he abruptly left the piano to wait upon her. He made her sit inthe window-seat and presently sat down himself and talked of indifferentthings. She did not attempt to bring him back to the matter in hand. Sheknew him too well for that. If he chose to be elusive, no power on earthcould capture him. 

But she had a strong feeling that he would not seek to elude her wholly. He might seem to trifle, as a monkey swinging idly from bough to bough, but he had an end in view, and ultimately he would reach that end, however circuitous the route. 

He surprised her eventually by the suddenness with which he pounced uponit. He had turned the talk upon the subject of his new yacht, and veryabruptly he announced his intention of going round the world in her. 

"Not alone?" she said, and then would have checked the words lest theyshould seem to ask too much. 

But he answered her without a pause. "Yes, alone. And if I don't comeback, Bunny can marry Toby and reign here in my stead. That is, if heisn't an infernal fool. If he is, then Toby can reign here alone--withyou and Jake to take care of her. "

"But, Charlie, why--why?" The words leapt from Maud in spite of her. 

He frowned at her whimsically. "They've always cared for one another. Don't you know it? It's true she put me in a shrine and worshipped me fora time, but I couldn't live up to it. _Figurez-vous, ma chère!_ Myself--amarble saint!"

"You never understood her, " Maud said. 

He shrugged his shoulders and went lightly on. "Oh, she was ready enoughto offer me human sacrifice, but that wasn't enough for me. Besides, Ididn't want sacrifice. I have stood between her and the world. I havegiven her protection. But it was a free gift. I don't take anythingin exchange for that. " An odd note sounded in his voice, as of someemotion suppressed. He leaned back against the window-frame, his handsbehind his head. "That wasn't what I married her for. I tried to provethat to her. I actually thought--" the old derisive grin leapt across hisface--"that I could win her trust like any ordinary man. I failed ofcourse--failed hideously. She never expected decent treatment from me. She never even began to trust me. I was far too heavily handicappedfor that. And so--as soon as the wind changed--the boat capsized. "

"What made the wind change?" Maud asked gently. 

He looked across at her, the baffling smile still in his eyes. "The godsplayed a jest with us, " he said. "It was only a small jest, but it turnedthe scale. She fled. That was how I came to realize I couldn't hold her. I had travelled too fast as usual, and she couldn't keep up. Well, " heunlocked his hands and straightened himself, "it's up to Bunny now. I'lllet her go--to him. "

"My dear!" Maud said. 

He laughed at her with the old half-caressing ridicule. "That shocks you?But why--if they love each other? Haven't I heard you preach the gospelof love as the greatest thing on earth? Didn't you once tell me that Ihad yet to learn the joy--" his smile twisted again--"the overwhelmingjoy--of setting the happiness of another before one's own? This thing canbe done quite simply and easily--as I suggested to you long ago. She hasonly to go away with him, and I do the rest. A moral crime--no more. Yes, it is against your code of course. But consider! I only stand to losethat which I have never possessed. For the first time in my life, Icommit a crime in the name of--love!"

He laughed over the word; yet even through the scoffing sound there camea ring of pain. His face had a drawn look--the wistfulness of the monkeythat has seen its prize irrevocably snatched away. 

Maud rose quickly. There was something in his attitude or expression thatshe could not bear. "Oh, you are wrong! You are wrong!" she said. "Youhave the power to make her love you. And you love her. Charlie, thisthing has not been given you to throw away. You can't! You can't!"

He made a sharp gesture that checked her. "My dear Maud, " he said, "thereare a good many things I can't do, and one of them is this. I can't holdany woman against her will--no, not if she were my wife ten times over. Iwouldn't have let her go to Spentoli. But Bunny is a different matter. Ihave Jake's word for it that he will make her a better husband than Ishall. If Bunny wants to know all about her past--her parentage--he cancome to me and I can satisfy him. Tell him that! But if he really lovesher--he won't care a damn--any more than I do. "

"Ah!" Maud said. 

She stood a moment, looking at him, and in her eyes was that mother-lookof a love that understands. She held out her hand to him. 

"Thank you for telling me, Charlie, " she said. "Good-bye!"

He held her hand. "What have I told you?" he asked abruptly. 

She shook her head. "Never mind now! You have just made me understand, that's all. I will give your message to Bunny--to them both. Good-bye!"

He stooped in his free, gallant way to kiss her hand. "After all, " hesaid, "I return to my old allegiance. It was you, _chère reine_, whotaught me how to love. "

She gently freed her hand and turned to go. "No, " she said. "I think itwas God who taught you that. "

For the second time Charles Rex failed to utter the scoffing laugh shehalf-expected. The odd eyes looked after her with a kind of melancholyirony. 

"To what purpose?" he said. 

CHAPTER XI

THE GIFT OF THE GODS

A chill wind blew across the ramparts bringing with it the scent and thesound of the sea. There was no moon in the sky tonight, only the cloudsflying over the stars, obscuring and revealing them alternately, makingtheir light weirdly vague and fitful. Across the park an owl calledpersistently, its eerie hoot curiously like the cry of a human voicethrough the rustling night. The trees were murmuring together down by thelake as though some mysterious news were passing to and fro among them. And once more, alone on his castle walls, Saltash paced restlessly up anddown. 

It was his last night at Burchester, so he told himself, for many a yearto come. The fever for change was upon him. He had played his last cardand lost. It was characteristic of the man to turn his back upon hislosses and be gone. His soul had begun to yearn for the wide spaces, and it was in answer to the yearning that he had come up to this eagle'seyrie a second time. He could not be still, and the feeling of wallsaround him was somehow unbearable. But he expected no vision tonight. Hewalked in darkness. 

Down in the harbour his yacht was waiting, and he wondered cynically whatwhim kept him from joining her. Why was he staying to drain the cup tothe dregs--he who had the whole world to choose from? He had sent hismessage, he had made his sacrifice--at what a cost not even Maud wouldever know. It was the first voluntary sacrifice he had ever made, hereflected ironically, and he marvelled at himself to find that he caredso much. For, after all, what was it he had sacrificed? Nothing worthhaving, so he told himself. He had possessed her childish adoration, buther love--never! And, very curiously, it was her love that he had wanted. Actually, for the first time in his life, no lesser thing had appealed tohim. Jaded and weary with long experience, he owned now to a longing forthat at which all his life long he had scoffed. The longing was not to besatisfied. He was to go empty away. But yet the very fact that he hadknown it had in some inexplicable fashion purified him from earthlydesires. He had as it were reached up and touched the spiritual, and thatwhich was not spiritual had crumbled away below him. He looked back uponthe desert through which all his life he had travelled, and saw onlysand. 

The sound of the turret-door banging behind him recalled him to hissurroundings. He awoke to the fact that the wind was chill, and that adrift of rain was coming in from the sea. With an impatient shrug heturned. Why was he lingering here like a drunken reveller at a tableof spilt wine? He would go down to his yacht and find Larpent--Larpentwho had also loved and lost. They would go out on the turn of thetide--the two losers in the game of life--and leave the spilt wine behindthem. 

Impulsively he strode back along the ramparts. The game was over, and hewould never play again; but at least he would face the issue like a man. No one, not even Larpent, should ever see him flinch. So he reachedthe turret-door, and came abruptly to a halt. 

It was no vision that showed her to him, standing there in her slenderfairness, wrapt in a cloak that glimmered vaguely blue in the glimmeringstarlight. Her face was very pale, and he saw her frightened eyes as shestood before him. Her hands were tightly clasped together, and she spokeno word at all. 

The door was shut behind her, and he saw that she was trembling from headto foot. 

He stood motionless, within reach of her, but not touching her. "Well?"he said. 

She made a curious gesture with her clasped hands, standing before him asshe had stood on board his yacht on that night in the Mediterranean whenshe had come to him for refuge. 

"I've come, " she said, in a voice that quivered uncontrollably, "to tellyou something. "

Saltash did not stir. His face was in shadow, but there was a suggestionof tension about his attitude that was not reassuring. "Well?" he saidagain. 

She wrung her hands together with a desperate effort to subdue heragitation, and began again, "I've come--to tell you something. "

"Something I don't know?" he questioned cynically. 

She nodded. "Some--some--something you don't want to know. It--it wasMaud made me come. "

That moved him a little. That piteous stammer of hers had always touchedhis compassion. "Don't fret yourself, _ma chère_!" he said. "I know allthere is to know--all about Rozelle--all about Larpent--all aboutSpentoli. "

"You--you don't know this, " said Toby. "You--you--you don't know--why Iran away from you--in Paris!"

"Don't I?" he said, and she heard the irony of his voice. "I have anagile brain, my child. I can generally jump the gaps prettysuccessfully. "

She shook her head with vehemence. "And how do you know about Spentoli?"she demanded suddenly. "Who told you that?"

"The man himself, " said Saltash. 

"Ah! And what did he tell you?" A note of fierceness sounded in hervoice. She seemed to gather herself together like a cornered animalpreparing to make a wild dash for freedom. 

Saltash made her a queer, abrupt bow, and in so doing he blocked the waybefore her so that she could only flee by the way she had come. "He toldme nothing that I did not know before, " he said, "nothing that your owneyes had not told me long ago. "

"What do you mean?" breathed Toby, pressing her clasped hands tightly toher breast. Her eyes were still upraised to his; they glittered in thedimness. 

Saltash answered her more gently than was his wont. "I mean that I knowthe sort of inferno your life had been--a perpetual struggle against oddsthat were always overwhelming you. If it hadn't been so, you would neverhave come to me for shelter. Do you think I ever flattered myself thatthat was anything but a last resource--the final surrender tocircumstance? If I had failed you--"

"Wait!" Toby broke in tensely. "You're right in some things. You'rewrong there. It's true I was always running away--as soon as I was oldenough to realize the rottenness of life. Spentoli tried to ruin me, but I dodged him, and then--when he trapped me--the hell-hound--I did mybest--to murder him!" The breath suddenly whistled through her teeth. "Itried to stab him to the heart. God knows I tried! But--I suppose itwasn't in the right place, for I didn't get there. I left him fordead--I thought he was dead--till that day in Paris. And ever since--it'sbeen just a nightmare fight for life--and safety. I'd have tried someother dodge if you hadn't found me. I was not quite down and out. Butyou--you made all the difference. I had to go to you. "

"And why?" said Charles Rex. 

She rushed on regardless of question. The flood-gates were open; she washiding nothing from him now. 

"You came. If you'd been an angel from heaven, you couldn't have beenmore wonderful. You helped me--believed in me--gave me always--thebenefit of the doubt--made a way of escape for me--made lifepossible--even--even--beautiful!" She choked a little over the word. "Ioffered you just everything. I couldn't help it. You were the only man inthe world to me. How could I help worshipping you? You--you--you werealways so splendid--so--so great. You made me--you made me realize--thatlife was worth having. You made me--believe in God. " She broke intosudden wild tears. "And you didn't love me enough even to take the littleI had to give! I didn't want you to marry me. I never dreamt of such athing. I had kept myself from harm, but I knew very well I wasn't fit tobe your wife. Only--I loved you so. And when I knew that Bunny wasturning against me--would never believe in me--I just couldn't helpturning to you again. And then--and then--you went and married me!" Shewrung her hands tragically. "I ought not to have let you. God will neverforgive me for it. I don't deserve to be forgiven. But I loved you--Iloved you!"

She covered her face and sobbed. 

Saltash reached out a hand and took her by the shoulder. "Nonette!Nonette!" he said, in a voice that was strangely uncertain. "Don't cry, child! Don't cry!"

She drew herself away from him. "Don't--don't! I don't want you to. Ijust came to tell you--that's all--in case you should think I ever--caredfor--Bunny. Maud says--you ought to know that. We only--only--playedtogether. We never--really--loved each other. I wasn't his sort--or hemine. He doesn't want me back. I wouldn't go if he did. I ran away--withthat damn cur Spentoli--to give you a chance--to drop me. I couldn'tface you after you knew everything. You'd never loved me, and I'd trickedyou too badly. I knew you'd want to get free. Why didn't you start in andget a divorce? Why didn't you? Why didn't you?"

She suddenly lifted her face, storming the words, electrified as it wereby the wild force of her passion. Again he reached a hand towards her, but she eluded him with a desperate gesture. 

"No! No! Don't touch me! Don't touch me! I can't bear it! I'm going now!I'm going right away. You'll never see me again--never hear of me. Andyou'll be free! Do you understand? You'll be quite free. I'll keep thatpromise I made to you. It won't be difficult. No one shall ever knowhow--and only you--you who never even pretended to love me--will be ableto guess why. "

She turned about with the words, and wrenched furiously at the doorbehind her. In another moment she would have been gone. But in thatmoment Saltash moved, perhaps more swiftly than he had ever moved inhis life before, and in a flash he had her in his arms. 

She fought for her freedom then like a terrified animal, twisting thisway and that, straining with frenzied effort to escape. And when, hishold encompassing her, he broke down her resistance, pressing herindomitably closer and closer till she lay powerless and palpitatingagainst his breast, she burst into agonized tears, beseeching him, imploring him, to set her free. 

"Why should I?" he said, still holding her. "Don't you know yet that it'sthe very last thing I mean to do?"

"You must! Oh, you must!" she cried back. "You can't--you--youcan't--hold me--against my will!"

"That's true, " said Saltash, as if struck by something. "And are youcapable of leaving me--against mine?" His hold relaxed with the words, and instantly she sprang away from him--sprang like a fleeing bird uponthe low parapet beside them, and in a second was sliding out upon thenarrow ledge that surrounded the great stone buttress of the turret. 

"Hell!" ejaculated Saltash, and gave a great leap as if he would pursueher, then with abrupt effort checked himself. 

He stood with one foot on the parapet, and watched her, and in the vaguestarlight his eyes burned with the old mocking devilry behind which hehad so long sheltered his soul. 

"So you think you'll get away from me that way, do you?" he said, andlaughed his gibing laugh. "Well, you may try. Either stay there tillyou've had enough--or throw yourself over! I'll get you in any case. "

She came to a stand, her hands spread out on each side of her, her eyesturning back to him across the awful space that yawned between. Sheerdepth was below her, but she did not seem aware of it. 

"I will throw myself over, " she said with tense purpose, "unless youpromise--unless you swear--to let me go. "

He laughed again, but there was no mirth in the glittering eyes thatlooked back at her, neither mirth nor dismay, only the most arrogant andabsolute mastery that she had ever encountered. 

"I promise nothing, " he said, "except that one way or the other I'm goingto have you. You can take your choice. You can sink or swim. But youwon't get away. There is a bond between us that you can't break, howeverhard you try. Fling yourself over if you think it's worth it? And beforeyou get to the bottom I shall be with you. I'll chase you through thegates of Hades. I've travelled alone far enough. For the future--we gotogether. That I swear to God!"

Across the abyss he flung his tremendous challenge, the laugh still onhis lips and in his eyes the blazing derision that mocks at fate. 

And as she heard it, the girl's heart suddenly failed her. She began totremble. Yet, even so, she made a last desperate bid for pride andfreedom. 

She clutched at the cold stones on each side of her with nerveless, quivering fingers. "There is--no bond between us!" she gasped forthpiteously. "There never--never has been!"

He flung back the words like a missile, unerring, blindingly direct. "Nobond between us! Good God! Would I follow you through death if there werenot?" And then suddenly, with an amazing change to tenderness that leaptthe void and enchained her where she stood:--"Toby--Toby, you littleass--don't you know I've loved you from the moment _The Night Moth_struck?"

There was no questioning the truth of those words. A great sob broke fromToby, and the tension went out of her attitude. She stood for a fewseconds with her head raised, and on her face the unutterable rapture ofone who sees a vision. Then, with sharp anguish, "I can't come back!" shecried like a frightened child. "I'm going to fall!"

Saltash straightened himself. His forehead was wet, but he did not pausefor a moment. "I'm coming to you, " he said. "Keep as you are and I'llgive you a hand to hold!"

She obeyed him as one dazed into submission. Blindly she waited, tillwith a monkey-like agility, he also had traversed that giddy ledge towhere she stood. His fingers met and gripped her own. 

"Now, " he said, "come with me and you are safe! You can't fall. My loveis holding you up. "

She heard the laugh in his voice, and her panic died. Mutely she yieldedherself to him. By the strength of his will alone, she left the abyssbehind. But when he lifted her from the parapet back to safety, she criedout as one whom fear catches by the throat, and fainted in his arms. 

 * * * * *

Out of a great darkness, the light dawned again for Toby. She opened hereyes gasping to find that the scene had changed. She was lying upontiger-skins in Saltash's conical chamber, and he, the king of all herdreams, was kneeling by her side. 

That was the first thing that occurred to her--that he should kneel. 

"Oh, don't! Oh, don't!" she said quickly. "I am not--not Maud. "

He regarded her humorously, but the old derisive lines were wholly gonefrom his dark face. His eyes held something that was unfamiliar, something that made her quiver with a quick agitation that was notdistress. 

"So I am only allowed to kneel to Maud!" he said. 

She tried to meet his look and, failing, hid her face. "I--I knowyou have always loved her, " she murmured rather incoherently. "Youcouldn't--you couldn't--pretend to--to--to really love anyoneelse--after Maud!"

There fell a brief silence, and she thought the beating of her heartwould choke her. Then there came the touch of his hand upon her head, andits wild throbbing grew calmer. 

"No, " he said, and in his voice was a new deep note unknown to her. "I amnot pretending, Nonette. "

The light touch drew her as it were magnetically. With a swift, impulsivemovement she raised herself, gave herself to him, hiding her face stillmore deeply against his breast. 

"But you--you--you couldn't really love me!" she whispered like anincredulous child. "You sure you do?"

His arms went round her, holding her fast. He made no other answer. Saltash, the glib of tongue and ready of gibe, was for once speechless inthe presence of that which has no words. 

She nestled closer to him as a little furry animal that has found itshome. Her incredulity was gone, but she kept her face hidden. "But whydidn't you tell me before?" she said. 

He bent his black head till his lips reached and rested against her hair. "Nonette, " he said, "you told me that I had made you believe in God. "

"Yes?" she whispered back rather breathlessly. "Yes?"

"That's why, " he said. "You got me clean through my armour there. Egad, it made me a believer too. If I'd failed you after that--well, He'd havebeen justified in damning me, body and soul!"

"But you couldn't!" she protested. "You couldn't fail me!"

His dark face twisted with the old wry grimace. "I've failed a good manyin my time, Nonette. But--no one ever trusted me to that extent. Youpractically forced me--to prove myself. "

A little gasp of relief came from Toby. She spoke with more assurance. "Oh, was that it? You were just trying--to be good?"

"Just--trying!" said Saltash. 

"You still trying?" asked Toby, a little curious note of laughter in hervoice. 

"I shan't keep on much longer, " he returned, "unless I get what I want. "

"There'd be a blue moon if you did!" remarked Toby impudently. 

Saltash raised his head abruptly. "By Jupiter! There is one!" he said. "Let's go to her!"

Toby's face shot upwards in a moment. "Where?"

Her eyes sought the skylight above them and the dim mysterious blue ofthe night. His came down to her in a flash, dwelt upon her, caressed her, drew her. 

She turned sharply and looked at him. "Charles Rex!" she saidreproachfully. 

He took her pointed chin and laughed down at her. His eyes, one black, one grey, shone with a great tenderness, holding hers till they widenedand shone back with a quick blue flame in answer. 

Then: "As I was saying, " remarked Charles Rex royally "when I wasinterrupted some six months ago--I have never yet refused--a gift fromthe gods. "

"But you've taken your time over accepting it, haven't you?" said Toby, with a chuckle. 

He bent to her. "Let's go!" he said again. 

THE END