butterfly in the sun, or whether it was because he was standing there beside her, but she looked up at him, laughing suddenly, and signed her name in the centre of the page, beneath the others, Dona St. Columb.
'And now you must go back, your children will wonder what has happened to you,' he said.
'Yes,' she said.
He led the way out of his cabin, and on to the deck. He leant over the rail, and called down to the men amidships.
'First you must be introduced,' he said, and he called out an order, in the Breton patois she could not understand, and in a moment his company assembled themselves, glancing up at her in curiosity.
'I am going to tell them that from henceforth you come to the creek unchallenged,' he said; 'that you are free to come and go as you please. The creek is yours. The ship is yours. You are one of us.' He spoke to them briefly, and then one by one they came up to her, and bowed, and kissed her hand, and she laughed back at them, saying, 'Thank you'-and there was a madness about, a frivolity, like a dream under the sun. Below, in the water, one of the men waited for her in the boat. She climbed the bulwark, and swung herself over the side onto the ladder. The Frenchman did not help her. He leant against the bulwark and watched her.
'And Navron House?' he said. 'Is it barred and bolted, is William to be dismissed?'
'No,' she said.
'I must return your call, then,' he said, 'as a matter of courtesy.'
'Of course.'
'What is the correct hour? In the afternoon, I believe, between three and four, and you offer me a dish of tea?'
She looked at him, laughing, and shook her head.
'No,' she said, 'that is for Lord Godolphin and the gentry. Pirates do not call upon ladies in the afternoon. They come stealthily, by night, knocking upon a window-and the lady of the manor, fearful for her safety, gives him supper, by candle-light.'
'As you will,' he said, 'to-morrow then, at ten o'clock?'
'Yes,' she said.
'Good night.'
'Good night.'
He went on standing against the bulwark watching her, as she was pulled ashore in the little boat. The sun had gone behind the trees, and the creek was in shadow. The last of the ebb had run away from the flats, and the water was still. A curlew called once, out of sight, round the bend of the river. The ship, with its bold colouring, its raking masts, looked remote, unreal, a thing of fantasy. She turned, and sped through the trees towards the house, smiling guiltily to herself, like a child hugging a secret.
Chapter VII
WHEN SHE CAME to the house she saw that William was standing by the window of the salon, making a pretence of putting the room in order, but she knew at once he had been watching for her.
She would not tell him immediately, for the fun of teasing him, and coming into the room, casting her kerchief from her head, she said, 'I have been walking, William, my head is better.'
'So I observe, my lady,' he said, his eyes upon her.
'I walked by the river, where it is quiet and cool.'
'Indeed, my lady.'
'I had no knowledge of the creek before. It is enchanting, like a fairy-tale. A good hiding-place, William, for fugitives like myself.'
'Very probably, my lady.'
'And my Lord Godolphin, did you see him?'
'His lordship was not at home, my lady. I bade his servant give your flowers and the message to his lady.'
'Thank you, William.' She paused a moment, pretending to arrange the sprigs of lilac in their vase, and then, 'Oh, William, before I forget. I am giving a small supper party to-morrow night. The hour is rather late, ten o'clock.'
'Very well, my lady. How many will you be?'
'Only two, William. Myself and one other-a gentleman.'
'Yes, my lady.'
'The gentleman will be coming on foot, so there is no need for the groom to stay up and mind a horse.'
'No, my lady.'
'Can you cook, William?'
'I am not entirely ignorant of the art, my lady.'
'Then you shall send the servants to bed, and cook supper for the gentleman and myself, William.'
'Yes, my lady.'
'And you need not mention the visit to anyone in the house, William.'
'No, my lady.'
'In fact, William, I propose to behave outrageously.'
'So it would seem, my lady.'
'And you are dreadfully shocked, William?'
'No, my lady.'
'Why not, William?'
'Because nothing you or my master ever did could possibly shock me, my lady.'
And at this she burst out laughing, and clasped her hands together.
'Oh, William, my solemn William, then you guessed all the time! How did you know, how could you tell?'
'There was something about your walk, as you entered just now, my lady, that gave you away. And your eyes were — if I may say so without giving offence-very much alive. And coming as you did from the direction of the river I put two and two together, as it were, and said to myself: 'It has happened. They have met at last.' '
'Why 'at last,' William?'
'Because, my lady, I am a fatalist by nature, and I have always known that, sooner or later, the meeting was bound to come about.'
'Although I am a lady of the manor, married and respectable, with two children, and your master a lawless Frenchman, and a pirate?'
'In spite of all those things, my lady.'
'It is very wrong, William. I am acting against the interests of my country. I could be imprisoned for it.'
'Yes, my lady.'
But this time he hid his smile no longer, his small button mouth relaxed, and she knew he would no longer be inscrutable and silent, but was her friend, her ally, and she could trust him to the last.
'Do you approve of your master's profession, William?' she said.
'Approve and disapprove are two words that are not in my vocabulary, my lady. Piracy suits my master, and that is all there is to it. His ship is his kingdom, he comes and goes as he pleases, and no man can command him. He is a law unto himself.'
'Would it not be possible to be free, to do as he pleases, and yet not be a pirate?'
'My master thinks not, my lady. He has it that those who live a normal life, in this world of ours, are forced into habits, into customs, into a rule of life that eventually kills all initiative, all spontaneity. A man becomes a cog in the wheel, part of a system. But because a pirate is a rebel, and an outcast, he escapes from the world. He is without ties, without man-made principles.'
'He has the time, in fact, to be himself.'
'Yes, my lady.'
'And the idea that piracy is wrong, that does not worry him?'
