'Who-all?' mumbled Lingard. 'There isn't an other one like her if you were to ransack the islands all round the compass.'
'Edith!' ejaculated Mr. Travers in a remonstrating, acrimonious voice, and everyone gave him a look of vague surprise.
Then Mrs. Travers asked:
'Who is she?'
Lingard very red and grave declared curtly:
'A princess.'
Immediately he looked round with suspicion. No one smiled. D'Alcacer, courteous and nonchalant, lounged up close to Mrs. Travers' elbow.
'If she is a princess, then this man is a knight,' he murmured with conviction. 'A knight as I live! A descendant of the immortal hidalgo errant upon the sea. It would be good for us to have him for a friend. Seriously I think that you ought—'
The two stepped aside and spoke low and hurriedly.
'Yes, you ought—'
'How can I?' she interrupted, catching the meaning like a ball.
'By saying something.'
'Is it really necessary?' she asked, doubtfully.
'It would do no harm,' said d'Alcacer with sudden carelessness; 'a friend is always better than an enemy.'
'Always?' she repeated, meaningly. 'But what could I say?'
'Some words,' he answered; 'I should think any words in your voice—'
'Mr. d'Alcacer!'
'Or you could perhaps look at him once or twice as though he were not exactly a robber,' he continued.
'Mr. d'Alcacer, are you afraid?'
'Extremely,' he said, stooping to pick up the fan at her feet. 'That is the reason I am so anxious to conciliate. And you must not forget that one of your queens once stepped on the cloak of perhaps such a man.'
Her eyes sparkled and she dropped them suddenly.
'I am not a queen,' she said, coldly.
'Unfortunately not,' he admitted; 'but then the other was a woman with no charm but her crown.'
At that moment Lingard, to whom Hassim had been talking earnestly, protested aloud:
'I never saw these people before.'
Immada caught hold of her brother's arm. Mr. Travers said harshly:
'Oblige me by taking these natives away.'
'Never before,' murmured Immada as if lost in ecstasy. D'Alcacer glanced at Mrs. Travers and made a step forward.
'Could not the difficulty, whatever it is, be arranged, Captain?' he said with careful politeness. 'Observe that we are not only men here—'
'Let them die!' cried Immada, triumphantly.
Though Lingard alone understood the meaning of these words, all on board felt oppressed by the uneasy silence which followed her cry.
'Ah! He is going. Now, Mrs. Travers,' whispered d'Alcacer.
'I hope!' said Mrs. Travers, impulsively, and stopped as if alarmed at the sound.
Lingard stood still.
'I hope,' she began again, 'that this poor girl will know happier days—' She hesitated.
Lingard waited, attentive and serious.
'Under your care,' she finished. 'And I believe you meant to be friendly to us.'
'Thank you,' said Lingard with dignity.
'You and d'Alcacer,' observed Mr. Travers, austerely, 'are unnecessarily detaining this—ah—person, and—ah —friends—ah!'
'I had forgotten you—and now—what? One must—it is hard—hard—' went on Lingard, disconnectedly, while he looked into Mrs. Travers' violet eyes, and felt his mind overpowered and troubled as if by the contemplation of vast distances. 'I—you don't know—I—you—cannot . . . Ha! It's all that man's doing,' he burst out.
For a time, as if beside himself, he glared at Mrs. Travers, then flung up one arm and strode off toward the gangway, where Hassim and Immada waited for him, interested and patient. With a single word 'Come,' he preceded them down into the boat. Not a sound was heard on the yacht's deck, while these three disappeared one after another below the rail as if they had descended into the sea.
V
