though he acquiesced readily enough to the
suggestion. I did not let Madame Patoff leave my arm until we were once
more on board the little yacht, for I was convinced that the woman was
dangerously mad. The drawn expression of her pale face did not change,
and she soon ceased speaking altogether. I noted the fact that in all
the excitement of the moment she expressed no satisfaction at Paul's
escape. It was not until we reached the water that she said something
about "dear Paul," in a tone that made me shudder. We were a silent
party as we ran down the wind to Buyukdere. Cutter sat beside Madame
Patoff, and watched her curiously; for the expression of her face had
not escaped him, though he had no idea of what had happened. Sitting on
the deck, at the edge of the wall, she looked down at the water as we
rushed along.

"What do you see in the water?" asked the professor, quietly. The answer
came in a very low voice, but I heard it as I stood by the helm:--

"I see a man's face under the water, looking up at me."

"And whose face is it?" inquired Cutter, in the same matter-of-fact
tone.

"I will not tell you, nor any one," she answered. Cutter looked up at me
to see whether I had heard, and I nodded to him. In a few minutes we
were alongside of the pier. I refused Chrysophrasia's not very pressing
invitation to tea, and, bidding good-by to the rest, I put my arm
through the professor's. He seemed ready enough to go with me, so we
walked along the smooth quay in the sunset, arm in arm.

"I wanted to speak to you," I said. "You ought to know what happened up
there this afternoon. Madame Patoff tried to push Paul over the edge. It
was a deliberate attempt to murder him." Cutter stopped in his walk and
looked earnestly into my face.

"Did you see it yourself? Did you positively see it, or is that only
your impression?"

"I saw it," I answered, shortly.

"She is quite mad still, then. No one but a mad woman would attempt such
a thing. What is worse, it is a fixed idea that she has." He told me
what Hermione had confided to him.

"Then Paul's life is not safe for a moment," I said, after a moment's
pause.

"Unless his brother marries Miss Carvel, I would advise him to be on his
guard when he is alone with his mother. He is safe enough when other
people are present. I know those cases. They are sly, cautious, timid.
She will try and push him over the edge of a precipice when nobody is
looking. Before you she will ca