ham was almost thankful to escape. There was an
unusual flush in his cheeks, a sense of bitter humiliation in his heart.
All the fervour with which he had started on his perilous quest had
faded away. No sense of duty or patriotism could revive his drooping
spirits. He felt himself suddenly an unclean and dishonoured being.

CHAPTER XXI

Towards three o'clock on the following afternoon, the boisterous wind
of an uncertain morning settled down to worse things. It tore the spray
from the crest of the gathering waves, dashed it even against the
French windows of Mainsail Haul, and came booming down the open spaces
cliffwards, like the rumble of some subterranean artillery. A little
group of fishermen in oilskins leaned over the railing and discussed
the chances of Ben Oates bringing his boat in safely. Philippa, also,
distracted by a curious anxiety, stood before the blurred window,
gazing into what seemed almost a grey chaos. "Captain Griffiths, your
ladyship."

She turned around quickly at the announcement. Even an unwelcome caller
at that moment was almost a relief to her.

"How nice of you to come and see me on such an afternoon, Captain
Griffiths," she exclaimed, as they shook hands. "Helen is over at the
Canteen, Nora is hard at work for once in her life, and I seem most
dolefully alone."

Her visitor's reception of Philippa's greeting promised little in the
way of enlivenment. He seemed more awkward and ill at ease than ever,
and his tone was almost threatening.

"I am very glad to find you alone, Lady Cranston," he said. "I came
specially to have a few words with you on a certain matter."

Her momentary impulse of relief at his visit passed away. There seemed
to her something sinister in his manner. She was suddenly conscious that
there was a new danger to be faced, and that this man's attitude towards
her was, for some reason or other, inimical. After the first shock,
however, she prepared herself to do battle.

"Well, you seem very mysterious," she observed. "I haven't broken any
laws, have I? No lights flashing from any of my windows?"

"So far as I am aware, there are no complaints of the sort," the
Commandant acknowledged, still speaking with an unnatural restraint. "My
call, I hope, may be termed, to some extent, at least, a friendly one."

"How nice!" she sighed. "Then you'll have some tea, won't you?"

"Not at present, if you please," he begged. "I have come to talk to you
about Mr. Hamar