e and went before he put another question.

"What kept you from the shelter?" he asked, at last. I knew then that
he believed us to be Edmond Czerny's men; and I made up my mind
instantly what to do.

"Prudence kept us, doctor," said I (for doctor plainly he was);
"prudence, the same sense that turns a fly from a spider's web. It is
fair that you should know the story. We haven't come to Ken's Island
because we are Edmond Czerny's friends; nor will he call us that. Ask
Mme. Czerny the next time you meet her, and she'll tell you what
brought us here. You are acting well towards us and confidence is your
due, so I say that the day when Edmond Czerny finds us on this shore
will be a bad one for him or a bad one for us, as the case may be. Let
it begin with that, and afterwards we shall sail in open water."

I said all this just naturally, not wishing him to think that I feared
Edmond Czerny nor was willing to hoist false colours. Enemy or friend,
I meant to be honest with him. It was some surprise to me, I must say,
when he went on quietly with his work, moving from place to place, now
at the gas-burner, now at his machine, just for all the world as though
this visitation had not disturbed him. When he spoke it was to ask a
question about Miss Ruth.

"Mme. Czerny," said he, quietly; "there is a Mme. Czerny, then?"

Now, if he had struck me with his hand I could not have been more
surprised at his ignorance. Just think of it--here was a man left
behind on Ken's Island when all the riffraff there had fled to some
shelter on the sea; a man working quietly, I was sure, to discover what
he could of the gases which poisoned us; a man in Mistress Ruth's own
house who did not even know her name. Nothing more wonderful had I
heard that night. And the way he put the question, raising his eyebrows
a little, and looking up over his long, white apron!

"Not heard of Mme. Czerny!" cried I, in astonishment, "not heard of
her--why, what shore do you hail from, then? Don't you know that she's
his wife, doctor--his wife?"

He turned to his bottles and went on arranging them. He was speaking
and acting now at the same time.

"I came ashore with Prince Czerny when he landed here three days ago.
He did not speak of his wife. There are others in America who would be
interested in the news--young ladies, I think."

He paused for a little while, and then he said quietly:

"You would be friends of the Princess's, no doubt?"

"Princess