boat by pointing at once to the best--if not
the only--place fit for a landing. The sailor was by no means accustomed to
such _flair_ in a yacht's guests. Indeed, it had often astonished him that
people who, as a class, had so little notion of how to get into or out of a
dinghy could have succeeded, as they all apparently had, in any department
of life.

With continuing skill, Audrey guided Madame Piriac over the dyke and past
sundry other obstacles, including a watercourse, to a gate in the wall
which formed the frontier of the grounds of Flank Hall. The gate seemed at
first to be unopenably fastened, but Audrey showed that she possessed a
genius with gates, and opened it with a twist of the hand. They wandered
through a plantation and then through an orchard, and at length saw the
house. There was not a sign of Aguilar, but the unseen yard-dog began to
bark, hearing which, Madame Piriac observed in French: "The property seems
a little neglected, but there must be someone at home."

"Aguilar is bound to come now!" thought Audrey. "And I am lost!" Then she
added to herself: "And I don't care if I _am_ lost. What an unheard-of
lark!" And to Madame Piriac she said lightly: "Well, we must explore."

The blinds were nearly all up on the garden front. And one window--the
French window of the drawing-room--was wide open.

"The crisis will be here in one minute at the latest," thought Audrey.

"Evidently Miss Moze is at home," said Madame Piriac, gazing at the house.
"Yes, it is distinguished. It is what I had expected.... But ought we not
to go to the front door?"

"I think we ought," Audrey agreed.

They went round the side of the house, into the main drive, and without
hesitation Madame Piriac rang the front door bell, which they could plainly
hear. "I must have my cards ready," said she, opening her bag. "One always
hears how exigent you are in England about such details, even in the
provinces. And, indeed, why not?"

There was no answer to the bell. Madame Piriac rang again, and there was
still no answer. And the dog had ceased to bark.

"_Mon Dieu!_" she muttered. "Have you observed, darling, that all the
blinds are down on this facade?"

She rang a third time. Then, without a word, they returned slowly to the
garden front.

"How mysterious! _Mon Dieu!_ How English it all is!" muttered Madame
Piriac. "It gives me fear."

Audrey had almost decided definitely that she was saved when she happened
to glance thr