l--except with his eyes.

They, at first, expressed something like horror. Then they softened, or
dulled, I couldn't tell which, and suddenly it occurred to me to flash a
glance to Caspian. He was almost ill with curiosity. Pat had turned to
stare at him, too, knowing already, through the bitter experience which
had made him her fiance, that C. wanted only a weapon with which to do
Peter harm.

Certainly it did look as if Peter were desperately anxious to choke the
man into silence. He had the air of wanting to stop some irrevocable
word from being said, of urging, explaining, almost entreating. "What
_can_ it mean?" I asked myself, determined, however, to keep my faith in
the Stormy Petrel at any price.

As I thought of all sorts of things, I heard Pat say, "_I'm_ not going
to dress. It's too late, and I'm too tired. I'll go in to dinner just as
I am, if you will, Molly."

Instantly I guessed what was in her mind. The bright child was rallying
round Peter. If I hadn't been sure before that she'd fallen in love with
him, I should have been sure then! It was love that made her think
quickly and find the best way to defend him--as she had found a way
before, by sacrificing herself. She knew that, if he were left alone, Ed
Caspian would try to get hold of the stranger (whom he evidently knew)
the instant Peter and he parted. He would pump him if possible, and
Peter's secret, whatever it was, would be at the enemy's mercy.

I rose to the occasion, or, rather, I sat down on it. I subsided into
the chair close to Caspian which the man had jumped up from like a
Jack-in-a-box. Pat followed my example by plumping into a seat on Ed's
other side, and in common decency he could not bolt. "Why, yes," I
said, "I should like nothing better than an excuse to dine as I am. Mr.
Caspian is so smart, he must bear off the honours for us all."

Jack, of course, saw what we were up to, for he had seen the whole
drama--tragedy, comedy, whatever it was! British though he is, it never
takes him longer than a lightning (conductor) flash to seize any
situation in which I am concerned. But I don't need to tell you that!
You, too, have married a Britisher, and know just how much that dear old
American joke about English slowness of comprehension amounts to--unless
the creature is putting on airs!

"We'll none of us dress," said he, with a wicked gleam in his eye; the
Boys joined him; and the dapper wedding-cake figure was surrounded and
swal