o everything they can to make her
comfortable. I shall go myself and bring her back here as soon as it is
daylight."

"We are giving you a great deal of trouble, I am afraid, Mr. De la
Borne," the Princess said stiffly. "To-morrow, as soon as my maid can
pack, we will return to London."

Andrew bowed as he turned to leave the room.

"I trust," he said, "that you will not let my presence interfere with
your plans. I shall remain on the island myself to-morrow, after I have
brought your daughter back."

CHAPTER XX

Jeanne awoke the next morning to find herself between lavender scented
sheets in a small iron bedstead, with a soft sea-wind blowing in
through the half-open window. Her maid was ready to wait upon her, and
her bath was of salt water fresh from the sea. She descended to find
Andrew at work in the garden, the sun already high in the heavens, and
the sea as blue and placid as though the storm of the night before were
a thing long past and forgotten.

"I am never going away," she declared, as they sat at breakfast. "I
take your rooms, Monsieur Andrew. I will import as many chaperons as
you please, but I will not leave this island."

"I am afraid," he answered smiling, "that there are other people who
would have something to say about that. Your stepmother is already
anxious. I have promised that you shall be back at the Hall by ten
o'clock."

The gaiety suddenly faded from her face. Her lips, which had been
curved in laughter, quivered.

"You mean that?" she faltered.

"Most assuredly," he answered. "I have no place for lodgers here. As a
matter of fact, if you knew the truth, you would admit that your
staying here is quite impossible."

"Well," she said, "I should like to know the truth. Suppose you tell it
me."

"I must confess, then," Andrew answered, "that I am somewhat of a
fraud. Berners was my friend, not my lodger, and I am Andrew de la
Borne, Cecil's elder brother."

She looked at him for several moments steadily.

"I think that you might have told me," was all she said.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Why?" he asked, a little brusquely. "I am not of your world, or your
stepmother's. When Cecil told me that he had invited some of his
fashionable friends down here to stay, I begged him to leave me out of
it. I chose to retire here, and I preferred not to see any of you. Mine
are country ways, Miss Le Mesurier. I am at heart what I pretended to
be, fisherman, countryman, yokel,