ly
have been called a thief."

"As a matter of fact," Cecil remarked, "I do not think that he himself
benefited a penny by any of his exploits. It was simply the love of
adventure which led him into it."

"Even if he did," Major Forrest remarked, "that same predatory instinct
is alive to-day in another guise. The whole world is preying upon one
another. We are thieves, all of us, to the tips of our finger-nails,
only our roguery is conducted with due regard to the law."

The Princess smiled faintly as she glanced across the table at the
speaker.

"I am afraid," she said, with a little sigh, "that you are right. I do
not think that we have really improved with the centuries. My own
ancestors sacked towns and held the inhabitants to ransom. To-day I sit
down to bridge opposite a man with a well-filled purse, and my one idea
is to lighten it. Nothing, I am convinced, but the fear of being found
out, keeps us reasonably moral."

"If we go on talking like this," Lord Ronald remarked, "we shall make
Miss Le Mesurier nervous. She will feel that we, and the whole of the
rest of the world, have our eyes upon her moneybags."

"I am absolutely safe," Jeanne answered smiling. "I do not play bridge,
and even my signature would be of no use to any one yet."

"But you might imagine us," Lord Ronald continued, "waiting around
breathlessly until the happy time arrived when you were of age, and we
could pursue our diabolical schemes."

Jeanne shook her head.

"You cannot frighten me, Lord Ronald," she said. "I feel safe from
every one. I am only longing for to-morrow, for a chance to explore
this wonderful subterranean passage."

"I am afraid," their host remarked, "that you will be disappointed.
With the passing of smuggling, the romance of the thing seems to have
died. There is nothing now to look at but mouldy walls, a bare room,
and any amount of the most hideous fungi. I can promise you that when
you have been there for a few minutes your only desire will be to
escape."

"I am not so sure," the girl answered. "I think that associations
always have an effect on me. I can imagine how one might wait there,
near the entrance, hear the soft swish of the oars, look down and see
the smugglers, hear perhaps the muffled tramp of men marching from the
village. Fancy how breathless it must have been, the excitement, the
fear of being caught."

Cecil curled his slight moustache dubiously.

"If you can feel all that in my littl