red, "but my illness is of the soul. I have
become one of a type," she went on, "of which you will find many
examples here. We started life thinking that it was clever to despise
the conventional and the known and to seek always for the daring and the
unknown. New experiences were what we craved for. I married a wonderful
husband. I broke his heart and still looked for new things. I had a
daughter of whom I was fond--she ran away with my chauffeur and left me;
a son whom I adored, and he was killed in the war; a lover who told
me that he worshipped me, who spent every penny I had and made me the
laughing-stock of town. I am still looking for new things."

"Sir Timothy's parties are generally supposed to provide them," Francis
observed.

The woman shrugged her shoulders.

"So far they seem very much like anybody's else," she said. "The fight
might have been amusing, but no women were allowed. The rest was very
wonderful in its way, but that is all. I am still hoping for what we are
to see downstairs."

They heard Sir Timothy's voice a few yards away, and turned to look at
him. He had just come from below, and had paused opposite a man who had
been standing a little apart from the others, one of the few who was
wearing an overcoat, as though he felt the cold. In the background were
the two servants who had guarded the gangway.

"Mr. Manuel Loito," Sir Timothy said--"or shall I say Mr. Shopland?--my
invited guests are welcome. I have only one method of dealing with
uninvited ones."

The two men suddenly stepped forward. Shopland made no protest,
attempted no struggle. They lifted him off his feet as though he were a
baby, and a moment later there was a splash in the water. They threw a
life-belt after him.

"Always humane, you see," Sir Timothy remarked, as he leaned over the
side. "Ah! I see that even in his overcoat our friend is swimmer enough
to reach the bank. You find our methods harsh, Ledsam?" he asked,
turning a challenging gaze towards the latter.

Francis, who had been watching Shopland come to the surface, shrugged
his shoulders. He delayed answering for a moment while he watched the
detective, disdaining the life-belt, swim to the opposite shore.

"I suppose that under the circumstances," Francis said, "he was prepared
to take his risk."

"You should know best about that," Sir Timothy rejoined. "I wonder
whether you would mind looking after Lady Cynthia? I shall be busy for a
few moments."

Fran