imparted to Heyst the story of the violent proceedings following
on the discovery of his flight. Heyst's polite attention to the tale
took on a sombre cast; but he manifested no surprise, and offered no
comment. When Davidson had finished he handed down the shawl into
the boat, and Davidson promised to do his best to return it to Mrs.
Schomberg in some secret fashion. Heyst expressed his thanks in a few
simple words, set off by his manner of finished courtesy. Davidson
prepared to depart. They were not looking at each other. Suddenly Heyst
spoke:

"You understand that this was a case of odious persecution, don't you? I
became aware of it and--"

It was a view which the sympathetic Davidson was capable of
appreciating.

"I am not surprised to hear it," he said placidly. "Odious enough, I
dare say. And you, of course--not being a married man--were free to step
in. Ah, well!"

He sat down in the stern-sheets, and already had the steering lines in
his hands when Heyst observed abruptly:

"The world is a bad dog. It will bite you if you give it a chance; but I
think that here we can safely defy the fates."

When relating all this to me, Davidson's only comment was:

"Funny notion of defying the fates--to take a woman in tow!"

CHAPTER SEVEN

Some considerable time afterwards--we did not meet very often--I asked
Davidson how he had managed about the shawl and heard that he had
tackled his mission in a direct way, and had found it easy enough. At
the very first call he made in Samarang he rolled the shawl as tightly
as he could into the smallest possible brown-paper parcel, which he
carried ashore with him. His business in the town being transacted,
he got into a gharry with the parcel and drove to the hotel. With his
precious experience, he timed his arrival accurately for the hour of
Schomberg's siesta. Finding the place empty as on the former occasion,
he marched into the billiard-room, took a seat at the back, near the
sort of dais which Mrs. Schomberg would in due course come to occupy,
and broke the slumbering silence of the house by thumping a bell
vigorously. Of course a Chinaman appeared promptly. Davidson ordered a
drink and sat tight.

"I would have ordered twenty drinks one after another, if necessary,"
he said--Davidson's a very abstemious man--"rather than take that parcel
out of the house again. Couldn't leave it in a corner without letting
the woman know it was there. It might have turned