still, till
a tendril of dark hair that had strayed across her forehead quivered
beneath his breath. Then suddenly he drew back, jerking himself upright.
Striding across the room he pealed the bell and, when a neat maidservant
appeared in response, ordered sharply:

"Bring some brandy--quick! And ask Mrs. Grey to come here. Mademoiselle
Wielitzska has fainted."

CHAPTER XIX

AT THE END OF THE STORM

"This is very nice--but it won't exactly contribute towards finishing
the picture!"

As she spoke Magda leaned back luxuriously against her cushions and
glanced smilingly across at Michael where he sat with his hand on
the tiller of the _Bella Donna_, the little sailing-yacht which Lady
Arabella kept for the amusement of her guests rather than for her own
enjoyment, since she herself could rarely be induced to go on board.

It had been what Magda called a "blue day"--the sky overhead a deep
unbroken azure, the dimpling, dancing waters of the Solent flinging
back a blue almost as vivid--and she and Quarrington had put out from
Netherway harbour in the morning and crossed to Cowes.

Here they had lunched and Magda had purchased one or two of the
necessities of life (from a feminine point of view) not procurable in
the village emporia at Netherway. Afterwards, as there was still ample
time before they need think of returning home, Michael had suggested an
hour's run down towards the Needles.

The _Bella Donna_ sped gaily before the wind, and neither of its
occupants, engrossed in conversation, noticed that away to windward a
bank of sullen cloud was creeping forward, slowly but surely eating up
the blue of the sky.

"Of course it will contribute towards finishing the picture."
Quarrington answered Magda's laughing comment composedly. "A blow like
this will have done you all the good in the world, and I shan't have you
collapsing on my hands again as you did a week ago."

"Oh, then, you brought me out on hygienic grounds alone?" derided Magda.

She was feeling unaccountably happy and light-hearted. Since the day
when she had fainted during the sitting Michael seemed to have changed.
He no longer gave utterance to those sudden, gibing speeches which had
so often hurt her intolerably. That sense of his aloofness, as though
a great wall rose between them, was gone. Somehow she felt that he had
drawn nearer to her, and once or twice those grey, compelling eyes had
glowed with a smothered fire that had set her hear