me of all--a trip to the Old Country. And here on board
this ship, under circumstances which would bring them together daily for
at least three weeks, she had found him again, and--he would have none
of her.

Had she not shown him how bitterly she repented her demeanour on that
day; shown him by word, by look, by every subtle tenderness which she
knew so well how to import into both? But of telling him so in plain
language he seemed determined to afford her no opportunity. There were
moments when she thought of punishing him by arousing his jealousy, if
he had got one spark of that evil combustible within him. It was easily
done; there was no lack of material to hand. But, fortunately, she
recollected that he had not--except in the form of unmitigated
contempt--and that however such a plan might answer with some men, with
this one its only result could be to fix the gulf between them more
irrevocably wide than ever. For the first time in her life Mona found
herself unpopular with the opposite sex; for not by any representative
of it as there gathered together could she be induced to indulge in
moonlight walks, or protracted sitting out when dancing was forward, or,
in short, in the barest suspicion of any approach to a flirtation
whatsoever.

Towards Lambert she made no attempt to conceal her dislike, her
detestation; and this she was able to indulge on the pretext of being
well aware why he had selected this ship for his own trip home. So,
seeing that she would have nothing to say to him, he desisted, and
retired in snarling exasperation. But he consoled himself by watching
her and Roden Musgrave on every available opportunity. The latter, in
his surprise, he had at first greeted with a stiff, jerky nod, which had
not been returned. Looking him straight in the eye Roden had cut him
dead. Furious with jealous hatred and impotent spite, Lambert vowed an
easy revenge. The murder story. It would be just as effective here as
at Doppersdorp. Yet--would it? And Lambert remembered uneasily that
his own word was all he had to go upon here. Never expecting to see
Roden again he had left the papers with Mr Shaston. On the whole, he
decided to let that story alone for the present. But whatever Lambert
might or might not think fit to do mattered not twopence to Roden
Musgrave.

The latter seemed to get through his time without an effort. He read a
good deal and chatted a little, took a passive part in anything