?"

Livingstone stared at the older man and laughed shortly.

"Well, I don't know," he said. "He died. Some of us only live."

THE VAGRANT

His Excellency Sir Charles Greville, K. C M. G., Governor of the
Windless Islands, stood upon the veranda of Government House surveying
the new day with critical and searching eyes. Sir Charles had been
so long absolute monarch of the Windless Isles that he had assumed
unconsciously a mental attitude of suzerainty over even the glittering
waters of the Caribbean Sea, and the coral reefs under the waters,
and the rainbow skies that floated above them. But on this particular
morning not even the critical eye of the Governor could distinguish a
single flaw in the tropical landscape before him.

The lawn at his feet ran down to meet the dazzling waters of the bay,
the blue waters of the bay ran to meet a great stretch of absinthe
green, the green joined a fairy sky of pink and gold and saffron.
Islands of coral floated on the sea of absinthe, and derelict clouds of
mother-of-pearl swung low above them, starting from nowhere and going
nowhere, but drifting beautifully, like giant soap-bubbles of light and
color. Where the lawn touched the waters of the bay the cocoanut-palms
reached their crooked lengths far up into the sunshine, and as the
sea-breeze stirred their fronds they filled the hot air with whispers
and murmurs like the fluttering of many fans. Nature smiled boldly upon
the Governor, confident in her bountiful beauty, as though she said,
"Surely you cannot but be pleased with me to-day." And, as though in
answer, the critical and searching glance of Sir Charles relaxed.

The crunching of the gravel and the rattle of the sentry's musket at
salute recalled him to his high office and to the duties of the morning.
He waved his hand, and, as though it were a wand, the sentry moved
again, making his way to the kitchen-garden, and so around Government
House and back to the lawn-tennis court, maintaining in his solitary
pilgrimage the dignity of her Majesty's representative, as well as her
Majesty's power over the Windless Isles.

The Governor smiled slightly, with the ease of mind of one who finds
all things good. Supreme authority, surroundings of endless beauty, the
respectful, even humble, deference of his inferiors, and never even an
occasional visit from a superior, had in four years lowered him into a
bed of ease and self-satisfaction. He was cut off from the world,