el's anecdote about Colonel Bartlemy; smiling the while because he
had heard it many times before and knew it to be a good one; innocently
unaware that it covered any caustic subintention. It had started him on
a train of reminiscence which he pursued at the card-table (good man)
for twenty-five minutes, recalling himself to the cards with a faint
shock of surprise whenever it became his turn to play, as one who would
protest--"What, again? And so soon?"

"Yes, indeed," the Vicar's voice struck in across the strained silence,
"there is an old story that Oliver Cromwell left behind him, in
garrison here, a company of the Bedfordshire Regiment, and that in time
they were completely forgotten. (Let me see. Spades are trumps, I
believe.... 'Clubs'? Your pardon Mrs. Fossell, but I remember it was a
black suit.) Yes, and seeing no prospect of recall they married in time
with our Island women, and that"--here the Vicar gathered up a trick
which belonged to his opponents--"is, by some, alleged to be the reason
why the Islanders use a purer English than is spoken on the mainland.
Ah, quite so; yes, I played the ten--then it was your ace, Mrs. Pope? I
congratulate you, ma'am."

The Commandant, overhearing, could not forbear a glance at Miss
Gabriel. It conveyed no resentment, scarcely even a reproach; it turned
rather, as by dumb instinct, upon the author of the wound, and asked
perplexedly:--"What have I done to you, that you treat me thus?" I have
no doubt that Miss Gabriel caught the glance. She did not answer it;
but her grey eyes glinted beneath their lids as she bent them upon the
cards Mr. Fossell was dealing in his usual deliberate way--glinted as
though with a spark of flint struck out by steel.

"The story may be apocryphal," pursued the Vicar, addressing deaf ears
around the other table; "though, for my part, I incline to think there
may be a substratum----"

Mr. Fossell turned up the queen of hearts. The Commandant held ace,
ten, and two small trumps, with a strong hand in diamonds, which Mr.
Rogers, by a blundering lead, enabled him to establish early. Actual
honours were "easy"; but by exhausting trumps at the first opportunity,
he scored three by tricks. The next hand gave their opponents three
points--two by honours, and the trick. Three all.

The Vicar was heard to observe that, on the whole, intermarriage among
the Islanders had not produced the disastrous effects usually predicted
of it; and that, therefor