XII

A VIGIL IN THE NIGHT

Although Lennard had always recognised the possibility of such a
catastrophe as that which John Castellan threatened, and had even taken
such precautions as he could to prevent it, still this direct menace,
coming straight from the man himself, brought the danger home to him in
a peculiarly personal way.

The look which had passed between them as they were swimming their race
in Clifden Bay had just as much meaning for him as for the man who now
not openly professed himself his rival, but who threatened to proceed to
the last extremities in order to gain possession of the girl they both
loved. It was impossible for him not to believe that the man who had
been capable of such cold-blooded atrocities as he had perpetrated at
Portsmouth, London and other places, would hesitate for a moment in
carrying out such a threat, and if he did--No, the alternative was quite
too horrible to think of yet.

One thing, however, was absolutely certain. Although no word of love had
passed between Auriole and himself since the night when he had shown her
the comet and described the possible doom of the world to her, she had
in a hundred ways made it plain to him that she was perfectly well aware
that he loved her and that she did not resent it--and he knew quite
enough of human nature to be well aware that when a woman allows herself
to be loved by a man with whom she is in daily and hourly contact, she
is already half won; and from this it followed, according to his exact
mathematical reasoning, that, whatever the consequences, her reply to
John Castellan's letter would be in the negative, and equally, of
course, so would her father's be.

"I wonder what the Kaiser's Admiral of the Air would think if he knew
how matters really stand," he said to himself as he read the letter
through for a second time. "Quite certain of doing what he threatens, is
he? I'm not. Still, after all, I suppose I mustn't blame him too much,
for wasn't I in just the same mind myself once--to save the world if she
would make it heaven for me, to--well--turn it into the other place if
she wouldn't. But she very soon cured me of that madness.

"I wonder if she could cure this scoundrel if she condescended to try,
which I am pretty certain she would not. I wonder what she'll look like
when she reads this letter. I've never seen her angry yet, but I know
she would look magnificent. Well, I shall do nothing till Mr Parmenter
gets back