l his resolution to force Merefleet's attention
away from her. But Merefleet would not allow it. He saw what Seton did
not stop to see; and it was he, not Seton, who lifted her to her feet a
moment later and half-led, half-carried her out of the stifling room.

With a practical commonsense eminently characteristic of him, Seton
remained to pour out a glass of brandy; and thus armed he followed them
into the vestibule. Mab was lying back in an arm-chair when he arrived.
Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing quickly. Merefleet was
propping open the door on to the terrace. The lights flickered in the
draught and gave a strange look to the colourless face on the cushion. It
was like a beautifully carved marble. But for Merefleet the place was
deserted.

Seton knelt down and held the glass to his cousin's lips.

Merefleet returned softly and paused behind her chair.

"It's this confounded heat," said Seton in a savage undertone. "She will
be all right directly."

Merefleet said nothing. Again he was keenly conscious of the fact that
Seton wanted to get rid of him. But a stronger influence than Seton
possessed kept him standing there.

Mab opened her eyes as the neat spirit burnt her lips. She tried to push
the glass away, but Seton would not allow it.

"Just a drain, my dear girl," he said. "It will do you all the good in
the world. And then--Merefleet," glancing up at him, "will you fetch some
water?"

Merefleet went as desired.

When he returned, Mab was lying forward in Seton's arms, crying as he had
never seen any woman cry before. And Seton was stroking her hair in
silence.

Merefleet set down the water noiselessly, and went softly out into the
summer dusk. But the great waves beating on the shore could not drown
the memory of a woman's bitter sobbing. And the man's heart was dumb and
heavy with the trouble he could not fathom.

Some hours later, returning from a weary tramp along the shore, he
encountered Seton pacing to and fro on the terrace.

"She is better," he said, in answer to Merefleet's conventional enquiry.
"It was the heat, you know, that upset her."

"Yes," said Merefleet quietly. "I know."

Seton walked away restlessly, more as if he wished to keep on the move
than to avoid Merefleet. He came back, however, after a few seconds.

"Look here, Merefleet," he said abruptly, "you may take offence, but you
can't quarrel without my consent. For Heaven's sake, leave this place!
You are doi