hough he loved her savagely, he did not trust
her. "I never killed any one except in fair fight."

Arisa laughed low, for she remembered.

"When I first saw you," she said, "your hands were covered with blood. I
think the reason why I liked you was that you seemed so much more
terrible than all the others who looked in at my cabin door."

"I am as mild as milk and almonds," said Aristarchi. "I am as timid as a
rabbit."

His deep voice was like the purring of a huge cat. Arisa looked down at
his head. Then her hands suddenly clasped his throat and she tried to
make her fingers meet round it as if she would have strangled him, but
it was too big for them. He drew in his chin a little, the iron muscles
stiffened themselves, the cords stood out, and though she pressed with
all her might she could not hurt him, even a little; but she loved to
try.

"I am sure I could strangle Contarini," she said quietly. "He has a
throat like a woman's."

"What a murderous creature you are!" purred the Greek, against hex knee.
"You are always talking of killing."

"I should like to see you fighting for your life," she answered, "or for
me."

"It is the same thing," he said.

"I should like to see it. It would be a splendid sight."

"What if I got the worst of it?" asked Aristarchi, his vast mouth
grinning at the idea.

"You?" Arisa laughed contemptuously. "The man is not born who could kill
you. I am sure of it."

"One very nearly succeeded, once upon a time," said Aristarchi.

"One man? I do not believe it!"

"He chanced to be an executioner," answered the Greek calmly, "and I had
my hands tied behind me."

"Tell me about it."

Arisa bent down eagerly, for she loved to hear of his adventures, though
he had his own way of narrating them which always made him out innocent
of any evil intention.

"There is nothing to tell. It was in Naples. A woman betrayed me and
they bound me in my sleep. In the morning I was condemned to death,
thrown into a cart and dragged off to be hanged. I thought it was all
over, for the cords were new, so that I could not break them. I tried
hard enough! But even if I had broken loose, I could never have fought
my way through the crowd alone. The noose was around my neck."

He stopped, as if he had told everything.

"Go on!" said Arisa. "How did you escape? What an adventure!"

"One of my men saved me. He had a little learning, and could pass for a
monk when he could get a cowl. He went ou