e whip which had slipped from his fingers. His eyes
were fixed not upon Mrs. Bollington-Watts nor upon Lady Elisabeth, but
upon Maraton. He was a young man of harmless and commonplace appearance
but his features were at that moment transformed. His mouth was
strained and quivering, his eyes were lit with something very much like
horror. Some words certainly left his lips, but they did not carry to
the hearing of any one of those three people. He looked at Maraton with
the fierce, terrified intentness of one who looks upon a spectre!

CHAPTER VII

Mrs. Bollington-Watts' shrill voice once more broke the silence, which,
although it was a matter of seconds only, was not without a certain
peculiar dramatic quality.

"Say, what's wrong with you, Freddy? You don't think I'm a ghost, do
you? Can't you come down and talk?"

The spell, whatever it may have been, had passed. The young man lifted
his hat and leaned over the side of the coach.

"I won't get down just now, Amy," he said. "Tell me where you are and
I'll come and see you. How's Richard?"

Maraton, obeying a gesture from Lady Elisabeth, moved away with her,
leaving Mrs. Bollington-Watts absorbed in a flood of family questions
and answers.

"Come back with me now, won't you?" she asked, a little abruptly. "My
uncle is restless and unwell this afternoon, and it will perhaps relieve
him to have your decision."

"What about Mrs. Bollington-Watts?"

Lady Elisabeth glanced at him for a moment. Her eyebrows were slightly
lifted.

"If you can bear to lose her, I'm sure I can. She is really rather a
dear person but she is very intense. She will meet a crowd of people
she knows, directly, and quite forget that we have slipped away. Shall
we go down Birdcage Walk, or if you are in a hurry, perhaps you would
prefer a taxi?"

He shook his head.

"I prefer to walk."

He did not at first prove a very entertaining companion. They proceeded
for some distance almost in silence.

"If I were a curious person," Lady Elisabeth remarked, "I should
certainly be puzzling my brain as to what there could have been about
that very frivolous young man to call such an expression into your face.
And how terrified he was to see you!"

Maraton smiled grimly.

"You have observation, I perceive, Lady Elisabeth."

"Powers of observation but no curiosity, thank goodness," Lady Elisabeth
declared. "Perhaps that is just as well, for I can see that you are
going to turn out to be a