omposed of your brother
officers?"

"They could not help themselves. To acquit me meant that they
discredited the sworn testimony not only of my Colonel's wife, but of
the civil head of an important Government Mission, not to mention some
bought Chinese evidence. Am I the first man to be offered up as a
sacrifice on the altar of official expediency?"

"But you are powerless now. You can hardly hope to have your case
revised. What chance is there that your name will ever be cleared?"

"Mrs. Costobell can do it if she will. The vagaries of such a woman are
not to be depended on. If Lord Ventnor has cast her off, her hatred may
'prove stronger than her passion. Anyhow, I should be the last man to
despair of God's Providence. Compare the condition of Iris and myself
today with our plight during the second night on the ledge! I refuse to
believe that a bad and fickle woman can resist the workings of destiny,
and it was a happy fate which led me to ship on board the
_Sirdar_, though at the time I saw it in another light."

How different the words, the aspirations, of the two suitors. Quite
unconsciously, Robert could not have pleaded better. The shipowner
sighed heavily.

"I hope your faith will be justified. If it be not--the more likely
thing to happen--do I understand that my daughter and you intend to get
married whether I give or withhold my sanction?"

Anstruther rose and opened the door.

"I have ventured to tell you," he said, "why she should not marry Lord
Ventnor. When I come to you and ask you for her, which I pray may be
soon, it will be time enough to answer that question, should you then
decide to put it."

It must be remembered that Robert knew nothing whatever of the older
man's predicament, whilst the baronet, full of his own troubles, was in
no mood to take a reasonable view of Anstruther's position. Neither
Iris nor Robert could make him understand the long-drawn-out duel of
their early life on the island, nor was it easy to depict the
tumultuous agony of that terrible hour on the ledge when the girl
forced the man to confess his love by suggesting acceptance of the
Dyaks' terms.

Thus, for a little while, these two were driven apart, and Anstruther
disdained to urge the plea that not many weeks would elapse before he
would be a richer man than his rival. The chief sufferer was Sir Arthur
Deane. Had Iris guessed how her father was tormented, she would not
have remained on the bridge, radiant and