ough as he
replied, "Alicia, I am not coming just yet."

Tony took Beatrice by the arm. "This isn't our scene," he whispered. She
obeyed the hint; and she, Lionel, Tony and Billing retired a few yards
to the aeroplane, out of ear-shot. "Is it fair to leave him?" asked
Beatrice; "he looked very frightened, poor little man!"

"Yes--yes!" said Tony decidedly; "he must do this on his own--sink or
swim. I think he'll be all right, now that I've stiffened him. Let him
alone."

Mrs. Hedderwick appreciated the withdrawal, but it did not soften her
mood. "What do you mean, Robert?" she said coldly. "You are my husband,
though you did desert me cruelly. You must come."

"I come on conditions," said Robert stoutly, though his knees were
quaking. "I mean to be master of the house in future--to do exactly what
I like and when I like--to go to Brighton, if I choose----"

"Don't be absurd," said Mrs. Hedderwick.

"I mean what I say," he reiterated. "I'm--I'm still very fond of you,
Alicia, but I must be master----"

"Don't be absurd," said Mrs. Hedderwick, still unmoved. "You will come
home with me to-night."

She advanced and took his arm in a wifely grasp. Robert, feeling the
chains imminent, resolved to play his last card. It was his sole
remaining hope of freedom. Bruskly he freed his arm. Then with
incredible agility he ran to the aeroplane and scrambled into the
pilot's seat. "Now, then!" he said grimly; "you admit that _I_ am to be
head, and I'll come down. Otherwise I'll start this infernal machine. I
don't much care what happens."

"Robert!" screamed his wife, shaken out of her composure. "Oh, Robert!
come down!"

"Not till you promise!" he said, fumbling at unaccustomed levers. "Here,
sir! how do you start it?"

"You fool!" shouted Billing, alarmed, as chance directed Robert to the
object of his search. "Stand clear!" he screamed, fearing the propeller
would start and hit the bystanders. He pulled Beatrice aside, and Tony
did the same for Mrs. Hedderwick. "Stop it, you fool! No!--the other
lever! The machine will be up in a minute."

"Promise!" screamed Robert, like one possessed. He was playing for life
now, and was past caring.

"I--I promise!" wailed Mrs. Hedderwick, as the propeller began to move,
and then at last Robert obeyed the frantic instructions of Billing and
stopped the engine. He descended with all the honors of war.

"You will excuse us," he said with a pale smile, taking Mrs. Hedderwick
by