him in speechless dismay.

"Try that," said the captain, handing Mr. Stobell his glass.

Mr. Stobell took it from mere force of habit, and sat holding it in his
hand as though he had forgotten what to do with it.

"I did it yesterday morning," said the captain, noticing their
consternation. "I had just lit my pipe after breakfast, and I suppose
the match put me in mind of it. I took out the map and set light to it
at Cape Silvio. The flame ran half-way round the coast and then popped
through the middle of the paper and converted Mount Lonesome into a
volcano."

He gave a boisterous laugh and, raising his glass, nodded to Mr. Stobell.
Mr. Stobell, who was just about to drink, lowered his glass again and
frowned.

"I don't see anything to laugh at," he said, deliberately.

"He can't have been listening," said Mr. Tredgold, in a low voice, to
Miss Drewitt.

"Well, it's done now," said the captain, genially. "You--you're not
going?"

"Yes, I am," said Mr. Stobell.

He bade them good-night, and then pausing at the door stood and surveyed
them; even Mr. Tasker, who was gliding in unobtrusively with a jug of
water, shared in his regards.

"When I think of the orphans and widows," he said, bitterly, "I----"

He opened the door suddenly and, closing it behind him, breathed the rest
to Dialstone Lane. An aged woman sitting in a doorway said, "_Hush!_"

CHAPTER VI

Miss Drewitt sat for some time in her room after the visitors had
departed, eyeing with some disfavour the genuine antiques which she owed
to the enterprise, not to say officiousness, of Edward Tredgold. That
they were in excellent taste was undeniable, but there was a flavour of
age and a suspicion of decay about them which did not make for
cheerfulness.

She rose at last, and taking off her watch went through the nightly task
of wondering where she had put the key after using it last. It was not
until she had twice made a fruitless tour of the room with the candle
that she remembered that she had left it on the mantelpiece downstairs.

The captain was still below, and after a moment's hesitation she opened
her door and went softly down the steep winding stairs.

The door at the foot stood open, and revealed the captain standing by the
table. There was an air of perplexity and anxiety about him such as she
had never seen before, and as she waited he crossed to the bureau, which
stood open, and searched feverishly among the papers whi