all, ought to be done in the
most confidential way, and then going and reporting to you all--"

"Any how," said Meldon, "it hasn't happened yet, so far as Callaghan
knows. That is why I say that my day has been such a bitter
disappointment. Callaghan tells me that the miserable beast Simpkins
hasn't been near the place, or even seen her, since yesterday, when we
had them both out in the _Spindrift_. I can't imagine why he won't
make use of his opportunities. I told him distinctly that he couldn't
expect her to run after him, however anxious she was to marry him."

"Perhaps he doesn't want to marry her."

"He wants to all right, but he's such a wretchedly inefficient beast
that he won't turn to and do it. I've no patience with that sort of
dilly-dallying. I shall go down to-morrow and speak to him about it
again."

"Take care the judge doesn't catch sight of you."

"I don't mind in the least if he does," said Meldon. "That won't
matter. What I have got to take care about is that he doesn't catch
sight of either Miss King or Simpkins. I don't know whether you quite
realise, Major, that as long as that judge is in Ballymoy we are living
on the edge of a volcano. The smallest spark might set the thing off
and cause an alarming explosion."

"Do sparks set off volcanoes?"

"That, I suppose, is the kind of remark that you consider clever. As a
matter of fact, it is simply an evidence of your mental sluggishness.
My thoughts had passed on, by a perfectly natural transition, from
volcanoes to powder magazines, which are things that sparks do set off.
Any one with even a moderate amount of what I may call mental agility
would have followed me without any difficulty, and refrained from
asking your very foolish question. But it is difficult to be literal
enough to please you. What I ought to have said, what I would have
said if I had realised at the moment that I was talking to you, is
this. We are living the kind of life comparable to that of the people
whose cottages are built round the edge of the crater of an active
volcano, liable to erupt at any moment; or, to change the metaphor, our
position bears a certain resemblance to that of the careless workman
who smokes a pipe on the top of a barrel of blasting powder, and if
we're not extremely careful we'll find ourselves scattered about in
little bits, like the boy who stood on the burning deck. Have you any
fault to find with that way of expressing my tho