She laughed. "I'm afraid I belong to the anti-monkish sex. True, they
might offer me house-room--I do not say they wouldn't--but I do not
care for putting myself in the way of being refused."

"Then," said I, "I don't think a convent is very much in my way just at
present. I will push on for Pollensa too."

And so thither we went together, covering the short distance to Alcudia
on the afternoon of next day.

But at Alcudia there was a rude awakening, and, thanks to a woman's
wit, a narrow escape awaiting me. It turned out that Cospatric and
Haigh had added brains to their own council in the form of a
scoundrelly anarchist, and were hot-foot upon the trail. Mrs. Cromwell
heard my name mentioned as she came back into the _cafe_ from some
small errand in the town, and instead of returning to the sitting-room
upstairs, ordered coffee and sat down near three strangers who were
talking in English. She was soon in conversation with them, and from
one and the other cleverly elicited the whole tale of their adventure.
They seemed overjoyed, poor fools, to discover in her tastes for
pottery, music, and tattooing, and waxed garrulous without the smallest
suspicion. Much was incomprehensible to her, but she sat on there far
into the night, thinking that what she could learn might be of service
to me.

Made anxious by her absence, I had descended the narrow stairs to
inquire after her, and nearly burst in upon their conclave. A
recognition of their voices made me pull up with my fingers on the
latch, and then return with a cat's tread to the place whence I had
come.

A week ago my first impulse would have been to evacuate the spot there
and then, so that even if I were followed, my start would be a good
one. But the last few days had changed me much. From being absolutely
self-reliant, I had grown to be curiously dependent again. I shrank
from taking a flight alone. And, moreover, there was another thing that
held me back: I could not bear to rush away so suddenly from my
companion. It seemed to me that if I deserted her then, I should never
see that woman more; and rather than that should befall, I was prepared
to brave anything. So I waited in that bare, whitewashed sitting-room,
and waited and waited till she came, fearing desperately for the safety
of my great treasure, yet determined to expose it to any risk rather
than beat retreat alone.

It was a torturing vigil.

* * * * *