I knew of course that they were going there."

"There's no 'of course' with Lucian Spenser!" answered Winthrop. He got
up, took the glass which was hanging on a nail behind him, and turned it
towards the point of Patricio. "They're not going towards the Ruiz
plantation at all," he said; "they're walking southward, down the
beach." He put the glass back in its case, closed it, replaced it on the
nail, and sat down again.

"I am surprised that Mrs. Carew should have allowed Garda to go," he
went on, after a moment. "She's staying with Mrs. Carew, isn't
she?--she's always staying with some one now."

"She is staying with Mrs. Carew till to-morrow only. Mrs. Carew likes
Lucian Spenser immensely, she tells every one how much she likes him."

"I don't think that has anything to do with it--Mrs. Carew's
admirations," responded Winthrop. "He's an irresponsible sort of
fellow," he added, speaking with moderation. He was not moderate, but he
often spoke with moderation. On the present occasion he felt that he
might have said much more.

"Yes, I think he is rather irresponsible," assented Margaret. "I suppose
he would say why shouldn't he be, if it pleases him."

"No reason in the world, I don't imagine any one cares. But they ought
not to permit Edgarda Thorne to go about with him as she does; she has
never been in the habit of walking or sailing with Manuel Ruiz, or that
young Cuban--I mean walking or sailing with them alone."

"Probably they have never asked her."

"That is very likely, I suppose they wouldn't dream of it. And that is
what I am referring to; she has been brought up here under such a
curious mixture of freedom and strictness that she is not at all fitted
to understand a person like Spenser."

"Shall I speak to Mrs. Thorne?" said Margaret. She was standing by the
piazza's parapet, her hand resting on its top, her eyes fixed on
Patricio, though the two figures were no longer in sight. Winthrop's
chair being behind her and on one side, he could see only her profile,
outlined against the light.

"Mrs. Thorne is already awakened to it," he answered; "she has spoken to
me on the subject."

"There was your opportunity. What did you say?"

"I told her--I told her not to be uneasy," he replied, breaking into a
laugh over his own inconsistencies. "But it isn't Mrs. Thorne who is to
blame--I mean Mrs. Thorne alone; it is Mrs. Carew, the Kirbys, the
Moores, and all the rest of them."

"In other words, the w