ed the poor
creature shivering behind her fallen defences and awaiting with suspense
the moment when she could take refuge in the first shelter that offered.
If only that shelter had not already offered itself elsewhere! As the gig
traversed the short distance between the quay and the yacht, Lily grew
more than ever alarmed at the possible consequences of her long absence.
What if the wretched Bertha, finding in all the long hours no soul to
turn to--but by this time Lily's eager foot was on the side-ladder, and
her first step on the Sabrina showed the worst of her apprehensions to be
unfounded; for there, in the luxurious shade of the after-deck, the
wretched Bertha, in full command of her usual attenuated elegance, sat
dispensing tea to the Duchess of Beltshire and Lord Hubert.

The sight filled Lily with such surprise that she felt that Bertha, at
least, must read its meaning in her look, and she was proportionately
disconcerted by the blankness of the look returned. But in an instant she
saw that Mrs. Dorset had, of necessity, to look blank before the others,
and that, to mitigate the effect of her own surprise, she must at once
produce some simple reason for it. The long habit of rapid transitions
made it easy for her to exclaim to the Duchess: "Why, I thought you'd
gone back to the Princess!" and this sufficed for the lady she addressed,
if it was hardly enough for Lord Hubert.

At least it opened the way to a lively explanation of how the Duchess
was, in fact, going back the next moment, but had first rushed out to the
yacht for a word with Mrs. Dorset on the subject of tomorrow's
dinner--the dinner with the Brys, to which Lord Hubert had finally
insisted on dragging them.

"To save my neck, you know!" he explained, with a glance that appealed to
Lily for some recognition of his promptness; and the Duchess added, with
her noble candour: "Mr. Bry has promised him a tip, and he says if we go
he'll pass it onto us."

This led to some final pleasantries, in which, as it seemed to Lily, Mrs.
Dorset bore her part with astounding bravery, and at the close of which
Lord Hubert, from half way down the side-ladder, called back, with an air
of numbering heads: "And of course we may count on Dorset too?"

"Oh, count on him," his wife assented gaily. She was keeping up well to
the last--but as she turned back from waving her adieux over the side,
Lily said to herself that the mask must drop and the soul of fear look
out.