re, till Saltash, looking on,
careless and debonair, made it abundantly evident that whatever she
desired she was to have, and then like a child on a holiday she flung
aside all indecision and became eager and animated. So absorbed was she
that she took no note of the passage of time and was horrified when at
length he called her attention to the fact that it was close upon the
luncheon-hour.

"And you must be so tired of it all!" she said, with compunction.

"Not in the least," he assured her airily between puffs of his cigarette.
"It has been--a new experience for me."

Her eyes challenged him for a moment, and he laughed.

"_Mais oui, madame!_ I protest--a new experience. I feel I am doing my
duty."

"And it doesn't bore you?" questioned Toby, with a tilt of the chin.

His look kindled a little. "If we were on board the old _Night Moth_,
you'd have had a cuff for that," he remarked.

"I wish we were!" she said daringly.

He flicked his fingers. "You're very young, Nonette."

She shook her head with vehemence. "I'm not! I'm not! I'm only
pretending. Can't you see?"

He laughed jestingly. "You have never deceived me yet, _ma chere_,--not
once, from the moment I found you shivering in my cabin up to the
present. You couldn't if you tried."

Toby's blue eyes suddenly shone with a hot light. "So sure of that?" she
said quickly. "You read me--so easily?"

"Like a book," said Saltash, with an arrogance but half-assumed.

"I cheated you--once," she said, breathing sharply.

"And I caught you," said Saltash.

"Only--only because--I meant you to," said Toby, under her breath.

He raised his brows in momentary surprise, and in a flash she laughed and
clapped her hands. "I had you there, King Charles! You see, you are but a
man after all."

He gave her a swift and piercing glance. "And what are you?" he said.

Her eyes fell swiftly before his look; she made no reply.

They returned to the hotel and lunched together. The incident of the
morning seemed to be forgotten. Jake's name was not once mentioned
between them. Toby was full of gaiety. The prospect of the run to
Fontainebleau evidently filled her with delight.

She joined Saltash in the vestibule after the meal, clad in a light blue
wrap they had purchased that morning.

He went to meet her, a quick gleam in his eyes; and a man to whom he had
been talking--a slim, foreign-looking man with black moustache and
imperial--turned sharply and gave her a h