ave the greatest respect for the courage which brings
you to my side. I daresay you are quite justified in your opinion of me.
It all must seem very theatrical to you. I had not thought of it in that
light. I shall now retire from the centre of the stage. It will be
perfectly safe for you to remain here--just as it was for me." He was
leaving her without another word or look. She repented.

"I am sorry for what I said," she said eagerly. "And--" she looked up at
the hills with a sudden widening of her eyes--"I think I shall not
remain."

He waited for her and they crossed to the entrance together.

Luncheon was quite well over before the spirits of the party reacted
from the depression due to the shooting. Chase made light of the
occurrence, but sought to impress upon the others the fact that it was
prophetic of more serious events in the future. In a perfectly
cold-blooded manner he told them that the islanders might rise against
them at any time, overstepping the bounds of England's law in a return
to the primeval law of might. He advised the occupants of the chateau to
exercise extreme caution at all times.

"The people are angry and they will become desperate. Their interests
are mine, of course. I am perfectly sincere in saying to you, Lady
Deppingham, and to you, Mr. Browne, that in time they will win out
against you in the courts. But they are impatient; they are not the kind
who can wait and be content. It is impossible for you to carry out the
provisions of the will, and they know it. That is why they resent the
delays that are impending."

Deppingham told him of the scheme proposed by Saunders, treating it as a
vast joke. Chase showed a momentary sign of uneasiness, but covered it
instantly by laughing with the others. Strange to say, he had been
instructed from London to look out for just such a coup on the part of
the heirs. Not that the marriage could be legally established, but that
it might create a complication worth avoiding.

He could not help looking from Lady Deppingham to Bobby Browne, a
calculating gleam in his grey eyes. How very dangerous she could be! He
was quite ready to feel very sorry for pretty Mrs. Browne. Browne, of
course, revealed no present symptom of surrender to the charms of his
co-legatee. Later on, he was to recall this bit of calculation and to
enlarge upon it from divers points of view.

Just now he was enjoying himself for the first time since his arrival in
Japat. He s