is trousers-pocket and jingled appreciatively.

The ropes were now cast off, and they got under way, while Marchmont
stole very quietly to the door of the hatchway which led down to the
saloon where the Bishop and the actress were unsuspectingly lunching,
and softly turned the key.

"Mayn't I cut you a slice of this cold ham, my dear?" asked the Bishop
in his most fatherly tones.

"Not while the pigeon-pie lasts," said his fair companion. "But you may
give me a glass of champagne, if you will. I see some going to waste in
an ice-cooler over there in the corner."

"I was hoping the steward would come," ventured his Lordship.

"Well, I hope he won't. Being tete-a-tete is much more fun, don't you
think? Give the bottle to me, and I'll show you how to open it and not
spill a drop. In some respects your education's been neglected."

"I'm afraid it has," admitted the Bishop, assisting her with his
pen-knife.

His Lordship felt recklessly jovial. To lunch alone with a young lady
who opened champagne with a dexterity that bespoke considerable
practice must be very wicked, he felt certain, and he was shocked to
realise that he didn't care if it was. His years of repression were
beginning to find their outlet in a natural reaction.

"Here, have a glass of champagne, and don't think about your
shortcomings," she said.

"That's very nice," he replied, just tasting it.

"Nonsense!" she cried. "No heel-taps. I'm no end thirsty."

"So am I," replied his Lordship, draining his glass contentedly, and
watching her fill it up again.

"What are you so pensive about?" she demanded. "There's another bottle."

He had been thinking that his sister always confined him to two glasses,
but he didn't say so, and under her skilful lead he was soon describing
to her a Cowes regatta he had once seen, in which she professed to be
amazingly interested.

"I tell you what it is," she remarked a little later on. "If I had a
gorgeous palace like yours I'd have no end of a good time."

"Ah," said the Bishop, who was helping her to unfasten the second bottle
of champagne, "I never thought of it in that light."

"No," returned his fair companion, "I suppose not. But you're losing
lots of fun in life, and it does seem a shame, when you would so enjoy
it."

"It does," said the Bishop, sampling the fresh bottle. "But then, you
see, there's my sister, Miss Matilda--"

"Rats!"

"Excuse me, I didn't catch your meaning."

"Never mind my mea