silent, "You are going below to rest?"
he said. "Don't let me keep you! You have travelled hard, and need it."

There was a hint of the old kindliness in his tone. She stood listening
to it, longing, yet not daring to avail herself of it and make her peace
with him.

But, whatever his intentions, it was apparently no part of Hone's plan
to allow himself to be conciliated at that stage, for, after the
briefest pause, he bowed abruptly and stepped aside.

And Nina Perceval went humbly away, as befitted one who had played a
desperate game, and had been outwitted by the adversary she had dared to
despise.

XII

During the whole three weeks of the voyage Hone took no further action.

Nina saw him every day of those interminable weeks, but he made no sign.
He did not seek her out, neither did he avoid her, but continually he
mystified her by the cheery indifference of his bearing.

He became--as was almost inevitable--an immense favourite on board. He
was in the thick of every amusement, and no entertainment was complete
without him. No rumour of the extraordinary circumstances that had led
to his undertaking the voyage had reached their fellow passengers. No
one suspected that anything unusual existed between the winning,
frank-faced Irishman and the silent young widow who so seldom looked his
way. No one had heard of the wedding party that had lacked a bride.

But everyone welcomed Hone, V.C., as a tremendous acquisition, and Hone,
V.C., laughed his humorous, good-tempered laugh, and placed himself
unreservedly and impartially at everyone's disposal.

Nina never saw him in private. In public he treated her with the kindly
courtesy he extended to every woman on board. There was not in his
manner the faintest hint of anything deeper. He would laugh into her
eyes with absolute friendliness. And yet from the depths of her soul she
feared him. She knew that he was continuing the game that she had
wantonly begun. She knew that there was more to come, that he had not
done with her, that he was merely waiting, as an experienced player
knows how to wait, till the time arrived to play his final card.

What that final card could be she had not the remotest idea, but she
awaited it with an almost morbid sense of dread. His very forbearance
seemed ominous.

On the night before their arrival there was a dance on board. Nina, who
had not joined in any of these gaieties for the simple reason that she
had no heart for them,