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"Why, surely, Miss Stanleigh," I burst forth, "there can't be any reasonable doubt. Leavitt's mind may be a little flighty he may have embroidered his story with a few gratuitous details; but Farquharson's books and things the material evidence of his having lived there " "And having died there?" "Surely Leavitt wouldn't have fabricated that! If you had talked with him "
But of the wanderer Farquharson he spoke with precision and authority, for he had shared with Farquharson his bungalow there in Muloa a period of about six months, it seemed and there Farquharson had contracted a tropic fever and died. "Well, at last we have got all the facts," Major Stanleigh sighed with satisfaction when the Sylph was heading back to Port Charlotte.
Stanleigh rejoined her husband at Nice, and together they returned to their home in Sussex, a surprise was in store for them. Eleanor was already there alone, crushed, and with lips absolutely sealed. She had divested herself of everything that linked her to Farquharson; she refused to adopt her married name.
I must speak to him," said Miss Stanleigh. "One might think he were deliberately hiding," I muttered, for I was at a loss to account for Leavitt's absence. "Then find him," the girl commanded. I cut short my speculations to direct Williams to search the hut in the rear of the bungalow, where, behind bamboo palings, Leavitt's Malay servant maintained an aloof and mysterious existence.
I hazarded to my companion the notion that a woman like Miss Stanleigh could have but one of two purposes in this lonely part of the world she was fleeing from a lover or seeking one. "In that case," rejoined my friend, with the cynical shrug of the newspaper man, "she has very promptly succeeded. It's whispered that she is going to marry Joyce of Malduna Island, you know.
And, as Major Stanleigh and I were to discover, the fellow seemed to have developed a genuine affection for Lakalatcha, as the smoking cone was called by the natives of the adjoining islands. From long association he had come to know its whims and moods as one comes to know those of a petulant woman one lives with.
Ostensibly, it was Major Stanleigh who was bent on locating this young Englishman Miss Stanleigh's interest in the quest was guardedly withheld and the trail had led them a pretty chase around the world until some clue, which I never clearly understood, brought them to Port Charlotte. The major's immediate objective was an eccentric chap named Leavitt who had marooned himself in Muloa.
I must speak to him," said Miss Stanleigh. "One might think he were deliberately hiding," I muttered, for I was at a loss to account for Leavitt's absence. "Then find him," the girl commanded. I cut short my speculations to direct Williams to search the hut in the rear of the bungalow, where, behind bamboo palings, Leavitt's Malay servant maintained an aloof and mysterious existence.
"I shall bless every saint in heaven when we have quite done with this dreadful business of Eleanor's," Mrs. Stanleigh confided to me from her deck-chair. "This trip that she insists on making herself seems quite uncalled for. But you needn't think, Captain Barnaby, that I'm going to set foot on that dreadful island not even for the satisfaction of seeing Mr.
He had doubtless devoted the whole afternoon to it. Sitting under the cool green of the lemon-trees, beneath a sky powdered with stars, I reflected that I, at least, was done with Farquharson forever. But I was not, for just then Eleanor Stanleigh appeared before me. I was startled to hear her addressing me by name, and then calmly begging me to resume my seat on the bench under the arbor.
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