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With that rush of brilliant effulgence, the apparently lifeless Sigurd stirred, he opened his eyes, and as they were turned upwards, he naturally, from his close vicinity to the side of the Eulalie, met Errington's gaze fixed inquiringly and somewhat anxiously upon him. He sprang up with such sudden and fierce haste that his frail boat rocked dangerously and Philip involuntarily cried out
"I'll ask you again in half an hour," he returned undaunted. "I'm Leigh, you know. Jerry Leigh, Errington's secretary." "I suppose, then, you're a very busy person?" "Well, pretty much so in the mornings and sometimes up till late at night, but Errington's a rattling good 'boss' and very often gives me an 'afternoon out. That's why I'm here now.
Recalled by the biting scorn in his tones, she made a gallant effort to throw herself more effectually into the song, but the memory of Errington's grave, intent face, as he had sat listening to her that night, kept coming betwixt her and the meaning of the music and the result was even more unpromising than before. In another moment Baroni was on his feet, literally dancing with rage.
She paused suddenly and drew a letter from her pocket, laughed and tossed it across the table. "You can read that, if you like," she said indifferently. "He wrote it, and sent it round to me last night." Lady Winsleigh's eyes glistened eagerly, she recognized Errington's bold, clear hand at once, and as she read, an expression of triumph played on her features. She looked up presently and said
Then rising with unruffled serenity, they took up their caps preparatory to departure. Errington's gentle, refined voice broke the silence. "You are in error, Mr. Gueldmar," he said in chilly but perfectly polite tones. "I regret you should be so hasty in your judgment of us. If you accepted us as 'men' when you first met us, I cannot imagine why you should now take us for spies.
"Are you thinking, Sir Philip, of my rough speeches to you yonder? No offense was meant, no offense! . . ." the old fellow paused, and laughed over his wine-glass. "Yet I may as well be honest about it! Offense was meant; but when I found that none was taken, my humor changed." A slight, half-weary smile played on Errington's lips.
Was not the hidden meaning of these incoherent phrases rendered somewhat clear now? though how the poor lad's disordered imagination had been able thus promptly to conjure up with such correctness, an idea of Errington's future relations with Thelma, was a riddle impossible of explanation.
Beau read it over and over again, his blood firing with honest indignation. Thelma! Thelma that pure white lily of womanhood, was she to have her stainless life blurred by the trail of such a thing as the Snake? and was Errington's honor to be attainted in his absence, and he condemned without a word uttered in his defence?
The boat was not unoccupied there was some one in it lying straight across the seats, with face turned upwards to the sky and, walking noiselessly to a better post of observation, Errington's heart beat with some excitement as he recognized the long, fair, unkempt locks, and eccentric attire of the strange personage who had confronted him in the cave the crazy little man who had called himself "Sigurd."
Errington's face, as he turned to reply, wore that politely blank expression which Diana had encountered more than once when conversing with him always should she chance to touch on any subject the natural answer to which might have revealed something of the man's private life.
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