tractable frame of mind than was pleasant to Westerham. The captain, indeed, had got back that self-possession and cool audacity of[Pg 77] which he had made such good use on the Gigantic. Westerham realised this at once, and at the outset dealt very gently with Melun.

[Pg 77]

“Don't you think,” he began softly, “that you had better make a clean breast of it?”

“Not at all,” answered Melun. “I have no desire to shock you, and a man who is disturbed by the yelling of a couple of girls is not likely to take what I might tell him in a particularly cool manner.”

Westerham's bright, sea-green eyes hardened.

“I have told you,” he said in a more menacing tone, “that if you want to indulge in villainy you have got to keep women out of it. Now, whatever your scheme may be, it cannot be of very particular magnitude unless it has to do with the Premier. I fail to see where Lady Kathleen comes into the matter at all.”

“Perhaps you do,” Melun answered, “but then you are unacquainted with the details, and I don't propose to enlighten you. I agreed to betray the secrets of the prison house, or rather to let you see how my friends work, but I did not agree to tell you of every piece of business in which I was engaged.”

“On this occasion, I fancy,” said Westerham, “you will find it convenient to unburden your mind.”

But Captain Melun only laughed. “Not so,” he said.

Westerham was as near to exasperation as he ever allowed himself to get.

“I don't want to coerce you,” he remarked grimly.

[Pg 78]

[Pg 78]

“You had better not try,” Melun answered. “There is one thing which apparently you have not taken into your calculations. You forget that Lord Penshurst—I admit that your suspicions of a tie between us are correct—is quite as much interested in keeping me silent as I am in keeping silent myself.”

Westerham had foreseen this point, and was prepared with an answer.

“You forget,” he said, “that it might suit my convenience to become Lord Penshurst's friend.”

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