ns was
terrible. In vain Audrey said to herself that the thing was naught, that
she had acted within her rights, and that anyhow she had long ago ceased to
be diffident and shy!... She was intimidated by her own enormities. And she
also thought: "How could I have been silly enough to tell that silly tale
about the Spatts? More complications. And poor dear Inspector Keeble will
be so shocked."

After a short pause Madame Piriac replied, in a grave but kind tone:

"Why would you that I should have finished with you for ever? You had the
right to call yourself by any name you wished, and to wear any ring-that
pleased your caprice. It is the affair of nobody but yourself."

"Oh! I'm so glad you take it like that," said Audrey with eager relief.
"That's just what _I_ thought all along!"

"But it _is_ your affair!" Madame Piriac finished, with a peculiar
inflection of her well-controlled voice. "I mean," she added, "you cannot
afford to neglect it."

"No--of course not," Audrey agreed, rather dashed, and with a vague new
apprehension. "Naturally I shall tell you everything, darling. I had my
reasons. I----"

"The principal question is, darling," Madame Piriac stopped her. "What are
you going to do now? Ought we not to return to the yacht?"

"But I must look after Jane Foley!" cried Audrey. "I can't leave her here."

"And why not? She has Miss Ingate."

"Yes, worse luck for her! Winnie would make the most dreadful mess of
things if she wasn't stopped. If Winnie was right out of it, and Jane Foley
had only herself and Aguilar to count on, there might be a chance. But not
else."

"It is by pure hazard that you are here. Nobody expected you. What would
this young girl Mees Foley have done if you had not been here?"

"It's no good wasting time about that, darling, because I _am_ here, don't
you see?" Audrey straightened her shoulders and put her hands behind her
back.

"My little one," said Madame Piriac with a certain solemnity. "You remember
our conversation in my boudoir. I then told you that you would find
yourself in a riot within a month, if you continued your course. Was I
right? Happily you have escaped from that horrible complication. Go no
farther. Listen to me. You were not created for these adventures. It is
impossible that you should be happy in them."

"But look at Jane Foley," said Audrey eagerly. "Is she not happy? Did you
ever see anybody as happy as Jane? I never did."

"That is not happiness,"