wonder, and when people have nothing
to do but loaf, they like to talk. I expect you'd find their curiosity
awkward--" He paused and laughed when he resumed: "You're embarrassed
now because somebody will see us!"

Barbara was embarrassed. A man was coming up the path, and she knew her
figure and Shillito's cut against the light. When the stranger reached
the veranda he would see she was disturbed; but to move back into the
gloom, where Shillito would follow her, would be significant. She
thought he meant to excite the other's curiosity.

The man stopped for a moment at the bottom of the steps and Barbara
turned her head, since she imagined he would think she was quarreling
with her lover. Then he ran up the steps, and when he stopped in front
of Shillito her heart beat fast. It was Lister, and she knew he had
remarked her strained look, for his face was very stern.

"Hallo!" he said. "Are you bothering Miss Hyslop again?" He glanced at
Barbara. "I expect the fellow is bothering you?"

For a moment Barbara hesitated, but she had borne a heavy strain and her
control was going. Besides, one could trust Lister and he knew ... She
signed agreement and he touched Shillito.

"Get off the veranda!"

Shillito did not move. His pose was tense and he looked malevolent.

"You won't help Miss Hyslop by butting in like a clumsy fool. The
thing's too delicate for you to meddle--"

"Get off the veranda!" Lister shouted, and threw Shillito back.

He was highly strung, and worn by want of sleep and exhausting labor,
but he had some notion of all Barbara had borne on Shillito's account.
Although perhaps caution and tact were indicated, he was going to use
force. When Shillito struck him he seized the fellow, and rocking in a
savage grapple, they fell with a crash against the rails. Lister felt
the other's hand at his throat, and straining back, jerked his head away
while he tried to lift his antagonist off the ground. He pulled him from
the rails and they reeled across the veranda and struck the wall.

A neighboring window rattled with the shock, the heavy tramp of their
feet shook the boards, and Barbara knew the noise would soon bring a
group of curious servants to the door; besides, all the guests had not
gone to the Metropole. Yet she could not meddle. The men's passions were
unloosed; they fought like savage animals, driven by an instinctive fury
that would not vanish until one was beaten. She looked on, trembling and
help