action of space and time divided him! Some one, who had
stepped along in the shadow as silently as a cat coming upon a bird,
clapped here a hand upon his shoulder.

"Who are you, sir, and what do you want?" exclaimed Captain Jack,
wrenching himself free, falling back a pace and measuring the
new-comer from head to foot with furious glances, while, with burning
blushes Madeleine faltered:

"Rupert!"

Nothing awakens anger in hot blood sooner than an unsanctioned touch.
In certain moods the merest contact is as infuriating as a blow. Such
an insult, added to the irreparable injury of interrupting their
meeting at the most exquisite and crucial moment, drove Captain Jack
beside himself with rage.

But Madeleine's hand was still on his arm. She felt it suddenly harden
and twitch with murderous anger. But, by an effort that made the
veins of his temple swell like whipcord, he refrained from striking
the double offender.

Mr. Landale surveyed the pair for a moment in silence with his grave
look; then coldly he answered the sailor's irate speech.

"My name, fellow, is Rupert Landale. I am here to protect my cousin
from an unprincipled and criminal adventurer."

"You take a sharp tone sir," cried Captain Jack, the flush on his face
deepening yet a shade, his nostrils ominously dilated, yet speaking
without further loss of self-control. "You probably count upon the
presence of this lady to prevent my resenting it; but as my time with
her is short and I have still much to say, I shall be forced promptly
to eject you from the ruins here, unless you will be good enough to
immediately remove yourself. I shall hope for another meeting with you
to discuss the question as to your right of interference; but
to-day--I cannot spare the time."

Rupert smiled without moving; then the sailor gently disengaging
himself from Madeleine would have put her behind him but that she
pressed forward and laid a hand upon an arm of each of the men.

"Stay, Jack," she pleaded, "let me speak. There is some mistake here.
Cousin Rupert, you cannot know that I am engaged to this gentleman and
that he is a friend of your brother's as well as of other good friends
of mine."

"My poor child," answered Rupert, closing a cold hand gently over hers
and speaking with a most delicate tenderness of accent, "you have been
grossly imposed upon, and so have others. As for my poor brother
Adrian, he is, if anything, easier to deceive than you, innocent
con