the window every time the wind
seemed to be rising, and getting anxious when it rained. Seeing that my
health prevented my leaving the house, he could not make out why I
should be so interested in the weather. Once I thought he was fairly on
the scent. A sudden blast of wind had caught up the paper and whirled it
high in the air. I may have uttered an ejaculation, for he came hurrying
to the window. He found me pointing unwittingly to what was already a
white speck sailing to the roof of the fire-station. "Is it a pigeon?"
he asked. I caught at the idea. "Yes, a carrier-pigeon," I murmured in
reply; "they sometimes, I believe, send messages to the fire-stations in
that way." Coolly as I said this, I was conscious of grasping the
window-sill in pure nervousness till the scrap began to flutter back
into the square.

Next it was squeezed between two of the bars of a drain. That was the
last I saw of it, and the following morning the doctor had won his
stethoscope--only by a few hours, however, for the government's end was
announced in the evening papers. My defeat discomfited me for a little,
but soon I was pleased that I had lost. I would not care to win a bet
over any mixture but the Arcadia.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XXV.

A FACE THAT HAUNTED MARRIOT.

"This is not a love affair," Marriot shouted, apologetically.

He had sat the others out again, but when I saw his intention I escaped
into my bedroom, and now refused to come out.

"Look here," he cried, changing his tone, "if you don't come out I'll
tell you all about it through the keyhole. It is the most extraordinary
story, and I can't keep it to myself. On my word of honor it isn't a
love affair--at least not exactly."

I let him talk after I had gone to bed.

"You must know," he said, dropping cigarette ashes onto my pillow every
minute, "that some time ago I fell in with Jack Goring's father, Colonel
Goring. Jack and I had been David and Jonathan at Cambridge, and though
we had not met for years, I looked forward with pleasure to meeting him
again. He was a widower, and his father and he kept joint house. But the
house was dreary now, for the colonel was alone in it. Jack was off on
a scientific expedition to the Pacific; all the girls had been married
for years. After dinner my host and I had rather a dull hour in the
smoking-room. I could not believe that Jack had grown very stout. 'I'll
show you his photograph,' said the colo