to us and to you!'

'Go on,' said the commander, imperturbably.

'Wait a moment; I'm thinking it out.' And thinking it out I was in
deadly earnest, for all my levity, as I pressed my hand on my burning
forehead and asked myself where I was to stop in this seductive but
perilous fraud. To carry it too far was to court complete exposure;
to stop too soon was equally compromising.

'What is he talking about, and why go on with this ridiculous
mystery?' said Frau Dollmann.

'I was thinking about this supper party, and the way it came about,'
I pursued, slowly.

'Nothing to complain of, I hope?' said Dollmann.

'Of course not! Impromptu parties are always the pleasantest, and
this one was delightfully impromptu. Now I bet you I know its origin!
Didn't you discuss us at Memmert? And didn't one of you suggest--'One
would almost think you had been there,' said Dollmann. 'You may thank
your vile climate that we weren't,' I retorted, laughing. 'But, as I
was saying, didn't one of you suggest--which of you? Well, I'm sure
it wasn't the commander--'

'Why not?' said Boehme.

'It's difficult to explain--an intuition, say--I am sure he stood up
for us; and I don't think it was Herr Dollmann, because he knows
Davies already, and he's always on the spot; and, in short I'll swear
it was Herr Boehme, who is leaving early to-morrow, and had never seen
either of us. It was you, sir, who proposed that we should be asked
to supper to-night--for inspection?'

'Inspection?' said Boehme; 'what an extraordinary idea!'

'You can't deny it, though! And one thing more; in the harbour just
now--no--this is going too far; I shall mortally offend you.' I gave
way to hearty laughter.

'Come, let's have it. Your hallucinations are diverting.'

'If you insist; but this is rather a delicate matter. You know we
were a little surprised to find you _all_ on board; and you, Herr
Boehme, did you always take such a deep interest in small yachts? I am
afraid that it was at a certain sacrifice of comfort that you
_inspected_ ours!' And I glanced at the token he bore of his
encounter with our lintel. There was a burst of pent-up merriment, in
which Dollmann took the loudest share.

'I warned you, Boehme,' he said.

The engineer took the joke in the best possible part. 'We owe you
apologies,' he conceded.

'Don't mention it,' said Davies.

'_He_ doesn't mind,' I said; 'I'm the injured one. I'm sure you never
suspected Davies, who could?' (Who