"I should think you would
be awfully lonely."

"I am--I am recovering from an attack of the nerves, due to overwork,"
replied the stranger suavely.

"And are you all alone in the house, except for your servants?"
questioned Madge, with her most innocent, far-away expression.

"Yes," replied the man in the same moment, fixing his cold, blue eyes
on Madge and Phil. "I am entirely alone in the house except for my man.
The gypsy woman and her boy Jeff live in a tent a little distance off.
I am sorry you have had your long journey across the island for
nothing. The boy will show you a shorter way back. Rest assured that as
soon as my boat comes for me, I will communicate with you. Until then
it is wisest for you not to return to this side of the island."

The stranger spoke to them with perfect courtesy, but they knew that he
would admit of no trifling. If they had heard a sound in the house that
was not meant for their ears, they must pretend to be deaf.

The man summoned the deaf and dumb lad by a gesture. He talked to him
on his fingers for a few minutes. The boy grinned and nodded, as though
he thoroughly understood.

"I have told this fellow to show you a short cut across the island,"
the stranger said politely, turning to the girls. "He is ready to
start--at once."

The man's eyes narrowed. There was no mistaking his meaning.

It was in vain that Madge and Phil insisted that they could find their
way home without assistance. The obstinate man declared that they would
be safer with an escort. What could the girls do? Nothing but make a
foolish scene, and they were too wise for that.

Before Phyllis turned to leave the place she took one long, intense
stare at the house ahead of her, which, she was now convinced,
imprisoned some innocent person. She said nothing to the man in charge
of it. But, in Phil-fashion, she set her lips firmly together. If the
man had known Phyllis Alden better, he would not have smiled in such a
relieved fashion when his unwelcome visitors disappeared.

With their backs to the ill-omened house, and their faces set toward
the lodge, Madge and Phil felt their hearts lighten. So far they had
failed miserably in their quest for help, but now these pretended
knights were to return to their ladies and make their report. What
bliss to be in their own little snug harbor again! "Snug harbor" was
Phil's name for their lodge in the woods.

The girls walked on happily. They could talk as they