it is Charles Rex!" she said.

Dick's eyes came swiftly to her. "Who? Lord Saltash, isn't it? I thought
so." His look flashed back to the man above him with something of a
challenge. "You know this lady then?"

Two eyes--one black, one grey--looked down into his, answering the
challenge with gay inconsequence. "Sir, I have that inestimable
privilege. _Juliette_, will you not accept my hand?"

Juliet's hand came upwards a little uncertainly, then, as he grasped it,
she stood up in the boat. "This is indeed a surprise," she said, and
again involuntarily she gasped. "Rumour had it that you were a hundred
miles away at least."

"Rumour!" laughed Lord Saltash. "How oft hath rumour played havoc with my
name! Not an unpleasant surprise, I trust?"

He handed her ashore, laughing on a note of mockery. Charles
Burchester, Lord Saltash, said to be of royal descent, possessed in
no small degree the charm not untempered with wickedness of his
reputed ancestor. His friends had dubbed him "the merry monarch" long
since, but Juliet had found a more dignified appellation for him which
those who knew him best had immediately adopted. He had become Charles
Rex from the day she had first bestowed the title upon him. Somehow,
in all his varying--sometimes amazing--moods, it suited him.

She stood with him on the little wooden landing-stage, her hand still in
his, and the colour coming back into her face. "But of course not!" she
said in answer to his light words, laughing still a trifle breathlessly.
"If you will promise not to prosecute us for trespassing!"

"_Mais, Juliette_!" He bent over her hand. "You could not trespass if you
tried!" he declared gallantly. "And the cavalier with you--may I not have
the honour of an introduction?"

He knew how to jest with grace in an awkward moment. Dick realised that,
as, having secured the boat, he presented himself for Juliet's low-spoken
introduction.

"Mr. Green--Lord Saltash!"

Saltash extended a hand, his odd eyes full of quizzical amusement. "I've
heard your name before, I think. And I believe I've seen you somewhere
too. Ah, yes! It's coming back! You are the Orpheus who plays the flute
to the wild beasts at High Shale. I've been wanting to meet you. I
listened to you from my car one night, and--on my soul--I nearly wept!"

Dick smiled with a touch of cynicism. "Miss Moore was listening that
night too," he said.

"Yes," Juliet said quickly. "I was there."

Saltash looked at h