silence and opened the door. He stood motionless,
with hands clenched at his sides, and watched her.

She went down the passage without haste and reached the outer door. She
opened it without fumbling, and in a moment Saltash's debonair accents
came to him.

"Ah, _Juliette_! You are ready? Has your good husband got back yet? Ah,
there you are, sir! I have called to offer you and _madame_ a lift. I am
going your way."

He came sauntering up the passage with the royal assurance characteristic
of him, and held out his hand to Dick with malicious cordiality.

"I come as a friend, Romeo. Do you know you're very late? Have you only
just got back?"

Juliet's eyes were upon Dick. She saw his momentary hesitation before he
took the proffered hand.

Saltash saw it also and grinned appreciatively. "Well, what news? What
did Yardley have to say?"

"I didn't see him," Dick said briefly.

"No? How was that?"

Dick shrugged his shoulders. "Merely because he wasn't there. I can't
tell you why, for I don't know. I waited about all day--to no purpose."

"Drew a blank!" commented Saltash. "No wonder you're feeling a bit
savage! What are you going to do now?"

Dick faced him, grimly uncommunicative. "Oh, talk, I suppose. What else?"

"And you're taking Juliet?" pursued Saltash.

"Have you any objection?" said Dick sharply.

"None," said Saltash smoothly. "She is your wife, not mine--perhaps
fortunately for her." He threw a gay glance at Juliet. "Are you ready,
_ma chere_? Come along, _mon ami_! It will amuse me to hear
you--talk."

Juliet went upstairs to fetch her cloak, and Dick took his coat from the
peg in the hall, and began to put it on. Saltash watched him with
careless amiability.

"Are you going to be there to-night then?" Dick asked him suddenly.

"I am proposing to give myself that pleasure," he returned. "That is, of
course, if you on your part have no objection."

Dick's black eyes surveyed him keenly. "I am quite capable of protecting
my wife single-handed," he said. "Not that there will be any need."

Saltash executed a smiling bow. "I am delighted to hear you say so. Have
you got a cigarette to spare?"

Dick took out his case and held it to him. Saltash helped himself, the
smile still twitching the corners of his mouth.

"Thanks," he said lightly. "So you have no anxieties about to-night!"

"None," said Dick.

"You think the men will come to heel?"

"They haven't broken away yet," Dick remind