ped up, searched feverishly for a cloak to put on,
and pulling the stewardess with her, hurried on deck. But after a few
steps they came to a standstill, for the crowd following the Captain
had suddenly and curiously broken up and separated before the door of
one of the deck cabins. Men and women who a moment before had been
clustering and whispering agitatedly together were now hurrying past,
each apparently intent on reaching their own cabins in the quickest
time possible. For one horrible moment April thought it was some
tragic discovery that was scattering them, but a moment later she
realized that tragedy had gone from the air. The deck was flooded with
electric light, and people's faces could plainly be seen. Many
expressions were written there, but none of pity or sorrow. The men,
for the most part, looked embarrassed; the women's expressions varied
from frozen hauteur to scornful rage. They behaved like people who had
been bitterly wronged by some lying tale. The one predominating
emotion shared by all seemed to be an intense desire to escape from the
scene. In less than two minutes not a soul was left on the deck save
the dazed and astounded April. She remained, wondering what on earth
it was all about; why without visible reason the search had come to
such a sudden end, and what could be the meaning of the phrase Mrs.
Stanislaw had flung at her as she passed.

"The April fool has surpassed herself!"

A sickening apprehension crept over the girl. That Diana was not
overboard seemed certain; but what new folly had she committed? As if
in answer to the gloomy query, the lights were once more switched out,
and a strange vapoury greyness took possession of the ship. It was
that still small hour when the yellowing East adds pallor to the night
without dispersing its darkness.

Then two things happened. The door of that cabin before which the
crowd had so mysteriously disintegrated opened very softly, and through
the aperture stole forth a woman's figure. . . . For a swift moment
the light from within rested on yellow hair and gleaming blue satin;
then the door closed and the figure became part of the stealing dimness
which was neither night nor morning. But April, who stood in her path,
had seen and recognized.

"Diana!" she cried.

The other girl stood stock still. Her face showed ghostly in the
greyness. She peered at April, clutching at her arm and whispering:

"For God's sake take me to