of local society?"

She nodded.

"Why not?"

He laughed as though genuinely amused.

"Perhaps you've not been here long enough yet to discover that the
amiable inhabitants of Monkshaven look upon me as a sort of cross
between a madman and a criminal who has eluded justice."

"Whose fault is that?"

"Oh, mine, I suppose"--quickly. "But it doesn't matter--since I regard
them as a set of harmless, conventional fools. No, thank you, I've no
intention of making friends with the people of Monkshaven."

"They're not all conventional. Some of them are rather interesting--Mrs.
Maynard, for instance, and the Herricks."

He gave her a keen glance.

"Do you know the Herricks?"

"Yes. Why don't you go to see them sometimes? Miles--"

"Oh, Miles Herrick's all right. I know that," he interrupted.

"It's very bad for you to cut yourself off from the rest of the world,
as you do," persisted Sara sagely.

He was silent for a while, his eyes intent on the strip of road that
stretched in front of him, and when he spoke again it was to draw her
attention to the effect of the cloud shadows moving across the sea,
exactly as though nothing of greater interest had been under discussion.

She began to recognize as a trick of his this abrupt method of
terminating a conversation that for some reason did not please him.
It was as conclusive as when the man at the other end of the 'phone
suddenly "rings off" without any preliminary warning.

By this time they had reached the steep hill that approached directly to
the Selwyns' house, and a couple of minutes later, Trent brought the car
to a standstill at the gate.

"You have nothing to thank me for," he said, curtly dismissing her
expression of thanks as they stood together on the path. "It is I
who should be grateful to you. My opportunities of social
intercourse"--drily--"are somewhat limited."

"Extend them, then, as I advised," retorted Sara.

"Do you wish me to?" he asked swiftly, and his intent eyes sought her
face with a sudden hawk-like glance.

Her own eyes fell. She was conscious, all at once, of an inexplicable
agitation, a tremulous confusion that made it seem a physical
impossibility to reply.

But he still waited for his answer, and, at last, with an effort she
mastered the nervousness that had seized her.

"I--I--yes, I do wish it," she said faintly.

CHAPTER X

A MEETING AT ROSE COTTAGE

It had not taken Sara very long to cut a niche for herself in