doomsday, my man, before I'll
believe that you and Treacher thought of it." She stood for a second or
two, eyeing him. "A-ah!" she said, a little above her breath. "I
thought as much!... There _was_ a woman, Charlotte, and that woman is
at the bottom of the whole business. I ask you, if you doubt it, to
look at his face."

"She'd nothin' to do with it," affirmed Archelaus, stolidly, drawing
the back of his hand across his brow.

"She?" mocked Miss Gabriel. "And pray who is 'she'?"

Archelaus made a bold effort to recover himself. "Why, Treacher's
missus ... unless you mean the Ghost."

"That Treacher's missus (as you call her) bore her hand in the sport I
have the evidence of my own eyes; and if by 'the Ghost' you allude to a
painted hussy that Mrs. Pope and I surprised, the other night, in your
master's quarters, I advise you to keep that for the Marines.
Sir,"--Miss Gabriel turned to the Lord Proprietor--"this petty insult
of the scarecrow is the smallest part of our complaint against Major
Vigoureux. We have reason to believe--we have ocular proof--that the
Major is at this moment and by stealth entertaining a most undesirable
guest at the Barracks."

"My dear Elizabeth, we cannot be altogether sure!" objected Mrs. Pope.

"Speak for yourself, Charlotte." Miss Gabriel folded her hands and bent
on Archelaus a gaze under which he felt himself withering. "I am quite
sure."

"Undesirable, ma'am?" asked the Lord Proprietor, thoroughly mystified.
"In what sense undesirable?"

"--Unless," answered Miss Gabriel, tapping her foot, and with the air
of one who curbs a virtuous impatience, "unless you can suggest a term
more appropriate to a Jezebel; in which case I shall stand corrected."

"Jezebel? Jezebel? But, my dear Miss Gabriel, consider before you bring
such a charge: here especially in the presence of Major Vigoureux's
servant, who will doubtless report it to his master. Reflect how
serious it is. Reflect----"

"Why, bless the man!" Miss Gabriel cut him short disdainfully. "As if I
hadn't been reflecting for three days on end! Let him sue me for
slander if he dare. I'll stick to my guns, if I kiss the book upon it;
and what's more, so will Charlotte Pope."

"I never said so, Elizabeth," pleaded Mrs. Pope.

"And very wisely, ma'am." Sir Caesar nodded approval. "For, as I was
about to say, reflect upon the extreme improbability--nay, the utter
impossibility--that--er--such a person could visit the Islands
u