y--and
stood by the deserted platform. The bitter humiliation to be here,
master of a fortress without one single gun! Almost he dreaded to hear
his guest break forth with a contemptuous laugh.

Sir Ommaney, however, surveyed the ruin in silence, and when he spoke
it was only to ask a question concerning the trajectory of the guns
which had once furnished it. The Commandant walked by his side, a man
torn by many emotions. For the first time in fifteen years he, an
enthusiast in gunnery, had an opportunity to talk with one who really
cared for gunnery and understood it. On the other hand, and eagerly as
he jumped at every question, he could not help perceiving that these
batteries--of which he had been so proud--of which in recollection he
was yet so proud--were to Sir Ommaney but obsolete toys. This visitor
of his, this friend of his gallant youth, had moved with the times, and
the times had carried him to an infinite distance, beyond all
understanding. Thus, as he moved on from battery to battery, at times
our Commandant talked earnestly, wistfully, and at times fell to a
despondent silence; and still between his eagerness and his despondency
the personal question awoke--"He is kind, but he is here to pass
judgment on me. What can the sentence be but disgrace?" Arrived at the
Keg of Butter Battery, Sir Ommaney seated himself on the low wall, hard
by the spot where Vashti had dug at the stones with her sunshade.

"My dear Vigoureux," said Sir Ommaney, after a long look seaward, "I
haven't a doubt you regret your guns, obsolete though you know that
they were. For that matter, your batteries--their build and their very
positions--are quite as hopelessly out of date."

"Man," exclaimed the Commandant, with a sudden rush of blood to the
face, "do you suppose I cannot guess why you are here? Oh, for God's
sake let me hear the worst! If for five years I have been an enforced
idler here, do me at least the justice to believe that I know the range
of modern artillery and something of what a modern battleship can do.
Fifteen years ago when I came to take over the command of the Islands,
the old _Black Prince_ was the last word in ships and gunnery. Think of
it! Yet, the basis of defence, the simple principle, lies here, and has
always lain here. If you had come to discuss this----"

Sir Ommaney lifted a hand. "But that is partly--even chiefly--what I am
come to consider."

"Ah!"

"And I have seen a letter about you, addre