cond's
hesitation, if it suited him. He hasn't any nerves nor any fear nor
any pity. He will laugh at me--he won't understand, he is so
reckless!"

"Well, we're going to him, anyhow," Arnold said. "I don't see how
you can be any worse off than hiding in this beastly place. Upstairs
and into the boat, please."

Starling struggled weakly to get away but he was like a child in
Arnold's hands.

"You had much better come quietly," the latter advised. "You'll have
to come, anyway, and if you're really afraid of being arrested
again, I should think Count Sabatini would be the best man to aid
your escape."

"But he won't let me escape," Starling protested. "He doesn't
understand danger. I am not made like him. My nerve has gone. I came
into this too late in life."

"Jump!" Arnold ordered, linking his arm into his companion's.

They landed, somehow, upon the island. Arnold pointed to the boat.

"Please be sensible," he begged, "now, at any rate. There may be
people passing at any moment."

"I was safe in there," Starling mumbled. "Why the devil couldn't you
have left me alone?"

Arnold bent over his oars.

"Safe!" he repeated, contemptuously. "You were doing the one thing
which a guilty man would do. People would have known before long
that you were there, obviously hiding. I think that Count Sabatini
will propose something very much better."

"Perhaps so," Starling muttered. "Perhaps he will help me to get
away."

They reached the village and Arnold paid for the hire of his boat.
Then he hurried Starling into the car, and a moment or two later
they were off.

"Is it far away?" Starling asked, nervously.

"Ten minutes' ride. Sabatini has arranged it all very well. We get
out, cross a meadow, and find him waiting for us in the punt."

"You won't leave me alone with him on the river?" Starling begged.

"No, I shall be there," Arnold promised.

"There's nothing would suit him so well," Starling continued, "as to
see me down at the bottom of the Thames, with a stone around my
neck. I tell you I'm frightened of him. If I can get out of this
mess," he went on, "I'm off back to New York. Any job there is
better than this. What are we stopping for? Say, what's wrong now?"

"It's all right," Arnold answered. "Step out. We cross this meadow
on foot. When we reach the other end, we shall find Sabatini. Come
along."

They turned toward the river, Starling muttering, now and then, to
himself. In a few minutes they