came in sight of the punt. Sabatini
was still there, with his head reclining among the cushions. He
looked up and waved his hand.

"A record, my young friend!" he exclaimed. "I congratulate you,
indeed. You have been gone exactly fifty-five minutes, and I gave
you an hour and a half at the least. Our friend Starling was glad to
see you, I hope?"

"He showed his pleasure," Arnold remarked dryly, "in a most original
manner. However, here he is. Shall I take you across now?"

"If you please," Sabatini agreed.

He sat up and looked at Starling. The latter hung his head and shook
like a guilty schoolboy.

"It was so foolish of you," Sabatini murmured, "but we'll talk of
that presently. They were civil to you at the police court, eh?"

"I was never charged," Starling replied. "They couldn't get their
evidence together."

"Still, they asked you questions, no doubt?" Sabatini continued.

"I told them nothing," Starling replied. "On my soul and honor, I
told them nothing!"

"It was very wise of you," Sabatini said. "It might have led to
disappointments--to trouble of many sorts. So you told them nothing,
eh? That is excellent. After we have landed, I must hand you over to
my valet. Then we will have a little talk."

They were in the backwater now, drifting on toward the lawn.
Starling shrank back at the sight of the two women.

"I can't face it," he muttered. "I tell you I have lost my nerve."

"You have nothing to fear," Sabatini said quietly. "There is no one
here likely to do you or wish you any harm."

Fenella came down to the steps to meet them.

"So our prodigal has returned," she remarked, smiling at Starling.

"We have rescued Mr. Starling from a solitary picnic upon his
house-boat," Sabatini explained, suavely. "We cannot have our
friends cultivating misanthropy."

Mr. Weatherley, who had returned from the boat-builder's, half rose
from his chair and sat down again, frowning. He watched the two men
cross the lawn towards the house. Then he turned to Ruth and shook
his head.

"I have a great regard for Count Sabatini," he declared, "a great
regard, but there are some of his friends--very many of them, in
fact--whose presence here I could dispense with. That man is one of
them. Do you know where he was a few nights ago, Miss Lalonde?"

She shook her head.

"In prison," Mr. Weatherley said, impressively; "arrested on a
serious charge."

Her eyes asked him a question. He stooped towards her and l