?"

The young man did not answer his companion's remark, but turned his face
away again and looked seaward, listening to the retreating footsteps of
the two ladies.

On the threshold of the hotel Clare felt a strong desire to look back
again and see whether he had moved, but she was ashamed of it and went
in, holding her head high and looking straight before her.

CHAPTER II

The people from the yacht belonged to that class of men and women whose
uncertainty, or indifference, about the future leads them to take
possession of all they can lay hands on in the present, with a view to
squeezing the world like a lemon for such enjoyment as it may yield. So
long as they tarried at the old hotel, it was their private property.
The Bowrings were forgotten; the two English old maids had no existence;
the Russian invalid got no more hot water for his tea; the plain but
obstinately inquiring German family could get no more information; even
the quiet young French couple--a honeymoon couple--sank into
insignificance. The only protest came from an American, whose wife was
ill and never appeared, and who staggered the landlord by asking what he
would sell the whole place for on condition of vacating the premises
before dinner.

"They will be gone before dinner," the proprietor answered.

But they did not go. When it was already late somebody saw the moon
rise, almost full, and suggested that the moonlight would be very fine,
and that it would be amusing to dine at the hotel table and spend the
evening on the terrace and go on board late.

"I shall," said the little lady in white serge, "whatever the rest of
you do. Brook! Send somebody on board to get a lot of cloaks and shawls
and things. I am sure it is going to be cold. Don't go away! I want you
to take me for a walk before dinner, so as to be nice and hungry, you
know."

For some reason or other, several of the party laughed, and from their
tone one might have guessed that they were in the habit of laughing, or
were expected to laugh, at the lady's speeches. And every one agreed
that it would be much nicer to spend the evening on the terrace, and
that it was a pity that they could not dine out of doors because it
would be far too cool. Then the lady in white and the man called Brook
began to walk furiously up and down in the fading light, while the lady
talked very fast in a low voice, except when she was passing within
earshot of some of the others, and the man