ntil you come to her. I
keep her safe by night as well as by day. I am her servant."

He stood back with dignity that Monck might pass, but Monck stood still.
He looked at Peter with a level scrutiny for a few moments. Then: "It is
enough," he said, with brief decision. "When I am not with your
_mem-sahib_, I look to you to guard her."

Peter made his stately _salaam_. Without further words, he conveyed the
fact that without his permission no man might enter the room behind him
and live.

Very softly Monck turned the handle of the door and passed within,
leaving him alone in the moonlight.

CHAPTER II

EVIL TIDINGS

They walked on the following morning over the pine-clad hill and down
into the valley beyond, a place of running streams and fresh spring
verdure. Stella revelled in its sweetness. It made her think of Home.

"You haven't told me anything about your brother," she said, as they sat
together on a grey boulder and basked in the sunshine.

"Haven't I?" Monck spoke meditatively. "I've got a photograph of him
somewhere. You must see it. You'll like my brother," he added, with a
smile. "He isn't a bit like me."

She laughed. "That's a recommendation certainly. But tell me what he is
like! I want to know."

Monck considered. "He is a short, thick-set chap, stout and red, rather
like a comedian in face. I think he appreciates a joke more than any one
I know."

"He sounds a dear!" said Stella; and added with a gay side-glance, "and
certainly not in the least like you. Have you written yet to break the
news of your very rash marriage?"

"Yes, I wrote two days ago. He will probably cable his blessing. That is
the sort of chap he is."

"It will be rather a shock for him," Stella observed. "You had no idea
of changing your state when you saw him last summer."

There fell a somewhat abrupt silence. Monck was filling his pipe and the
process seemed to engross all his thoughts. Finally, rather suddenly, he
spoke. "As a matter of fact, I didn't see him last summer."

"You didn't see him!" Stella opened her eyes wide. "Not when you went
Home?"

"I didn't go Home." Monck's eyes were still fixed upon his pipe. "No one
knows that but you," he said, "and one other. That is the first secret
out of Bluebeard's chamber that I have confided in you. Keep it close!"

Stella sat and gazed; but he would not meet her eyes. "Tell me," she
said at last, "who is the other? The Colonel?"

He shook his head. "No,