em. It was
a miracle how they were disposed of, unless they _were_ thrown overboard
and picked up by someone in the plot, as the Countess said."

"Is that why you hate to think of the trip--because you lost your watch?"
Annesley asked.

"Yes. Just that. It wasn't so much the loss of the watch--though it was a
present and I valued it--as because it made me feel such a fool. I left
the repeater under my pillow when I got up in the middle of the night to
go on deck, thinking I heard a cry. I couldn't have heard one, for nobody
was there. And next morning, when I wanted to look at the time, my watch
was equally invisible. Then there was the business of the passengers
being searched, and the everlasting talk about the whole business. One
got sick and tired of it. I got tired of the Countess and her crystal,
too: but the effect is passing away now. I expect I can stand her if you
can."

Annesley said that she would be interested. She refrained from adding
that she did not intend to make use of the seeress's gift for her own
benefit.

* * * * *

The Countess de Santiago wired her acceptance of the invitation, and
appeared at the Knowle Hotel on Saturday with a maid and a good deal of
luggage. Annesley had secretly feared that the effect of the beautiful
lady on the guests of the hotel would be overpowering, and had pictured
her, brilliantly coloured and exquisitely dressed, breaking like a
sunburst upon the dining room at luncheon time.

But she had underrated the Countess's cleverness and sense of propriety.
The lady arrived in a neat, tailor-made travelling dress of russet-brown
tweed which, with a plain toque of brown velvet and fur, cooled the ruddy
flame of her hair. It seemed to Annesley also that her lips were less red
than before; and though she was as remarkable as ever for her beauty, she
was not to be remarked for meretriciousness.

She was pleasanter in manner, too, as well as in appearance; and
Annesley's heart--which had difficulty in hardening itself for long--was
touched by the Countess's thanks for the invitation.

"You are so happy and wrapped up in each other, I didn't expect you to
give a thought to me," the beautiful woman said. "You don't know what it
means to be asked down here, after so many lonely days in town, and to
find that you and Don are going to give me some new friends."

This note, which Knight also had struck in explaining the Countess's
"heart's desi