hought that I had better go
out to Madeira, catch his steamer there, and secure a concession of it
before he reaches England.'

Clarice gave a laugh. 'Then we are to expect you in a fortnight?'

'Yes, in a fortnight,' and he laid a significance upon the word which
Clarice did not mistake. It was spoken with an accent of entreaty.

But indeed she needed no emphasis to fix it in her mind. The word
besieged her; she caught herself uttering it, and while she uttered it
the time itself seemed to have slipped by. She had but to say 'No' at the
end of the fortnight, she assured herself, and she knew that she would
only have to say it once. But the memory of that Sunday afternoon in
Beaufort Gardens lay upon her like a load crushing all the comfort out of
her knowledge.

Drake caught his steamer at Southampton, and the President at Madeira. He
was received warmly as an old acquaintance, warily as a negotiator.
However, he extracted the concession as the boat passed up Southampton
Water, and disembarked with a signed memorandum in his pocket. At
Southampton post-office he received a bundle of letters which had been
forwarded to him from his chambers in London. He slipped them into his
coat, and went at once on board the Guernsey steamer. At Guernsey, the
next morning, he embarked on the little boat which runs between Guernsey
and Sark. The sun was a golden fire upon the water; the race of the tides
no more than a ripple. The island stuck out its great knees into the sea
and lolled in the heat. Half-way across Drake bethought him of the
letters. He took them out and glanced over the envelopes. One was in
Clarice's handwriting. It announced to him her engagement with Sidney
Mallinson.

CHAPTER XI

Of Drake's arrival at the Seigneurie Mrs. Willoughby wrote some account
to Hugh Fielding, who was taking the waters for no ailment whatever at
Marienbad. 'I was surprised to see him,' she wrote, 'because Clarice told
me that she had written to him. Clarice was running down the stairs when
he came into the hall. She stopped suddenly as she caught sight of him,
clutched at the balustrade, slipped a heel upon the edge of the step, and
with a cry pitched straight into his arms at the bottom. Mr. Mallinson
came out of the library while he was holding her. Clarice was not hurt,
however, and Mr. Drake set her down. "I didn't pass through London," he
said, and he seemed to be apologising. "My letters were forwarded to
Southampton,