water.

'How good it is of somebody to row about, just to give us that nice
soothing sound,' murmured Lesbia.

Lady Kirkbank, with her dear old head thrown back upon the cushion of
her luxurious chair, and her dear little cornflower hat just a thought
on one side, was sleeping the sleep of the just, and unconsciously
revealing the little golden arrangements which gave variety to her front
teeth.

The soothing sound came nearer and nearer, close under the _Cayman's_
quarter, and then a brown hand clasped the man-ropes, and a light slim
figure swung itself upon deck, while the boat bobbed and splashed below.

It was Montesma, who had not been expected till the racing, which was
not to begin for two days. A faint, faint rose bloom flushed Lady
Lesbia's cheek at sight of him; and Mr. Smithson gave a little look of
vexation, just one rapid contraction of the eyebrows, which resumed
their conventional placidity the next instant.

'So good of you,' he murmured. 'I really did not expect you till the
beginning of the week.'

'London is simply insupportable in this weather--most of all for a man
born in the Havanas. My soul thirsted for blue water. So I said to
myself, This good Smithson is at Cowes; he will give me the run of his
yacht and a room at his villa. Why not go to Cowes at once?'

'The room is at your service. I have only two or three of my people at
Formosa, but just enough to look after a bachelor friend.'

'I want very little service, my dear fellow,' answered Montesma,
pleasantly. 'A man who has crossed the Cordilleras and camped in the
primeval forest on the shores of the Amazon, learns to help himself. So
this is the _Cayman_? _Muy deleitoso, mi amigo_. A floating Paradise in
little. If the ark had been like this, I don't think any of the
passengers would have wanted the flood to dry up.'

He shook hands with Lady Lesbia as he spoke, and with Lady Kirkbank, who
looked at him as if he were part of her dream, and then he sank into the
chair on Lesbia's left hand, with the air of being established for the
rest of the day.

'I have left my portmanteaux at the end of the pier,' he said lazily. 'I
dare say one of your fellows will be good enough to take them to Formosa
for me?'

Mr. Smithson gave the necessary order. All the beauty had gone out of the
sea and the sky for him, all the contentment from his mind; and yet he
was in no position to rebel against Fate--in no position to say directly
or indirect