to mumble to himself as he pushed them into the boat.

"My fault," he muttered,--"my fault. Captain Granet, I thought that my
daughter knew my wishes. I am not at present in a position to receive
guests or visitors of any description. You will pardon my apparent
inhospitality. I shall ask you, sir, to kindly forget this visit and to
keep away from here for the present."

"I shall obey your wishes, of course, sir," Granet promised. "I can
assure you that I am quite a harmless person, though."

"I do not doubt it, sir," Sir Meyville replied, "but it is the harmless
people of the world who do the most mischief. An idle word here or there
and great secrets are given away. If you will allow me, I will show you
a quicker way down the avenue, without going to the house."

Granet shrugged his shoulders.

"Just as you will, sir," he assented.

"You can go in, Isabel," her father directed curtly. "I will see Captain
Granet off."

She obeyed and took leave of her guest with a little shrug of the
shoulders. Sir Meyville took Granet's arm and led him down the avenue.

"Captain Granet," he said gravely, "I am an indiscreet person and I have
an indiscreet daughter. Bearing in mind your profession, I may speak to
you as man to man. Keep what you have seen absolutely secret. Put a seal
upon your memory. Go back to Brancaster and don't even look again in
this direction. The soldiers round this place have orders not to stand
on ceremony with any one, and by to-night I believe we are to have an
escort of Marines here as well. What you have seen is for the good of
the country."

"I congratulate you heartily, sir," Granet replied, shaking hands. "Of
course I'll keep away, if I must. I hope when this is all over, though,
you will allow me to come and renew my acquaintance with your daughter."

"When it is over, with pleasure," Sir Meyville assented.

Granet stepped into his car and drove off. The inventor stood looking
after him. Then he spoke to the sentry and made his way across the
gardens towards the boat-shed.

"I ought to have known it from the first," he muttered. "Reciprocal
refraction was the one thing to think about."

Granet, as he drove back to the Dormy House, was conscious of a curious
change in the weather. The wind, which had been blowing more or
less during the last few days, had suddenly dropped. There was a new
heaviness in the atmosphere, little banks of transparent mist were
drifting in from seawards. Mo