"Well, what of it?" snapped Suzanne. "Look, high up." "High up, Segoffin?" "Yes, on the side." "On the side?" "Yes, don't you see that bluish light playing on it?" "Bluish light?" repeated the ship owner, squinting up his eyes and arching his hand over them to form a sort of shade. "Yes, high up, near the top! The deuce take me if it isn't turning red now! Look, will you! Isn't it amazing? But come, M. Verduron, come, let's get a closer look at it," added Segoffin, seizing the ship owner by the arm and trying to drag him away. "One moment," exclaimed M. Verduron, releasing himself from the head gunner's grasp, "to take a closer look at anything one must first have seen it at a distance, and the devil take me if I can see anything at all. And you, madame?" "I don't, I am sure, monsieur." Segoffin would perhaps have attempted to prolong the illusion by endowing the light with all the other colours of the rainbow, but the approach of another and even greater danger extinguished his inventive genius. He heard Sabine's voice only a few feet from him, exclaiming: "What are you all looking at, my dear Suzanne?" "Mlle. Sabine!" Segoffin mentally exclaimed. "All is lost! Poor child! Such a revelation will kill her, I fear." CHAPTER XVI. SEGOFFIN'S RUSE. On seeing Sabine, M. Floridor Verduron began his reverential evolutions all over again, and the girl returned his bows blushingly, for she had not expected to meet a stranger in the garden. Segoffin, terrified at the thought that Cloarek's secret might be revealed at any moment, resolved to get the visitor away at any cost; so, interrupting him in the midst of his genuflections, he said: "And now, M. Verduron, if you will come with me I will take you to monsieur at once." "But my father has gone out, Segoffin," said Sabine. "Never mind, mademoiselle, I know where to find him." "But it would be much better for monsieur to wait for my father here, I think," insisted the girl. "He said he would soon be back, and if you go out in search of him you run a great risk of missing him, Segoffin, and of giving this gentleman a long walk for nothing, perhaps." "No, no, mademoiselle, it is such a delightful day monsieur will enjoy a little walk, and I know a very pleasant road your father is sure to return by." "But he might not return that way, Segoffin," interposed Suzanne, favourably disposed toward the visitor, by reason of his extreme politeness, and consequently anxious to enjoy his society as long as possible. "But I tell you that--" "My good friend," interrupted M. Verduron, "I must admit that I am too gallant, or rather not sufficiently unselfish, to debar myself of the pleasure of waiting here for the return of--"