"What is the matter with you?" asked Hicks. "Don't you know your friends? Is that the real girl?" asked Hemming. O'Rourke ignored the questions. "Give me a drink of something," he said, and, recovering a little of his composure, smote Hemming violently on the back. "Is it the real girl?" repeated Hemming, staggering. "Do you think I'd make a mistake?" cried the lover. He swallowed the brandy brought him by Hicks, and requested a cigarette. Their host supplied it from a tin box on the mantelpiece, all the while eyeing O'Rourke anxiously. "What on earth made you act like that?" he asked. "There'll be wigs on the green when Marion gets hold of you." "Oh, you must forgive him this time," laughed Hemming. "For, as far as I can gather, he has just met the lady of his heart after years of separation." "Do you mean Miss Hudson? Why, where did you ever meet her?" cried Hicks. "It's a long story," replied O'Rourke, "but perhaps Herbert will tell it to you--I can't spare the time." He threw the half-smoked cigarette into the grate, and left the study, closing the door behind him. Hicks glanced uneasily at Hemming. "I hope O'Rourke is not drunk," he said. "An out and out city square poet, who stays at home and writes about the rolling billows, I can understand, but I never know what chaps like you and O'Rourke are up to." Hemming laughed. "Don't worry about O'Rourke," he said. Later in the evening Hemming found a gray-haired gentleman standing alone, lost in contemplation of a black and white hunting picture. He seemed dazed, and ill at ease. "Mr. Hemming," he said, "my name is Hudson, and my daughter has just introduced me to a Mr. O'Rourke. Have you ever met him?" "Several times," replied Hemming. "A gentleman, I suppose?" "Certainly." "A man of property?" "Inconsiderable." "An adventurer, perhaps?" "Just as I am." "But, my dear sir, your connections and your reputation as a writer places you above suspicion. I had frequently heard of you before the Pernamba episode." "Thank you," said Hemming, with a crispness in his voice. "But this man O'Rourke?" continued the other. "O'Rourke," said Hemming, "lacks neither personal distinction nor respectable family connections. I have watched him under the most trying circumstances, and his behaviour has always been above criticism. Also, he happens to be my dearest friend." CHAPTER II. A NEW RESTLESSNESS "All night long, in the dark and wet, A man goes riding by." ... R.L.S.