“She could dictate to me while she had the girl, but not when there is no girl for her to produce. Third,” he resumed his counting, “there was my coming on that woman in the registry-office. The minute I saw her I knew she had a history, was at the end of her tether and in despair. No troublesome questions from a woman like that! She swallowed everything I told her because, forsooth, I had taken her without references. A woman who had no references and was dressed like a duchess was a fitter woman for my purpose than all the Mrs. Grundys in England. She stood being hustled on board and hurried off without a sight of her charge like a lamb, just because she didn’t care a straw what happened to her. I could see it in her face. And it’s just as well she doesn’t!” His own face contracted a little as at something slightly, yet unavoidably, unpleasant. “Well, no one will inquire about either of the ladies if their absence is prolonged! “I didn’t tell her that obstinate little devil down-stairs wouldn’t see her, wouldn’t hear of her. She’ll find out soon enough what a handful she has before her, while it lasts. But whatever happens, no one will be able to root out dangerous tales of me and my tawny-eyed young friend. Mr. Egerton and his ward and governess having disappeared into space will not trouble Erceldonne. “It was lucky Raimond was out of the way; it would have suited him to rout out things he would be a fool to know. He might even have fancied the girl. I wonder what set his mind on an old story! But it doesn’t matter. The affair will be nothing but a lying rumor soon; an absolutely absurd canard.” He drank down the whisky and soda with small enjoyment, for it was flat, and the only troublesome reflection of the afternoon came to him. “Damn that fool who put Beryl Corselas and her adventures in the papers,” he thought angrily. “The name might have set people thinking. But I don’t think so. I stayed long enough in London to be sure there was no revival of stale talk. Anyhow, if there were, it doesn’t matter. She’s disappeared, and by ---- this time she’ll stay disappeared!” He rose and looked out of the window. It was a deck cabin, and almost within reach of his arm sat the governess looking vaguely out over a sea that was blue for the first time in the six days since they had left England. It was rough still, but the rollers had purple hollows instead of gray ones, and curled over blue and clear. But the governess was not thinking of them, and her employer knew it. He rang the bell.