An empty vestibule had led into a large room, lined, floored, and ceiled with polished wood. Gorgeous rugs, gorgeous silk cushions covered the plainness of the wickerwork furniture; tastelessly arranged flowers were everywhere, and even a piano stood against the wall. Egerton, his face as calm and matter-of-fact as if he had never hurried them up that narrow path like a man in dread, pulled an old-fashioned bell-rope; a colored woman in spotless white stood in the doorway before the sound of the bell had ceased. “Breakfast waiting, sir,” she said, gazing at the two strange ladies curiously. He nodded. “Here is your new mistress, Salome,” he said, turning to Andria. “Mind you take care of her and this young lady.” “For de Lawd’s sake, sir,” said Salome, “dat’s certain. Don’t I always----” Andria, behind Egerton’s back, knew that his eye had cut the woman short. CHAPTER XI. TWO WARNINGS. All through breakfast she sat like a woman whose every perception is sharpened by fear. The very ordinariness of that meal, served faultlessly by Salome and another colored woman, only seemed to make her more curiously fearful. The lie about Bermuda, the breathless hurry up the path, the sudden relaxing of the vigilance in Egerton’s eyes as they came out on open ground, were all parts of a puzzle she could not fit together. She sat ready for anything as she ate mechanically; but even she was not prepared for what was coming next. From her seat at the table she had heard the voices of the sailors as they brought up the endless boxes, heard the thump with which each one was deposited in some back veranda--for solid as the house looked, inside it resembled a whispering gallery. A colored woman came in and told Egerton the things had come. Should the men go? He rose hastily, and said something from the veranda to the waiting sailors before he turned to the maid. “Give them breakfast,” he said shortly, “and then we’ll be off!” We! Even Beryl looked at him, though so far nothing in this strange place had seemed to rouse her from a dull apathy. “Yes,” Egerton said quietly, “I’m going, too. I shall leave you two ladies in Salome’s charge. I may be gone a month or six weeks. I have some business. But you will be quite comfortable here; it is certainly quiet;” and he laughed in that harsh cackle that was so out of character with his polished voice and manner. The sound of it grated on Andria’s nerves. “But what,” she began, “I mean, is there no one in the neighborhood--are we alone on this island? What shall I do if Miss Corselas is ill?” She was so confounded she could scarcely speak. “Salome can look after her. She has all sorts of medicines,” he returned. “Neighbors? No, you have none. You need fear no interruptions in either your work or play.” “But I thought there were any amount of people in Bermuda!” Beryl had lifted her head and was staring at him with those strange, tawny eyes.