"I don't see why," Forrest answered. "If he were once in he'd have to hold his tongue, and you can do just what you like with him. He seems to me to be just one of those pulpy sort of persons whom you could persuade into a thing before he had had time to think about it." "I will drop him a hint if you like," the Princess said thoughtfully, "and see how he takes it. Are you sure that the game is worth the candle?" "Absolutely," Forrest answered eagerly. "I saw Engleton drop two thousand playing baccarat one night, and he never turned a hair. I wasn't playing, worse luck." "If I can get Cecil alone before dinner," the Princess said, "I will sound him. I think we had better go back now. We are a little old for romantic wanderings, and the wind is beginning to disarrange my hair." "See what you can do with him, then," Forrest said, as they retraced their steps. "I'll call in and hear if you've anything to tell me on my way down for dinner." The Princess nodded. They entered the hall, and Cecil at once drew an easy-chair to the tea-table. "My good people," the Princess declared, "I am famished. Your sea air, Cecil, is the most wonderful thing in the world. For years I have not known what it was like to be hungry. Hot cakes, please! And, Jeanne, please make my tea. Jeanne knows just how I like it. Tell us about the smuggler's cave, Jeanne. Was it really so wonderful?" Jeanne laughed. "It was very, very weird and very smelly," she said. "I think that you were wise to turn back." CHAPTER IX Andrew came face to face with his brother in the village street on the next morning. He looked at him for a moment in surprise. "What have you been doing?" he asked, drily. "Sitting up all night?" Cecil nodded dejectedly. "Pretty well," he admitted. "We played bridge till nearly five o'clock." "You lost, I suppose?" Andrew asked. "Yes, I lost!" Cecil admitted. "Your party," Andrew said, "does not seem to me to be an unqualified success." "It is not," Cecil admitted. "Miss Le Mesurier has been quite unapproachable the last few days. She's just civil to me and no more. She isn't even half as decent as she was in town. I wish I hadn't asked them here. It's cost a lot more money than we can afford, and done no good that I can see." Andrew looked away seaward for a moment. Was it his fancy, or was there indeed a slim white figure coming across the marshes from the Hall? "Cecil," he said, "are you quite sure that your guests are worth the trouble you have taken to entertain them? I refer more particularly to the two men." "They go everywhere," Cecil answered. "Lord Ronald is a bit of a wastrel, of course, and I am not very keen on Forrest, but we were all together when I gave the invitation, and I couldn't leave them out." Andrew nodded. "Well," he said, "I should be careful how I played cards with Forrest if I were you." Cecil's face grew even a shade paler. "You do not think," he muttered, "that he would do anything that wasn't straight?"