I. THE MAN OUT OF THE NIGHT 1 II. THE QUEST OF THE KING 12 III. THE STRANGE VISITORS THAT CAME TO THE “SEA ROVER” 27 IV. WILL JACKSON 41 V. SHOWS THE INCONVENIENCES THAT MAY SOMETIMES ATTEND AN ACTIVE MIND 65 VI. THE NIGHT: THE SEA: THE ROCKS 80 VII. THE WOMAN 94 VIII. THE KING’S FACE 110 IX. THE MAN IN BED 128 X. LE ROI S’AMUSE 149 XI. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF COWARDICE 164 XII. THE MARINER 175 XIII. THE SOLDIERS 197 XIV. THE DIVINITY THAT DOTH HEDGE A KING 212 XV. “WAY THERE FOR THE KING’S SERVITOR!” 227 XVI. THE DEPARTING GUESTS 232 XVII. THE LANDLORD 245 [Illustration: PATRICIA at the INN CHAPTER I _The man out of the night_] It had been remarked that the weather was extreme for the time of year. The little inn, huddling on the desolate bridle-path that ran in front of the open sea, was wrapped in a cloud of fog; the night was as hollow as a crypt; of a temper to warp the spirit; and so silent, that when a wild fowl cried as it shivered by the tide, a hundred echoes woke in the high rocks rising behind the tavern. The house was on a wild and lonely coast. It stood on the road to nowhere, high hills and seas about it; and as not one traveller a month came to it from the landward, it was frankly for the service of that strange, furtive company of adventurers who came in the night from France and Holland when the winds were friendly. All the bitter evening had the landlord kept the chimney-side. Flanked on the one hand by a fire of red faggots, hissing with blue flame; on the other by a stiff glass of hot rum-and-water, the old man sat, the image of bodily contentment.