"Then set him going right quick. Does Miss Silvester take to it kindly? Is she dead earnest?" "That's just what I want to know. I'll tell you what, though--she won't be when she's married to me. No peace at any price in my house, I'm d----d if there is." "Don't believe in it, eh?" "Does any good Britisher really believe in it? Wars made us what we are. Would Nelson have gone to a law court? And what price would Drake receive in a county court action for singeing the Spanish King's beard? I tell you it's all d----d nonsense, and some of 'em must know it to be so. When I am married to Gabrielle----But here she comes, my boy, so mum's the word. There's time enough for arguments--eh, what?" Faber smiled and stood up to get another chair. Gabrielle was very serious, and looked gracious in her perplexity. She had a strange tale to tell of her patient, and recited it in a kind of astonished despair which amused her host very much. "Do you know," she exclaimed, "the child drinks wine like an alderman. Whatever am I to do?" "What?" cried Harry. "You're rotting, Gabrielle, you're not serious." "It's true, every word of it. She says that she is doing it by your orders, Mr. Faber. Is it really so?" "How much has she taken? I sent a bottle down. It's only the light stuff they drink hereabouts. You can hardly call it wine." "She has drunk the whole bottle. I was never more astonished in my life." "We shall have to humour her a bit. Of course, it must be stopped. And that reminds me--I want a home for her in England. Will you and your father give her one?" "She'll do for the 'horrid' example at your temperance meetings, Gabrielle. Better take her." "I think," said Gabrielle, "you had better see my father. You know that he is undecided about this call to Yonkers." "He won't be undecided about it when I've had my say. Is the patient all right now? Do you think well of her?" "I think she is terribly distressed, and is hiding it from all of us." "A brave little girl! I guessed as much. We must get her away from this place as soon as possible. When does Sir Jules propose to sail?" "Not until the Emperor leaves Corfu. He said so at lunch." "He'll weigh before then; the Emperor doesn't mean to see him a second time. Anyway, you won't leave her, Miss Silvester, I go pat on that." She averted her eyes from both of them, and looked away to the other yacht. "I don't think I ought to leave her. The better way will be for you to see my father. She's sleeping now. We might go over to the _Wanderer_ at once, if you liked----" "And make it an excuse for a jolly little supper on deck," said Harry voraciously. He had done little but eat and sleep since they left London. IV Gordon Silvester was as astonished as Gabrielle by the proposition which Faber made to him, but he listened sympathetically none the less. "This would mean a definite refusal to Yonkers," he said, and Faber agreed that it was so.