The hidden fire in the girl's eyes seemed to leap forth, a bolt of fiery scorn that would have fused, upon the instant, metal less resisting. "A consequent--of course. And it is----" "A lofty one. He mounts either to Dom Gillian's chair or to the yard arm of the _Black Swan_. A spy's death for a spy--it is but justice." Esmay turned to Constans. "Surely it were shame enough for any woman to find herself made part of such a bargain. But my humiliation goes even deeper, for I must parade my poor wares before you like any huckster, beseeching you to buy. My lord, it is for your life, and I am but a flower that it may please you to wear to-day and cast aside to-morrow. Buy of me, my lord, and at what price you will--it is for your life. But be quick; he will not wait over-long." She plucked at his sleeve. "Do you not understand? The men are coming; you can hear the rattle of the sheaf-blocks at the mast-head of the galley--Constans!" But Constans looked only at his enemy, Quinton Edge. "I am ready," he said, coldly. Esmay passed through the long window and so into the drawing-room. To her overly excited senses the signal was already sounding in her ears, and a gradual faintness mounted to her brain, even as water rises about the swimmer advancing through the shingle to the first shock of the surge. Then, in deadly truth, she heard Quinton Edge blow his whistle, and the darkness closed in upon her. For the second time the Doomsman raised the pipe to his lips. It slipped from his fingers and fell to the garden-table at his side. As he bent to recover it the subtle, uprising scent of the May-bloom struck him like a blow; a dark flush overspread his brow. He spoke, quickly, insistently: "The canoe is still at the landing-stage. Go, while there is yet time." He seized Constans by the shoulders, slewing him around and pushing him towards the steps that led to the terrace. "Go, and forget all that you have seen and heard in Doom the Forbidden. You and your secrets are known; be content to leave my people with theirs. And to me my memories."