"I couldn't have attempted it but for her," replied the other quietly. "When the Emperor asked me to undertake it--'Sire,' I said, 'if I may take my Bonnet Rouge!'... I tell you," he cried, turning almost fiercely on the boy, "I've left Merton as the first star peeped, and seen the sun rise out of the sea from here!... But I forgot...." III A cold shadow swept over him. Kit could feel the change--it was like passing from day to night; and it chilled the boy's heart. Up there in the lonely stillness, sea beneath, heaven above, earth around, the two faced each other. All the laughter had ebbed from the man's being. He was still and cold as his sword. "D'you know what is in here?" tapping the scent-bottle. His eyes, frosty now, seemed to bore down to the boy's soul. Kit froze too. "Why?" "Because if you will give me your word that you do not know, I will let you go." Those eyes of his were terrible. "Will you give me your word?" The boy was pale as ice. Death in cold blood here on the quiet hillside--death like a pig's in a sty.... Ugh!... "No, thank you." "Then prepare to meet your Maker." He turned and fiddled with a pistol, snapped it, cursed in an undertone, and thrust it back in his pocket. Then he turned again. The boy stood before him with dark eyes. Slight as a lily, and the colour of one, he seemed to sway in the breeze. "Give me your word not to speak of what you know till after Thursday next--and you may go." The boy shook his head. "I mustn't." The man flashed the hue of lightning. "Then I must." An arm swept about the boy. A hand at his waist was fumbling for his dirk. For a second the lad struggled: then he felt himself helpless as a rabbit in a python's grip, and lay back quite still. Once face to face with God, his heart calmed strangely. There was a horrible breathing in his ear. A face, all eyes, was bending over him. "_My God_! _how like a girl he is_!" came a far whisper. "Go on, please, and don't insult me," gurgled the boy. And as he said it, his mind flashed back to Gwen: Gwen with her pride of sex, standing before him, fists closed, challenging him to fight--"cad!" "What are you chuckling about?" "Gwen--my sister.... She thinks a girl's as good as a boy.... Go on." The hand upon his forehead quitted its hold. "I can't," said the Gentleman. The arm about the boy relaxed. Kit stood up. "Thank you," he said, and readjusted his collar. The Gentleman rippled off into laughter. CHAPTER XXVII THE HOLLOW IN THE COOMBE For the first time Kit glanced round him. On the top of the cliff, they were by no means on the top of the Downs. A great dun wave of earth, patched with gorse, surged up into the sky before him.