"And so you sent me an S.O.S.!" said Saltash. "I am indeed honoured!" She turned towards him very winningly, very appealingly. "Charles Rex, I sent for you because I want a friend--so very badly. My happiness is in the balance. Don't you understand?" Her deep voice throbbed with feeling. He stretched out a hand to her with a quick, responsive gesture that somehow belied the imp of mischief in his eyes. "_Bien, ma Juliette_! I am here!" he said. "Thank you," she said very earnestly. "I knew I could count on you--that you would not withdraw your protection when once you had offered it." "Would you like my advice as well?" he questioned. She met his quizzing look with her frank eyes. "What is your advice?" she said. He held her hand in his. "You haven't forgotten, have you, the sole condition on which I extended my protection to you? No. I thought not. We won't discuss it. The time is not yet ripe. And, as you say, the _Night Moth_ in this weather, though safe, might not be a very comfortable abiding-place. But--don't forget she is quite safe, my _Juliette_! I should like you to remember that." He spoke with a strange emphasis that must in some fashion have conveyed more than his actual words, for quite suddenly her throat worked with a sharp spasm of emotion. She put up her hand instinctively to hide it. "Thank you," she said. "If I need--a city of refuge--I shall know which way to turn. Now for your advice!" "My advice!" He was looking at her with those odd, unstable eyes of his that ever barred the way to his inner being. "It depends a little on the condition of your heart--that. When it comes to this in an obstacle race, there are three courses open to you. Either you refuse the jump and drop out--which is usually the safest thing to do. Or you take the thing at full gallop and clear it before you know where you are. Or you go at it with a weak heart and come to grief. I don't advise the last anyway. It's so futile--as well as being beastly humiliating." She smiled at him. "Thank you, Charles! A very illuminating parable! Well, I don't contemplate the first--as you know. I must have a try at the second. And if I smash,--it's horribly difficult, you know--I may smash--" Sudden anguish looked at him out of her eyes, and a hard shiver went through her as she turned away. "Oh, Charles!" she said. "Why did I ever come to this place?"