For a moment Marston hesitated. There was, however, no obvious reason for his refusing to acknowledge Peters, and he nodded when he advanced. The latter's clothes were in the latest fashion; he wore light gloves and very neat varnished shoes. At a little distance he looked like a prosperous Englishman, but as he came up and took off his hat the sun touched his yellow, deep-lined face and the curious white tufts in his hair. Then he looked pinched and shriveled. "I hardly thought to see you. Indeed, I imagined I had cheated myself," Marston remarked. Peters laughed. "Our meeting is, after all, not strange. I landed a few days since and stopped to transact some business before I go on to Hamburg. A paragraph in a newspaper caught my eye, and, having nothing to do this morning, I thought I'd come to your partner's wedding. Since I really don't know him well I didn't stop him as he came out." "Will you be long in town?" Marston asked. "Another day or two," said Peters. "I must try to look you up." He stepped back as a car started, and Marston saw no more of him. On the whole, he thought he had seen enough and was annoyed because Peters was coming to the office. This, however, was not important and he forgot about it. In the afternoon Mabel and he walked across a heathy common that sloped to the river mouth. The tide was ebbing and thin white lines of surf curved about the sands. Here and there a wet belt shone with reflections from the sky; the woods and fields on the western shore were getting dim, and a long range of hills rose against the fading light. The soft colors and the hazy distance, where one heard the sea beat on the outer shoals, were restful to Marston's eyes. He loved the quiet English landscape, and glancing at Mabel, half-consciously gave thanks because he was at home. "Who was the strange little man at the church?" Mabel asked presently. "Peters," said Marston. "We met him on the Caribbean. Did you think him strange?" "I didn't study him. His eyes were strange; they seemed restless and very keen. The white tufts in his hair were unusual." "Fever leaves its stamp when you get it often," Marston remarked. "Besides, I expect the fellow has had some romantic adventures. Anyhow, he's not a friend of ours. We gave him dinner on board because he was a white man. That's all." "I wonder whether Harry saw him, just before he dropped the ring." "What do you think?" Marston asked with some curiosity. "I don't know. Harry looked round." "Oh, well," said Marston. "If Harry did see him, I don't imagine it had much to do with his dropping the ring." Mabel gave him a quiet glance. She knew Bob and thought he was trying to persuade himself, not to cheat her. "Yet you did not like to see the man!"