"Do you mind walking on the lower deck?" she asked. "I want to talk to you, and I am sure that we shall be disturbed here."
"With pleasure!" I answered quickly. "I, too, have something to say to you."
We descended in silence to the promenade deck. Here we had the place almost to ourselves. Adèle did not beat about the bush.
"Mr. Courage," she said, "tell me what you thought when you saw me on this steamer!"
She looked me full in the face. Her beautiful eyes were full of anxiety. There was about her manner a nervousness which I had never before noticed. Her cheeks were paler, and with these indications of emotion, something of the mystery which had seemed to me always to cling to her personality had departed. She was more natural--more lovable.
"I thought," I answered, "that it was part of the game!--that you were here to watch me. Isn't that the natural conclusion?"
"Mr. Courage," she said, "please look at me."
I faced her at once. Her eyes were fixed upon mine.
"I am not here to watch you," she said quietly. "I came because I have decided to go back to my home in America, and live there quietly for a time. Whatever share I had in the events which led to Leslie Guest's death, these things do not interest me any more. I have finished."
"I cannot tell you anything about those events, or my connection with them," she went on, "but I want you to believe that I have no longer any association with those who planned them. I am not here to spy upon you. I am not in communication with any one to whom your actions are of any interest. Will you believe this?"
I hesitated for a moment. Her eyes held mine. It was not possible for me to disbelieve her.
"I am glad to hear this," I said seriously.
"And now," she said, "about yourself. Be as frank with me as I have been with you. Are you really the legatee of Guest's secret?"
"You know that he told me certain things--before he died," I answered slowly.
"Yes! But what are you going to do with the knowledge? Are you going to be wise and let fate take its course, or are you going to meddle in affairs which you know nothing about? Don't do it, Mr. Courage!" she exclaimed, with a sudden catch in her voice. "Leslie Guest was a diplomatist and a schemer all his life, and you know the penalty he paid. You have not the training or the disposition for this sort of thing. You would be foredoomed to failure. Don't do it!"