"I was talking to Captain Willoughby," and she turned to him. "You do not know Mrs. Adair, I think?"
"No," he replied, as he raised his hat. "But I know Mrs. Adair very well by name. I know friends of yours, Mrs. Adair—Durrance, for instance; and of course I knew—"
A glance from Ethne brought him abruptly to a stop. He began vigorously to push the nose of his boat from the sand.
"Of course, what?" asked Mrs. Adair, with a smile.
"Of course I knew of you, Mrs. Adair."
Mrs. Adair was quite clear that this was not what Willoughby had been on the point of saying when Ethne turned her eyes quietly upon him and cut him short. He was on the point of adding another name. "Captain Willoughby," she repeated to herself. Then she said:—
"You belong to Colonel Durrance's regiment, perhaps?"
"No, I belong to the North Surrey," he answered.
"Ah! Mr. Feversham's old regiment," said Mrs. Adair, pleasantly. Captain Willoughby had fallen into her little trap with a guilelessness which provoked in her a desire for a closer acquaintanceship. Whatever Willoughby knew it would be easy to extract. Ethne, however, had disconcerting ways which at times left Mrs. Adair at a loss. She looked now straight into Mrs. Adair's eyes and said calmly:—
"Captain Willoughby and I have been talking of Mr. Feversham." At the same time she held out her hand to the captain. "Good-bye," she said.