And without waiting for any reply, she turned and hurried away.
When the anchor was dropped and the launch waiting to take us all on shore, she came up with the viscontesse and was again wearing a mask. But a different one now. She laughed and chatted brightly, but without the hardness or bitterness of the earlier time.
I was once more the stranger. I gathered that the mask was now worn to mislead Inez, for when we shook hands, although her words of thanks were just those of common courtesy, there was an expression in the eyes and a simultaneous pressure of the fingers eloquent of the altered relations between us.
Wishing to be entirely alone I returned to the Stella and remained there thinking and speculating and planning.
I did not reach my rooms until late and found a letter awaiting me which made me rub my eyes in astonishment.
It was from Volheno, thanking me for some information I had given him and saying that it had been acted upon the previous night with excellent results. “It will of course be considered by the Government when we come to decide the matter of the Beira concessions; and I need scarcely say that if you can give us any more information of the same kind, you will render the Government a great service.”
I had given no information and would see him in the morning and explain. The man was mad; and I tossed the letter down and went off to bed.
I must have slept heavily after the day in the fresh air, for I was roused by some one shaking me roughly.
I opened my eyes to find the lights switched up and the police in my room. Two of them were searching the room and a third stood over me and ordered me sternly to get up and dress and be quick about it.
“What does it mean?” I asked, blinking like an owl in the sudden light.