"So I imagined," he said, "but I don't see Ronald there."
Andrew shaded his eyes with his hand.
"No!" he said. "There is the Princess and Cecil, and Major Forrest and Miss Le Mesurier. No one else. They certainly do look as though they were going to land here."
"Why not?" the other man remarked. "Why shouldn't Cecil come to visit his hermit brother?"
Andrew frowned.
"Berners," he said, "I want you to remember this. If they land here and you see anything of them, will you have the goodness to understand that I am Mr. Andrew, fisherman, and that you are my lodger?"
Andrew's companion looked at him in surprise.
"What sort of a game is this, Andrew?" he asked.
Andrew de la Borne shrugged his shoulders and smiled good-naturedly.
"Never mind about that, Dick," he answered. "Call it a whim or anything else you like. The fact is that Cecil had some guests coming whom I did not particularly care to meet, and who certainly would not have been interested in me. I thought it would be best to clear out altogether, so I have left Cecil in possession of the Hall, and they don't even know that I exist."