"They will try to trace us once more, Ben Heer."
The sham Asiatic shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
"And they will fail," he said. "They know not the powers arrayed against them; the dogs know not my gracious mistress. Meanwhile thy slave can see through the bushes that somebody awaits your presence."
Mrs. May glanced in the direction indicated by Ben Heer. On the lawn Rupert Ravenspur was standing. The woman smiled. There was the head of the hated house actually seeking out the foe.
"Your eyes are sharper than mine," she said. "Well, you have need of them. Meanwhile you had better discreetly disappear for the time."
Mrs. May advanced to greet her guest. He bowed with his old-fashioned grace.
"This is an unexpected honor," the woman said.
"I can claim nothing on the score of politeness or gallantry," Rupert Ravenspur replied. He was quiet and polished as usual, but there was a look of deep distress on his face. "I came here not to see you, but in the faint hope of finding my nephew Geoffrey. I have ascertained that he came to see you sometimes."
"He has been so good," Mrs. May murmured. "I assure you I appreciate the company of a gentleman in this deserted spot."
"Then he has not been here to-day?"