"I'm sure I don't know," he said, taking a short inhalation. "I've never had the poison habit."
"I say, Chase, can't you just see Rasula's face when he learns that we've been drinking the water all along and haven't passed away?" cried Deppingham, brightening considerably in contemplation of the enemy's disgust.
"And to think, Mr. Chase, we once called you 'the Enemy,'" said Lady Agnes in a low, dreamy voice. There was a far-away look in her eyes.
"I appear to have outlived my usefulness in that respect," he said. He tossed the stub of his cigarette over the balcony rail. "Good-bye!" he said, with melancholy emphasis. Then he bent an inquiring look upon the face of the Princess.
"Yes," she said, as if he had asked the question aloud. "You shall have three a day, that's all."
"You'll leave the entire fortune to me when you sail away, I trust," he said. The Deppinghams were puzzled.
"But you also will be sailing away," she argued.
"I? You forget that I have had no orders to return. Sir John expects me to stay. At least, so I've heard in a roundabout way."
"You don't mean to say, Chase, that you'll stay on this demmed Island if the chance comes to get away," demanded Lord Deppingham earnestly. The two women were looking at him in amazement.
"Why not? I'm an ally, not a deserter."