Mrs. Carmac disliked him, he knew; yet she was retaining his services. That was a puzzle. He must be wary and alert. If not a prior marriage, there was something. He must probe and delve into the past. Somehow, somewhere, he would unearth a guarded secret.
Luck would have it that he met Captain Popple, standing on the "terrace," with his hands in his pockets and a pipe clenched between his teeth, gazing up at the sky.
"Good day, Sir," said the sailor. "Glad to see yer movin' around. Now if I could on'y figure out the lingo they talk in Pont Aven, I'd swap idees on the weather with any old charac-ter I saw at anchor."
"What is it you want to know, Captain?" said Raymond, hailing the other's presence as a relief from somber thoughts.
"Well, to my thinkin', the weather's goin' to clear. The wind's a trifle steadier, and gone round a point to east'ard. At this time o' year that means a risin' glass an' frost."
"A frost would be more cheerful, certainly, than a gale howling about the chimneys."
"The sea will fall too. A couple of tides should iron it out, an' I'll have a peep at that reef."
"But why?"
"Mrs. Carmac's orders, Sir. I'm to spare no expense in searchin' for some boxes an' other oddments."