"You remember that round hole we saw from the summit rock?" he said. "Well, it is full of carbonic acid gas, to breathe which means unconsciousness and death. It gives no warning to the inexperienced. It is rather pleasant than otherwise. Promise me you will never come near this place again."
Now, Iris, too, had been thinking deeply. Robert Jenks bulked large in her day-dreams. Her nerves were not yet quite normal. There was a catch in her throat as she answered—
"I don't want to die. Of course I will keep away. What a horrid island this is! Yet it might be a paradise."
She bit her lip to suppress her tears, but, being the Eve in this garden, she continued—
"How did you find out? Is there anything—nasty—in there?"
"Yes, the remains of animals, and other things. I would not have told you were it not imperative."
"Are you keeping other secrets from me?"
"Oh, quite a number."
He managed to conjure up a smile, and the ruse was effective. She applied the words to his past history.
"I hope they will not be revealed so dramatically," she said.