"I hope you were not so rash as to make the promise in question?" cried Brenda.
"Well, do you know, as far as to-night goes, I'm afraid I did!" owned Lance.
"You did," said Brooke distinctly.
"But the fact of it is," said Lance lightly, "that he saved my life. Ever heard it said that if you save a man's life, he's sure to do you a bad turn? Look out for me, Brooke."
"I'll look out for myself," was the unamiable reply.
"But it's only if you save from drowning that the proverb applies," said the host.
"Well, this was drowning. River suddenly rose while the column was crossing; and the last men got washed away. But this is spoiling my yarn. I'll keep it for when Brooke isn't about."
"I told you I should spoil sport if I came," said Brooke grimly.
Melicent looked at him with some amusement
He was a fair man, severely tanned by exposure. He was clean-shaven, and the salient feature of his face was his large, finely-cut, strong yet delicate mouth: a mouth which lifted his otherwise rough-hewn face up to a different level, and made it full of possibilities. With such a mouth a man might be a poet, a soldier, a statesman; but whatever he was, that he would thoroughly be. He was also shy, to an extent that was amusing in such a Hercules. When he spoke, he muttered: and he hardly ever raised his eyes.