"'You see, my dear Baron,' said Mr. Pearson, 'our dear Jennie has married--and she hasn't married you. She hasn't showed herself possessed of many virtues, but she has had sense enough for that. I took it for granted that you were something in the hairdressing line, from the moment I first set eyes on you.'
"The Baron paid no attention to Mr. Pearson--it was as well he didn't.
"He sat, huddled up on a chair, looking at me with gaping eyes.
"'But it is impossible that you are Mrs. Conrad Godwin!'
"'I fail to see the impossibility, for, in fact, I am. If you have a message for me, may I ask you to deliver it?'
"'Message! I have no message! I have instructions to arrest you.'
"I was startled then.
"'To arrest me!'
"'A telegram has come to detain anyone arriving by this boat of the name of Conrad Godwin. I am the chief of the police'--the Baron d'Ardigny, with his large property in the Ardennes, had sunk to a policeman--'and I am afraid that, with your husband, Mr. Conrad Godwin, you must be my prisoner.'
"'My husband, as I cannot help suspecting that you are possibly aware, does not happen to be on board.'