gloomily, going off to a small hut near by to dress. He was saying
to himself: "This fellow will end by giving me away. The last
thing that I . . . No! That mustn't be." And feeling his hand
being forced he discovered the whole extent of his cowardice.



CHAPTER X



That morning wandering about his plantation, more like a frightened
soul than its creator and master, he dodged the white parasol
bobbing up here and there like a buoy adrift on a sea of dark-green
plants. The crop promised to be magnificent, and the fashionable
philosopher of the age took other than a merely scientific interest
in the experiment. His investments were judicious, but he had
always some little money lying by, for experiments.

After lunch, being left alone with Renouard, he talked a little of
cultivation and such matters. Then suddenly:

"By the way, is it true what my sister tells me, that your
plantation boys have been disturbed by a ghost?"

Renouard, who since the ladies had left the table was not keeping
such a strict watch on himself, came out of his abstraction with a
start and a stiff smile.

"My foreman had some trouble with them during my absence. They