V.--A WOMAN'S FORGIVENESS
VI.--FIEND OR KING?
VII.--THE REAL COLONEL CARLYON
VIII.--THE STRANGER ON THE VERANDA
IX.--A FIGHT IN THE NIGHT
X.--SAVED A SECOND TIME
XI.--THE SECRET OUT

THE PENALTY






Rosa Mundi


Was the water blue, or was it purple that day? Randal Courteney
stretched his lazy length on the shady side of the great natural
breakwater that protected Hurley Bay from the Atlantic rollers, and
wondered. It was a day in late September, but the warmth of it was as a
dream of summer returned. The season was nearly over, or he had not
betaken himself thither, but the spell of heat had prolonged it unduly.
It had been something of a shock to him to find the place still occupied
by a buzzing crowd of visitors. He never came to it till he judged the
holidays to be practically over. For he loved it only when empty. His
idea of rest was solitude.

He wondered how long this pearly weather would last, and scanned the sky