A CHANGE OF SKY, BUT NOT OF HABIT

Royson had time and to spare for the analysis of events during the
remainder of the day. In spite of von Kerber's repudiation of luck, he
believed that the fickle jade sometimes favored a man, and he counted
himself thrice fortunate in having met with an adventure leading to
such an unforeseen opening. He realized too, that had he been better
dressed--were his words and manners modeled on smooth convention--he
would not have received the offer of employment on board the
_Aphrodite_. Looked at in cold blood, there was nothing sinister in von
Kerber's wish to keep his business affairs private. If the Baron were
mixed up in a quarrel with some unknown Italian, his association with
people like Mr. Fenshawe and his granddaughter supplied a valid excuse
for observing a certain secrecy.

To guess the nature of the yacht's mission was more difficult. Any
reader of newspapers was aware that Morocco, Montenegro and Armenia,
not to mention the political volcanoes of Finland, Poland, and Carlist
centers in Spain, provided scope for international intrigue even in
these prosaic days. But it was a vain thing to imagine that the
Fenshawes would be involved in any wild-cat scheme of that sort. The
natural sequel to this thought was--who were they? and the nearest Free
Library answered promptly:

"Fenshawe, Hiram, C.M.G., 2d Class Osmanieh Hon. Fellow of Caius
College, Cambridge, landowner and colliery proprietor, an enthusiastic
Egyptologist, vice-President of Upper Egypt Exploration Society; has
devoted immense sums of money and many years of his life to Egyptian
archaeological research. His private collection of coins, pottery,