"I have an idea," Katharine continued, "that you know more about this
matter than you feel inclined to divulge."

"Perhaps," he admitted. "Nowadays, every one has to learn discretion."

"Is it necessary with me?" "It is necessary with any friend of Mr.
Jocelyn Thew," he told her didactically.

"What a suspicious person you are!" she exclaimed, a little
scornfully. "You are just like all your countrymen. You get hold of an
idea and nothing can shake it. Mr. Jocelyn Thew, I dare say, possesses
a past. I know for a fact that he has been engaged in all sorts of
adventures during his life. But--at your instigation, I suppose--they
have already searched his person, his stateroom, and every article of
luggage he has. After that, why not leave him alone?"

"Because he is an extremely clever person."

"Then you are not satisfied yet?"

"Not yet."

"Am I, may I ask, under suspicion?" she enquired, with faint sarcasm.

"I should not like to say," he replied glibly, "that you were
altogether free from it."

She laughed heartily.