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The Lady of the Lake pulled out of Southampton Harbour a little after five o'clock on as delightful a summer evening as one could wish in which to go down to the sea in ships. The sky was cloudless; Southampton Water lay as smooth and polished as a mirror, reflecting the molten globe of the westering sun. Lord Stranleigh and Professor Bronson Marlow walked the deck together. Marlow, despite the shaky nature of his physical man, was enjoying every moment of the time, like a schoolboy let loose from his tasks. He had always been so poor, and always so busy, that the delights of travel meant for him merely the area round London, whose boundaries were achieved by a free-wheel bicycle from Saturday to Monday. He had never seen even the Isle of Wight, which was now looming up before them, and Stranleigh pointed out Netley Hospital and the other sights of this inland sheet of water on either shore.

Just excuse me for a moment," said Stranleigh, walking rapidly forward to the bridge, where he