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 imitation of ladies in your own island. I'm sure Miss Orbison will forgive me."

"Quite," Miss Orbison returned serenely. "It's the most perfect description of my own manner of speech. But since you decline to admit that the pretty young creature yonder talks through her nose, I think you must have been listening to her."

"Yes, a little. She's a Miss Ambler."

Amber' instead of 'Ambler' might have been better," Orbison said. "To give the colour of the lights in her hair, I mean. I observe that she's not only an American but an heiress as well."

Rennie laughed. "Of course all American girls abroad are heiresses! Why do you think Miss Ambler particularly one?"

"The monocled Saracens," Orbison explained, with a gesture toward the two Bastoni, who were descending from the upper terrace. "At sight of her they became instantly a trifle more wolfishly glittering. They are coming down upon her—but I must say she doesn't seem averse."

Miss Ambler, in fact, appeared to be delighted. Turning from the sea, she waved her hand toward the two young men, smiled with eager cordiality and