Two lives had been spent already in the quest: a third was nought to him; and the woman's air and clutching of her pocket had set an idea afloat in his brain.

The vessel was to sail at six the next morning; and it was eight in the evening when the man sat down opposite the woman in the third inn they visited--it was no better than a drinking shop near the quays.

For half an hour they sat, and there was that in their air that made them observed.

Suddenly the man crossed over to the woman and whispered in her ear.

She started, crying low yet audibly, "You lie!" But he spoke to her again; and then she rose and paid her score and walked out of the inn on to the quays, followed by her unrelenting attendant.