"Dear me, that is very interesting--very interesting, indeed! Mr.Hamel, I am sure, did not tell you of his destination ?" He watched them keenly.

Hamel, though he scarcely understood, was quick to appreciate the possible significance of that tentative question.
"We did not exchange confidences," he observed.

"Miss Fentolin only changed into my carriage during the last few minutes of her journey.
Besides," he continued, "to tell you the truth, my ideas as to my destination were a little hazy.

To come and look for some queer sort of building by the side of the sea, which has been unoccupied for a dozen years or so, scarcely seems a reasonable quest, does it ?" "Scarcely, indeed," Mr.Fentolin assented.

"You may thank me, Mr.Hamel, for the fact that the place is not in ruins.