The Island Mystery

t on at high pressure for three days. On the fourth it sl

fro between the steamer and the shore. On the palace steps, islanders-men, women and children-waited to take charge of the cargoes which the boats brought. Captain Wilson was in command on board the Ida. On shore Mr. Phillips directed the unpacking. He had the cases and bales hauled up the flagstaff terrace. There they were prised or cut open. Tables, chairs, carpets, beds, bedd

ge hall of the palace. He was sweeping up the hearth. He had already gathered and burnt the litter of torn papers which lay

t settled. Perhaps I oughtn't to have done it, sir. But it seemed to me as how I'd l

e collected them all. But Smith, with ill-directed zeal, had burnt them. Not

d. He was active in the opening of packing-cases, careful and skilful in handling glass and china. He planned sto

estures. She moved things which seemed comfortably settled from room to room. Whenever she came across Smith or met Phillips she talked excitedly about colour schemes. She spent a good deal of time in rescuing the brown babies from peril. The mothers, determined to miss n

, she stood beside the boats when they arrived. With a gesture of contempt she committed each "damned box" to the care of the men and the less favoured women. She took possession of all personal luggage. Only her special friends were allowed to handle the Queen's trunks. She put herself in command of four girls, and marched in front of them as they stagg

uffered from activity. The deck of the Ida was no place for him. The cabins were stuffy and the clamour of the donkey engine made him restless. He went ashore. Smith, who was a wonderfully sympathetic man, led him to a high balcony, well shaded, pleasantly airy. There Mr. Donovan established himself on a deck chair. He smoked a great deal and slept a little. He drank the cocktails which

came of seeing kitchen chairs placed in her bedroom palled. She began to feel that Mr. Phillips would never fully understand the beauty and value of a colour scheme. Her clo

e said, "we'll

thing meant, but life was for her a passing from one rapturous experience to another. "Go

h her arms. Kalliope, pathetically eager

went through the pantomime of rowing again. She touched her own breast with her forefinger, then Kalliope'

w," sh

ts and their coloured sashes to the girl. She piled them in the stern, a cushion for her mistress. She took the oars. The Queen came down the steps, carrying in her arms one of the brown

e ship. The great room she had chosen for herself attracted her. She thought of the cool night air blowing in through the window, of the wide balcony on

onviction that she ought to be guarded and protected. It seemed to him wrong that she, with no other companion than Kalliope, should sleep in a great lonely house on an island where st

ng man, that an American girl knows how to take care of herself. Daisy can g

the gentle islanders of wishing any harm to their new queen. There were no

uld sleep come to him again. His imagination, picturing a hundred impossible dangers for the Queen, tormented him. Suddenly he remembered the torn envelope which lay in his pocket. He puzzled himself to find some explanation of its being on the island, in the palace.

inings no more. He got up, dr

eased, and Phillips, standing in the shadow of the deck-house, could fix his eyes on the windows of the room where the Queen lay. He heard, suddenly, the splash of oars, dipped very gently in the water. He looked round and saw a boat, one of the island boats, moving from

os the elder. His long white beard and stately figure were not easily mistaken. The boat grounded and Stephanos stepped on board. Smith pushed off, and rowing rapidly now, coasted the shore of the bay, keeping close inland. The boat was hard to see, for she moved in the shadow of the cliffs. Suddenly s

he climbed the sid

y this morning,

day. I thought as how, if I went ashore, sir, I might get a co

eggs," sa

there was a sharp gleam of suspicion i

gs. There's hens o

?" said

ir, onl

spection. He had certainly got two eggs. Phillips was puzzled. Me

r Mr. Donovan's

-"whether any one has been living in the palace lately? Last year,

ow horrible! Was

nts-and Smith was one of the best-are able, it is believed, to abstract their minds from the conversation of their masters, will a

I want to know is whether any one h

I arrived with you, sir. Would you care for me to make

r whatever he's called. Ask him next time you tak

time by showing that he had watched the whole of the morning row. But this time Smith was not to be caught. He made no

leave the deck, to go below. Seems to me, sir, that the Queen is going to

stant. Nor, indeed, is it likely that Kalliope would have been seriously embarrassed, though she saw no sense in wearing clothes of any kind when she intended to bathe. But Mr. Philli