She stood with him on the little wooden landing-stage, her hand still in his, and the colour coming back into her face.  “But of course not!” she said in answer to his light words, laughing still a trifle breathlessly.  “If you will promise not to prosecute us for trespassing!”

“Mais, Juliette!” He bent over her hand.  “You could not trespass if you tried!” he declared gallantly.  “And the cavalier with you—­may I not have the honour of an introduction?”

He knew how to jest with grace in an awkward moment.  Dick realised that, as, having secured the boat, he presented himself for Juliet’s low-spoken introduction.

“Mr. Green—­Lord Saltash!”

Saltash extended a hand, his odd eyes full of quizzical amusement.  “I’ve heard your name before, I think.  And I believe I’ve seen you somewhere too.  Ah, yes!  It’s coming back!  You are the Orpheus who plays the flute to the wild beasts at High Shale.  I’ve been wanting to meet you.  I listened to you from my car one night, and—­on my soul—­I nearly wept!”

Dick smiled with a touch of cynicism.  “Miss Moore was listening that night too,” he said.

“Yes,” Juliet said quickly.  “I was there.”

Saltash looked at her questioningly for a moment, then his look returned to Dick.  “I am the friend who never tells,” he observed.  “So it was—­Miss Moore—­you were playing to, was it?  Ah, Juliette!” He threw her a sudden smile.  “I would I could play like that!”

She uttered her soft, low laugh.  “No; you have quite enough accomplishments, mon ami.  Now, if you don’t mind, I think we had better walk back and find Mr. and Mrs. Fielding.  Perhaps you know—­or again perhaps you don’t—­they live at Shale Court.  And I am with them—­as Mrs. Fielding’s companion.  I—­” she hesitated momentarily—­“have left Lady Jo.”

“Oh, I know that,” said Saltash.  “I’ve missed you badly.  We all have.  When are you coming back to us?”

“I don’t know,” said Juliet.

He gave her one of his humorous looks.  “Next week—­some time—­never?”

She opened her sun-shade absently.  “Probably,” she said.

“Rather hard on Lady Jo, what?” he suggested.  “Don’t you miss her at all?”

“No,” said Juliet.  “I can’t—­honestly—­say I do.”

“Oh, let us be honest at all costs!” he said.  “Do you know what Lady Jo is doing now?”

Juliet hesitated an instant, as if the subject were distasteful to her.  “I can guess,” she said somewhat distantly.

“I’ll bet you can’t,” said Saltash, with a twist of the eyebrows that was oddly characteristic of him.  “So I’ll tell you.  She’s running in an obstacle race, and—­to be quite, quite honest—­I don’t think she’s going to win.”

There was a moment’s pause.  Then the man on Juliet’s other side spoke, briefly and with decision.  “Miss Moore is no longer interested in Lady Joanna Farringmore’s doings.  Their friendship is at an end.”