Again Max’s hand pressed his friend’s shoulder, but this time the pressure was one of warning.  “Kersley,” he said, “I’ve been into all that.  I’ve weighed every possible contingency that might arise.  And I have decided against telling Noel.  As you say, it would be a terrible thing if she ever remembered; but if Noel is left in ignorance, the chances are she never will remember.  To tell him would be to put a shadow between them which he would never forget and she would in time come to be aware of.  It would wreck their happiness sooner or later.  No; in Heaven’s name, leave them in peace!”

“I think you are wrong,” Sir Kersley said.  He was looking straight up into Max’s face with eyes of shrewd kindliness.  “I think it is extremely improbable that she never will remember.  And I think, moreover, that it is hardly to be desired that she should not.”

“I disagree with you!” said Max harshly.

“Yes, my dear fellow, I know you do.  You are no impartial judge.  You want—­very naturally—­to save her from any suffering.  And I don’t think you will succeed.  If you could have persuaded her to marry you, you might have done it.  Forewarned is forearmed; you would have known how to safeguard her.  But utter ignorance is no safeguard at all.  I don’t think she would thank you for it—­if she knew.”

Max’s mouth twisted in its most cynical smile.  “I wonder,” he said.

Sir Kersley said no more.  Beyond the bare fact of his brief engagement and its rupture, Max had confided in him not at all.  He had left him to infer that she had been caught by a nearer attraction in his absence—­an inference which her present engagement to his brother had seemed to confirm.  And Sir Kersley had been far too considerate to probe for further enlightenment.  But he was not privately by any means satisfied with regard to the matter of Max’s long and fruitless journey.  He was not accustomed to seeing Max beaten, and the spectacle hurt him.

He urged his opinion no further, for it was evident that Max was firmly determined to withstand it; but when Max had gone he sat and contemplated the matter with a troubled frown.  There seemed to be something he had not fathomed behind Max’s silence.

As for Max he departed for the docks with that air of grimness that had somewhat grown on him of late.  Though bound upon a welcoming errand, he knew that it was not going to be a particularly easy one.

He was somewhat late in arriving, and the great steamer had already come to her moorings.  Among the waiting crowd he discerned Dr. Jim and Muriel, but he did not make his way to them.  He knew they would meet later, and he was not feeling sociable that afternoon.

So he stood aloof and waited, searching the many faces that lined the deck-rails for the one face that alone he longed to see.  He spied her at last, and was conscious of a momentary pang that he fiercely stifled.  She was standing there at the rail above him, waving her handkerchief to Dr. Jim.  Nick was on one side of her, also madly waving and yelling with futile energy.  On the other side stood Noel.  And at sight of him Max’s grim face softened to tenderness.