I had been standing in front of her while she thus talked, but now I resumed my former reclining attitude on the sofa and looked at her with a touch of disdain.

“Dr. Brayle says so!”—­I repeated—­“Dr. Brayle’s opinion is the least worth having in the world!  Now, if you really believe in devils, there’s one for you!”

“How can you say so?” she exclaimed, hotly—­“What right have you—­”

“How can he call me an atheist?” I demanded-"What right has he to judge me?”

The flush died off her face, and a sudden fear filled her eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that!” she said, almost in a whisper—­“It reminds me of an awful dream I had the other night!”—­She paused.—­ “Shall I tell it to you?”

I nodded indifferently, yet watched her curiously the while.  Something in her hard, plain face had become suddenly and unpleasantly familiar.

“I dreamed that I was in a painter’s studio watching two murdered people die—­a man and a woman.  The man was like Santoris—­the woman resembled you!  They had been stabbed,—­and the woman was clinging to the man’s body.  Dr. Brayle stood beside me also watching—­but the scene was strange to me, and the clothes we wore were all of some ancient time.  I said to Dr. Brayle:  ‘We have killed them!’ and he replied:  ‘Yes!  They are better dead than living!’ It was a horrible dream!—­it seemed so real!  I have been frightened of you and of that man Santoris ever since!”

I could not speak for a moment.  A recollection swept over me to which I dared not give utterance,—­it seemed too improbable.

“I’ve had nerves,” she went on, shivering a little—­“and that’s why I say I’m tired of this yachting trip.  It’s becoming a nightmare to me!”

I lay back on the sofa looking at her with a kind of pity.

“Then why not end it?” I said—­“Or why not let me go away?  It is I who have displeased you somehow, and I assure you I’m very sorry!  You and Mr. Harland have both been most kind to me—­I’ve been your guest for nearly a fortnight,—­that’s quite sufficient holiday for me—­put me ashore anywhere you like and I’ll go home and get myself out of your way.  Will that be any comfort to you?”

“I don’t know that it will,” she said, with a short, querulous sigh--"Things have happened so strangely.”  She paused, looking at me—­ “Yes—­you have the face of that woman I saw in my dream!—­and you have always reminded me of—­”

I waited eagerly.  She seemed afraid to go on.

“Well!” I said, as quietly as I could—­“Do please finish what you were saying!”