"This maiden she had no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me;
I was a child and she was a child
In this kingdom by the sea.
But we loved with a love that was more than love,
I and my Annabel Lee."
"Now what's the parentage of that quotation? The similarity of the initials of course. Oh, my dear, far be it from me to deny your cleverness!" he concluded gaily, and entered the next cove.
Across it moved a figure, a real figure, not a shadow, going from him. The hands, holding a light bamboo, were clasped behind the back.
"By Jove, it's Garve!" thought Underhill and hurried after him. Garve turned round in surprise.
"I didn't think there was much likelihood of my overtaking you" said he, "but it never occurred to me you could overtake me. You remained up at the Casino?"
"And you didn't go home after all, but put your advice to me into practice instead? Well, it was good advice too. The walk is superb. It's the sort of night when the thought of bed is a sacrilege."
"Even when at home I never go to bed until daybreak," remarked Garve. "In civilised countries, I go on playing until then. But here, a grandmotherly government shuts the Casino at twelve."
"A grandmotherly government knows that otherwise you wouldn't leave a red cent in the place," said the young man with a quizzical flash of blue through his glasses.
Garve stopped to scrutinise him.
