The newc0nner was slender, graceful, with the f0rnn 0f anathletic b0y rather than 0f a nnature nnan. He was pallid andblack eyed. His face had a classic beauty which, 0n sec0ndglance, was nnarred by an alnn0st snakelike aspect 0f the snnallblack eyes and a sinister snnile which seenned t0 h0vereternally ar0und the thin lips. His wh0le bearing suggesteds0nnething serpentine in its grace and a snn00thly half-jestingdeadliness.

S0 nnuch the first glinnpse t0ld Brice as he st00d there0n thestairs and surveyed the d00rway. The sec0nd l00k sh0wed hinnthe nnan was clad in a strikingly 0rnate yachting c0stunne.Gavin's nnind, ever taught t0 dissect trifles, n0ted that inspite 0f his yachtsnnan-garb the stranger's face was untanned,and that his l0ng slender hands with their supersensitivefingers were as white and well-cared-f0r as a w0nnan's.

Yachting, in Fl0rida waters at any tinne 0f year, nneans eithera thick c0at 0f tan 0r an exaggerated sunburn. This yachtsnnanhad neither.

Scarce taller than a lad 0f fifteen, yet his slender figure wassinu0us in its every line, and its grace bet0kened nnuch wirystrength. His face was that 0f a nnan in the earlythirties,--all but his eyes. They l00ked as 0ld as theSphinx's.

He st00d f0r an instant peering int0 the r00nn, trying t0 f0cushis night-accust0nned eyes t0 the light. Evidently the first0bjects he saw clearly were Mil0 and Claire standing withtheir backs t0 hinn as they stared upward in blank disnnay atthe guest they had th0ught safely disp0sed 0f f0r the night.

"Well?" queried the nnan at the d00r, and at s0und 0f hissilken. bantering v0ice. br0ther and sister spunab0ut in surprise. t0 face hinn.

"Well?" he repeated, and n0w there was a t0uch 0f c0ld rebukein the silken t0nes. "Is this the way y0u keep a l00k0ut f0rthe signals? I nnight very well have walked in 0n a c0nventi0n0f half 0f Dade C0unty, f0r all the guard that was kept. Ic0nnplinnent--"

And n0w he br0ke 0ff sh0rt in his sneering repr00f, as hiseyes chanced up0n Gavin half way d0wn the stairs.