ctly aware that his company was not
wanted, and Erskine bent towards Claire with a few earnest words.

"Don't worry! If this man is an impostor, the sooner it is found out,
the better. He _is_ an impostor, there's no getting away from that, and
he is making a dupe of that poor girl for his own ends. If we had not
made this discovery, he would have stuck to her until he had bled her of
her last penny, and then would probably have disappeared into space.
She knows nothing of his real name or position, so it would have been
difficult to trace him, and probably nothing to be gained, if he _were_
found. One reads of these scoundrels from time to time, but I've never
had the misfortune to meet one in the flesh. I'd like to horsewhip the
fellow for upsetting you like this!"

"Oh, what does it matter about me?" Claire cried impatiently. "It's
Cecil I'm thinking about--my poor, poor friend! She's not young, and
she is tired out after twelve years of teaching, and it's the _second_
time! Years ago a man pretended to love her, it was only pretence, and
it nearly broke her heart. She has never been the same since then. It
made her bitter and distrustful."

"Poor creature! No wonder. But that was some time ago, and now she is
engaged to this other fellow. Is she in love with him, do you suppose?"

Claire shrugged vaguely.

"I--don't--know! She is in love with the idea of a home."

"And he? You have seen them together. He is a cur, there's no getting
away from that, but he might be attached to the girl all the same. Do
you think he is?"

"Oh, how can I tell?" Claire cried impatiently. "She thinks he is, but
she thought the same about the other man. It doesn't seem possible to
tell! Men amuse themselves and pretend, and act a part, and then laugh
at a girl if she is so foolish as to believe--"

Captain Fanshawe bent forward, his arm resting on his knees, his face
upraised to hers; a very grave face, fixed and determined.

"Do you believe that, Claire? Do you believe what you are saying?"

The grey eyes looked deep into hers, compelling an answer.

"I--I think many of them--"

"Some of them!" the Captain corrected. "Just as some girls encourage a
man to gratify their own vanity. They are the exceptions in both cases;
but you speak in generalities, condemning the whole sex. Is it what you
really think--that most men pretend?"

The grey eyes were on her face, keen, compelling eyes from which there