no; I thank you, Mr. Veath. I would not have my preserver perform
the office of a crutch. I am not hurt in the least. Good-afternoon."

Hugh, disconcerted and piqued by her confusion of names, answered her
wondrous smile with one that reflected bewildered admiration, and
finally managed to send after her:

"I wouldn't have lost the opportunity for the world."

That evening he was sitting out on deck in contemplative silence
enjoying his after-dinner smoke. Farther down were Grace and Veath.
Suddenly turning in their direction, Hugh perceived that they were not
there; nor were they anywhere in sight. He was pondering over their
whereabouts, his eyes still on the vacant chairs, when a voice tender
and musical assailed his ears--a voice which he had heard but
once before.

"Good-evening, Mr. Veath."

He wheeled about and found himself staring at the smiling face of the
young lady who had fallen into his arms but a few hours before.

"Good-evening," he stammered, amazed by her unexpected greeting.
"Have--have you fully recovered from your fall?"

"I was quite over it in a moment or two. I wanted to ask you if you were
hurt by the force with which I fell against you." She stood with one
hand upon the rail, quite close to him, the moonlight playing upon her
upturned face. He never had seen a more perfect picture of airy grace
and beauty in his life.

"Why mention an impossibility? You could not have hurt me in a fall ten
times as great."

His tall figure straightened and his eyes gleamed chivalrously. The
young woman's dark, mysterious eyes swept over him for a second,
resting at last upon those which looked admiringly into them from above.
She made a movement as if to pass on, gravely smiling a farewell.

"I beg your pardon," he said hastily. "You called me Mr. Veath a moment
ago. It may be of no consequence to you, yet I should like to tell you
that my name is Ridge--Hugh Ridge."

"It is my place to beg forgiveness. But I understood your name was
Veath, and that you were--were"--here she smiled tantalizingly--"in love
with the beautiful American, Miss Ridge."

"The dev--dick--I mean, the mischief you did! Well, of all the fool
conclusions I've ever heard, that is the worst. In love with my sister!
Ho, ho!" He laughed rather too boisterously.

"But there is a Mr. Veath on board, is there not?--a friend?"

"A Mr. Henry Veath going into the American Revenue Service at Manila."

"How stupid of me! However, I