oat drew alongside, and a messenger from the hotel handed a
sealed note to one of the sailors.

From the deck of the Halfmoon Skipper Simms witnessed the transaction,
smiling inwardly. Billy Byrne also saw it, but it meant nothing to him.
He had been lolling upon the deck of the brigantine glaring at the yacht
Lotus, hating her and the gay, well-dressed men and women he could
see laughing and chatting upon her deck. They represented to him
the concentrated essence of all that was pusillanimous, disgusting,
loathsome in that other world that was as far separated from him as
though he had been a grubworm in the manure pile back of Brady's livery
stable.

He saw the note handed by the sailor to a gray-haired, smooth-faced
man--a large, sleek, well-groomed man. Billy could imagine the white
hands and polished nails of him. The thought was nauseating.

The man who took and opened the note was Anthony Harding, Esq. He read
it, and then passed it to a young woman who stood near-by talking with
other young people.

"Here, Barbara," he said, "is something of more interest to you than to
me. If you wish I'll call upon him and invite him to dinner tonight."

The girl was reading the note.

Anthony Harding, Esq.

On Board Yacht Lotus,

Honolulu

My dear Mr. Harding:

This will introduce a very dear friend of mine, Count de Cadenet, who
expects to be in Honolulu about the time that you are there. The count
is traveling for pleasure, and as he is entirely unacquainted upon
the islands any courtesies which you may show him will be greatly
appreciated.

Cordially,

L. CORTWRITE DIVINE.

The girl smiled as she finished perusing the note.

"Larry is always picking up titles and making dear friends of them," she
laughed. "I wonder where he found this one."

"Or where this one found him," suggested Mr. Harding. "Well, I suppose
that the least we can do is to have him aboard for dinner. We'll be
leaving tomorrow, so there won't be much entertaining we can do."

"Let's pick him up on our way through town now," suggested Barbara
Harding, "and take him with us for the day. That will be settling our
debt to friendship, and dinner tonight can depend upon what sort of
person we find the count to be."

"As you will," replied her father, and so it came about that two big
touring cars drew up before the Count de Cadenet's hotel half an hour
later, and Anthony Harding, Esq., en