find them,
I should take back a lighter heart with me. You say he isn't home now.
Is he at sea, then?"

"No, not at sea: he's close by."

"Then you expect him back soon?"

"Yes: we expect him back to-night."

"To-night? Then I think I'll change my plan. I meant to go back to
Plymouth and see what Triggs is about to do, for I'm going round to
London with him when he goes; but if you're expecting your cousin so
soon, why shouldn't I stop here till I've seen him?"

"Oh, but he mightn't come," said Eve, who in any case had no wish that
Reuben should appear until she had paved the way for his reception, and
above all things desired his absence on this particular occasion.

"Well, I must take my chance of that--unless," he added, catching sight
of her face, "there's any reason against my stopping?"

Eve colored. "Well," she said, "perhaps they mightn't care, as they
don't know you, about your being here. You see," she added by way of
excuse, "they have been away a long while now."

"Been to France, I s'pose?" said Reuben in a tone which conveyed his
suspicions.

"No," replied Eve, determined not to seem ashamed of their occupation:
"I think they've been to Guernsey."

"Oh, well, all the same, so far as what they went to fetch. Then they're
going to _try_ and land their cargo, I s'pose?"

"I don't know what they may be going to _try_ and do"--and Eve
endeavored to imitate the sneer with which Reuben had emphasized the
word--"but I know that trying with them means doing. There's nobody
about here," she added with a borrowed spice of Joan's manner, "would
care to put themselves in the way of trying to hinder the Lottery."

"'Tis strange, then, that they shouldn't choose to come in open
daylight, rather than be sneaking in under cover of a dark night," said
Reuben aggravatingly.

"As it happens," retorted Eve, with an assumption of superior nautical
knowledge, "the dark night suits them best, by reason that at high tide
they can come in close to Down End. Oh, you needn't try to think you can
hurt me by your sneers at them," she said, inwardly smarting under the
contempt she knew Reuben felt. "I feel hurt at your wanting to say such
things, but not at all at what you say. _That_ can't touch me."

"No, so I see," said Reuben hopelessly. Then, after a minute's pause, he
burst out with a passionate, "Oh, Eve, I feel as if I could take and
jump into the sea with you, so as I might feel you'd be safe from the
life I'm