love him or her L600 better? Her face paled and
flushed. She looked up quickly, and her lips parted. Jan believed that
she was going to say--"I have L600, and I will gladly give it to
thee." He was ready to fold her to his breast, to love her, as he had
loved her that day when he had first called her "wife." Alas! after a
slight hesitation, she dropped her pale face and answered slowly--"I
will not ask my father. I might as well ask the sea for fresh water."

Jan let her hands fall, and stood up. "I see now that all talk with
thee will come to little. What thou wants, is that men should give
thee all, and thou give nothing. When thou sayest, 'thy love,
husband,' thou means 'thy money, husband;' and if there is no money,
then there is ever sighs and tears. Many things thou hast yet to
learn of a wife's duty, and very soon I will give thee a lesson I had
done well to teach thee long since."

"I have borne much from thee, Jan, but at the next wrong thou does me,
I will go back to my father. That is what I shall do."

"We will see to that."

"Yes, we will see!" And she rose proudly, and with flashing eyes
gathered up her knitting and her wool and left the room.

The next morning Jan and Tulloch concluded their bargain. "The Solan"
was put in thorough order, and loaded with a coasting cargo. It was
supposed that Tulloch's nephew would sail her, and Jan judged it
wisest to show no interest in the matter. But an hour after all was
ready, he drew the L600 out of Tulloch's bank, paid it down for the
boat, and sailed her out of Lerwick harbor at the noon-tide. In ten
minutes afterward a score of men had called in Peter Fae's store and
told him.

He was both puzzled and annoyed. Why had Tulloch interfered with Jan
unless it was for his, Peter's, injury? From the secrecy maintained,
he suspected some scheme against his interests. Snorro, on being
questioned, could truthfully say that Jan had not told him he was to
leave Lerwick that morning; in fact, Jan had purposely left Snorro
ignorant of his movements. But the good fellow could not hide the joy
he felt, and Peter looked at him wrathfully.

It was seldom Peter went to see his daughter, but that evening he made
her a call. Whatever she knew she would tell him, and he did not feel
as if he could rest until he got the clue to Jan's connection with
Tulloch. But when he named it to Margaret, he found she was totally
ignorant of Jan's departure. The news shocked her. Her work