nt, Dolly, as usual, well in
the front. Clive and Duke were at the foot awaiting us, and, as we
felt a sense of safety in the midst of strangers, Dolly flung herself
at once into Duke's arms, while all the male watchers on deck or dock
gazed at him with envy. Finding myself unobserved in this spectacular
tableau, I could give Clive my own greeting as my heart dictated,
while I told him that his sister's presence answered my last doubt.

When Dolly withdrew from the embrace of her adoring swain--rosy,
joyous, unabashed--she adjusted her hat from its perilous position on
one side of her head, and gazed upon Clive and me with unflattering
astonishment mixed with awe.

"You, too, perfidious Charlotte! You needn't deny it; I saw you
both--just finishing!"

"Not at all, Miss Valentine," laughed Clive, putting out his hand to
shake hers. "We were, in fact, only just beginning."

"And to think I never suspected, when I might have known that you are
the only man in the world learned enough and good enough for
Charlotte."

"You were too absorbed in your own affairs to think about mine,
missy," I said. "Now, will you be modest and grateful for the rest of
your life, since you see that my Mr. Winthrop has brought your young
man to St. Thomas in a discreet manner that you never could have
achieved by yourself? Take me to your sister, Clive; I want her to
know without a moment's delay how I appreciate her coming with you."

"She has been terribly ill, Charlotte. For ten days after you left it
was almost hopeless, but at length she rallied, and since the doctor
insisted on a change of climate her whole heart was bent on coming
here. She has long suspected our feeling for each other, and you will
be such a joy to her as well as to me, my dear."

"It makes me so happy, so happy!" I faltered, my eyes swimming with
tears. "I was so unwilling to take all and give so little--now it will
be more!"

"Don't go off by yourselves," said Dolly. "Be dignified and
indifferent, like us. Take Mr. Winthrop's arm and I'll take Duke's."
(Here she suited the action to the word.) "There's the Governor,
expecting us to luncheon and not knowing us by sight. He won't suspect
what has happened; but after saluting him and asking him to put some
more plates on the table, we'll all walk up to Miss Winthrop's chair,
and you and I will say: 'Good-morning, dear lady. Let us introduce to
you "our new possessions," our spoils of travel, our souvenirs of a