hildhood. Mr. Houten is the only parent my sister
has known. While she lived in his house, she met Gordon, and they soon
became engaged to each other. I think you'll spare her the details,
Barry, when I tell you this: While Gordon was absent on a business trip
Leyden entered Juliana's home, became very intimate with my uncle, and
was soon trusted utterly. Then subtle tales began to trickle in to
Juliana and Mr. Houten about Gordon; and after a while they forced
belief. They grew worse, and as they got blacker, Leyden's influence
with my uncle increased until Houten accepted him as a partner and as a
suitor for my sister's hand." Mrs. Goring shuddered violently, and Barry
sensed that the climax to her story was near. Vandersee went on: "Barry,
my sister fell under the spell of that man, and--"

Vandersee's calm was not equal to his task. It was Gordon who took up
the story, and his voice vibrated with passion:

"The beast took her away and then flung her adrift on the port of
Singapore, Barry! There was a little truth and a lot of lies in those
tales circulated about me. True, I had been using liquor rather more
than was good for a white man out here; but when I heard of this last
piece of villainy, I simply went a complete mucker. I got so low and
vile that I gradually lost my resolve to find him and choke the foul
life out of him. When, after years, he came to me in this river and made
his proposition about using the post as an entry port for his drug under
cover of the gold-dust myth, I was even so far gone down the track as to
agree to everything, if only I could be kept supplied with liquor. I
willingly robbed Houten, although everything I ever had, this post, the
last chance anybody on earth would give me, I owe to him." Gordon
paused, passed a caressing hand along Mrs. Goring's arm, and concluded:
"I only came to my senses, and to a promise of life again, when this
lady came here and found me. Barry, a noble woman is a wonderful work of
God!"

"I believe that," replied Barry quietly. "So that is why you stowed away
in my ship, Mrs. Goring? If I had known, you should never have been
refused a passage when you asked."

"That was not all, Captain," smiled the woman, her face transfigured by
her triumph. "I came chiefly to be at hand when this sweet girl needed a
friend," she said, patting Natalie's hand. "We knew she was to have a
terrible awakening. We, I particularly, knew the man who had fascinated
her. Beside