ellow beside him, but of others.

He felt an overpowering desire, however, to talk with her. His
recently born determination to have nothing more to do with any girl
had melted like snow in July. That feeling, which had come through
his experience with Ida May Bostwick, seemed a sacrilege when he
considered this girl.

The man beside him, noisily finishing his soup, ordered
apple-meringue pie when the waitress returned with Tunis' order. The
latter noted that her fingers still trembled when she placed his
food before him. When she brought the pie she reached for the man's
check and punched another hole in it. Tunis was careful not to raise
his own eyes to her face. But all the time he was trying to invent
some way by which he might further his acquaintance with her.

He must be back at the _Seamew_ that night. Tomorrow the cargo would
come aboard and, wind and tide being ordinarily favorable, the
schooner would put to sea as soon as the hatches were battened down.
He could not continue to come here to the restaurant for his meals
and so grasp the frail chance of bolstering his acquaintance with
the girl. Indeed, he felt that such an obvious course would utterly
wreck any chance he might naturally have of knowing her better.

The timidity she evinced was nothing put on. It was real. Its cause
he could not fathom, but to Tunis Latham it seemed that this girl
with the violet eyes was a gentle girl, if not gently bred, and that
she shrank from contact with the rougher elements of life. How she
came to be working in this place was not of moment to him. It would
not have mattered to Tunis Latham where he had met her or under what
circumstances; he only knew that there was a mysterious charm about
her which attracted and held his heart captive.

"Will you have anything more, sir?" The low, yet penetrating voice
was in his ear. She hovered over his chair and her near presence
thrilled him. He had not much more than played with the food. Now he
replied briefly, without thinking:

"Apple-meringue."

"Yes, sir."

His neighbor pushed back his chair and got up noisily. He picked up
his check, glanced at it, and snorted.

"Hey!" he said to the girl returning with Tunis' pie. "What's this
for?"

"Yes, sir?"

"You've rung me up an extry nickel. What's the idea?"

"Fifteen cents for meringue, sir."

"Huh? Who had meringue? I had apple pie, plain apple pie. It's ten
cents. This feller"--indicating Tunis--"ordered apple-