over the water to see if Bill's boat were approaching. "I
ain't never understood how things has turned out," he muttered to
himself. "If Mollie wasn't foolish, I wouldn't let Bill have her. She
is a pretty thing, and she looks like a lady. That's what makes it so
all-fired queer."

Mollie sank down on the bench that ran around the deck of the shanty
boat. She dropped her head in her hands. What she was thinking, or
whether she was thinking at all, no one could know or tell. She heard
a boat coming through the water, then a cry from her father. If she
believed the hour had arrived for her marriage, she gave no sign. She
did not raise her head when Mike Muldoon cried out savagely.

Captain Mike went ashore. He stood with his heavy arms folded, smoking
and scowling.

Judge Hilliard stepped up to Captain Mike. Two police officers
accompanied him. Madge and Phil were directly behind their new friend.
They did not like to call to Mollie, but they wished she would look up
at them.

"I have an injunction forbidding the marriage of your daughter, Mollie
Muldoon, to a fisherman named Bill," Judge Hilliard's peremptory voice
rang out. "You are forcing your daughter into this marriage against
her will."

"I ain't forcing Moll," denied Captain Mike, glaring at Phil and Madge.
He was driven into a corner, and he knew nothing else to say.

"I would like to ask the girl what she desires," the judge announced.

"Moll," called Mike.

For the first time Mollie lifted her head. She left the boat and came
slowly toward the little party.

Judge Hilliard stared, and for a moment he forgot to speak to her.
Madge and Phil had assured him that their protege was beautiful, but he
had expected to behold the simple beauty of a country girl; this young
woman was exquisitely lovely.

Madge and Phil trembled with excitement. Suppose Mollie should not
understand the Judge's question and make the wrong answer? Suppose the
poor girl had been bullied into submission? Suppose she should not
even recall the struggle of yesterday? She forgot so much--would she
forget this?

"Do you desire to marry this 'Bill'?" Judge Hilliard queried, looking
with puzzled wonder into Mollie's lovely, expressionless face.

Mollie shook her head gently. Madge and Phil held their breath.

"I will not marry him," Mollie answered simply. "Nothing could make me
do so."

"Then you will come home to the houseboat with us, Mollie," Madge and
Ph