etting into that mess over in England. He never
exactly shone as a real he-man, that brother of mine, you know. But they
are really happy, Jack. They make me envious."

"I think you're a little hard on that brother of yours," MacRae said. He
was suddenly filled with a great charity toward all mankind. "He never
had much of a chance, from all I can gather."

He went on to tell her what Norman had told him that afternoon on the
hill above the Cove. But Betty interrupted.

"Oh, I know that now," she declared. "Daddy told me just recently.
Daddy knew what Norman was doing over there. In fact, he showed me a
letter from some British military authority praising Norman for the work
he did. But Daddy kept mum when Norman came home and those nasty rumors
began to go around. He thought it better for Norman to take his
medicine. He was afraid mother would smother him with money and insist
on his being a proper lounge lizard again, and so he would gradually
drop back into his old uselessness. Daddy was simply tickled stiff when
Norman showed his teeth--when he cut loose from everything and married
Dolly, and all that. He's a very wise old man, that father of mine,
Jack. He hasn't ever got much real satisfaction in his life. He has been
more content this last month or so than I can ever remember him. We have
always had loads of money, and while it's nice to have plenty, I don't
think it did him any good. My whole life has been lived in an atmosphere
of domestic incompatibility. I think I should make a very capable
wife--I have had so many object lessons in how not to be. My mother
wasn't a success either as a wife or a mother. It is a horrible thing to
say, but it's really true, Jack. Mamma's a very well-bred,
distinguished-looking person with exquisite taste in dress and dinner
parties, and that's about the only kind thing I can say for her. Do you
really love me, Jack? Heaps and heaps?"

She shot this question at him with a swift change of tone and an
earnestness which straightway drove out of MacRae's mind every
consideration save the proper and convincing answer to such intimate
questions.

"Look," Betty said after a long interval. "Daddy has built a fire on the
beach. He does that sometimes, and we sit around it and roast clams in
the coals. Johnny, Johnny," she squeezed his arm with a quick pressure,
"we're going to have some good times on this island now."

MacRae laughed indulgently. He was completely in accord with th