with every
appearance of absorption. Her face was hidden from view, and all that
could be seen was a trim little figure in a trim white gown, a pair of
trim little feet, a sleek brown head, and a well-rounded cheek. No one
could deny that it was a pleasing figure, but the lordly stranger was
too much ruffled in his feelings to be influenced by appearances. His
manner was perhaps a trifle less haughty than it would have been, had
the thief taken the shape of an elderly gentleman, but he never wavered
in his intention, and only stopped for an imperceptible moment in his
progress up the room to demand a return of the volume.

"Excuse me. Ah! _My_ book, I think! Sorry to interrupt you, but--"

The young lady laid down the book and lifted her face to his. A flicker
as of mingled surprise and pleasure passed over her features as she saw
who it was that stood before her, but she showed not the slightest sign
of discomfiture.

"I beg a thousand pardons!" she said, and inclined her head in such a
bow as an empress might bestow on a blundering and ignorant supplicant.
It was such a very grand air for such a small person that the big
officer drew a breath of surprise, and gazed down with a startled
interest. The girl's features were delicately modelled; the brows might
have been drawn with a pencil, so clear and perfect was the arch which
they described, and the brilliant hazel eyes met his with a mocking
glance. For almost the first time in his life a spasm of discomfiture
seized him, a struggling suspicion that his conduct had not been
altogether above reproach. He stood with the book in his hand,
hesitating, uncertain.

"If you would care to read it, pray keep it! I shall be most happy to
lend it to you."

The girl waved her hand with a gracious patronage.

"Not for the world, until you have finished! When you have no more use
for it yourself, perhaps you will be good enough to renew the offer.
Meantime, there are plenty of other books. The library seems very
large."

"I make a point of never reading the ship's books. You never--aw--know
who has had them last!" drawled the stranger, sweeping a scathing glance
over the well-filled shelves; "and, as a rule, they are in such shocking
condition. People seem to take a malign satisfaction in tearing out the
most important pages, so that, after wading through a whole volume, you
are left in uncertainty as to what really happened."

"But sometimes that is a bl