n her heartfelt surprise the girl turned to him and he saw her face,
young, arresting, and excessively indignant.

"Quite so," he said. "Do not excite yourself. I perceive the
impossibility. I can't have you attending to my wants, however simple.
Neither can I share the services of a secretary whose post, I gather,
is an honorary one. But I simply cannot go back to Mr. Johnston's grin:
so if you can put me up for the night--"

She had turned away again and was silent for so long that Spence became
uneasy. But at last she spoke.

"This is really too bad of father! He has never done anything quite as
absurd as this before. I don't quite see what he expected to get out of
it. He might know that you would not stay. He wouldn't want you to
stay. I can't understand--unless," her voice became crisp with sudden
enlightenment, "unless you were foolish enough to pay in advance!
Surely you did not do that?"

The professor was observing his boots in an abstracted way.

"I am afraid my feet are very wet," he remarked.

"They are. They are resting in at least an inch of water," she said
coldly. "But that isn't answering my question. Did you pay my father
anything in advance?"

The professor fidgeted.

"A small payment in advance is not very unusual," he offered.
"Especially if one's prospective host is anxious to add a few little
unaccustomed luxuries--"

"Yes, yes," she interrupted rudely. "I recognize the phrase!" Without
looking up he felt her wrathful gaze upon his face. "It means that
father has simply done you brown. Oh, well, it's your own fault. You're
old enough to know your way about. And the luxuries you will enjoy at
our place will certainly be unaccustomed ones. Didn't you even ask for
references?"

Her tone irritated the professor unaccountably.

"Are we nearly there?" he asked, disdaining to answer. "I am extremely
cold."

"You will have a nice climb to warm you," she told him grimly, "all up
hill!"

"'A verdant slope,'" quoted the professor sweetly, "'rising gently from
salt water toward snowclad peaks, which, far away,--'" They caught each
other's eyes and laughed.

"Here is our landing," said the girl quite cheerfully. "And none too
soon! I suppose you haven't noticed it, but the 'Tillicum' is leaking
like a sieve!"

CHAPTER II

Salt in the air and the breath of pine and cedar are excellent sleep
inducers. Professor Spence had not expected to sleep that night; yet he
did sleep. He awoke