Heaven he is dead!" cried Ben. "Imagine a man physically
weak, like Ponsonby, enduring slow starvation in the damp and chill of
the Patagonian seacoast. It will be a positive relief if we hear he
fell overboard."

"Anything is better than uncertainty," said Stephen, and the speech
must have been from the new point of view, the hope of Deena's
freedom, for the next moment he was conscious of a wave of shame.

"I ought to get an answer from Lopez before night," he added, rising
to go; "and as soon as I hear I will return and let you know."

Ben followed him to the front door, whispering like a conspirator and
glancing furtively up the stairs. There was a childish streak in the
boy's nature that gloried in a confidence; the joy of the secret
nearly made up for the sorrow of the fact. But secrets and sorrows
were soon put out of his head, for a crucial moment had come to the
young Minthrops--one we anticipate and are never quite prepared for.

As he ran upstairs, after seeing Stephen off, he met Deena, evidently
looking for him.

"Oh, Ben," she said, "Polly is ill, and I have telephoned for----"

But she got no further, for her big brother-in-law turned white as a
frightened girl, and when he tried to speak no sound came from his
lips.

"Goose!" said Deena, laying an affectionate hand on his shoulder.
"Shall I get a glass of brandy? Do you suppose no one has ever met
with this experience before?"

Ben recovered himself with a fit of irritation, which seems the
corollary to being frightened.

"Brandy!" he repeated. "Why in thunder should I want brandy? Really,
Deena, for a sensible woman, you are given at times to saying the most
foolish things I ever heard."

* * * * *

In the meanwhile, as the afternoon was still early, French was anxious
to find some occupation that might distract his thoughts. He decided
to visit his aunt, whose conversation was usually startling enough to
hold the attention of her hearers in any stress of agitation, and then
when he was halfway up her steps repented the intention, on the ground
that he needed soothing rather than stimulating; but his retreat was
cut off by the good lady coming out of her door and discovering him,
and, as she was about to walk round the block for exercise before
taking her afternoon drive, she promptly claimed his company for both
occasions. The wind blew her dress up to her ankles as she reached the
sidewalk, displaying a pa