ed that old
schooner like I love--well, my mother."

"I believe you, Code; you don't need to ask that. I just wanted to
hear you deny it. But you know there were some queer things about her
sinking just then, when she was supposed to be in good condition. Nat
Burns--"

"Ha! So he is in it, too. What does he say?"

"He says that her insurance policy was just about to run out. Is that
so?"

"Yes."

There was a tone of defiance in his answer that caused her to look up
at him quickly. His blue eyes were narrowed and his face hard.

"And it wasn't such a hard gale, was it?"

"No. I've weathered lots worse with the _May._ I can't explain why she
sank."

"And Michael Burns, who was aboard of her, was the insurance
inspector, wasn't he?"

"Yes." The reply was more a groan than a spoken word. He laughed
harshly.

"I can see Nat Burns's hand in all this," he cried. "Why didn't I
think of it before? He will dog me till I die because his father lost
his life aboard my schooner. Oh, I had no idea it was as bad as
this!"

He sank down into the chair again and stared gloomily into the fire.

"I'm glad I came to-night," he said at last. "I didn't know all these
things. How long has this talk been going round?"

"Not long, Code." Her voice was all sympathy. "It is simply the result
of brooding among our people who have so little in their lives. I'm
sorry. What will you do? Go away somewhere else?"

He looked at her quickly--scorn written upon his face.

"Go away," he repeated, "and admit my own guilt? Well, hardly. I'll
stay here and see this thing through if I have to do it in the face
of all of them."

"Splendid, Code!" she cried, clapping her hands. "Just what I knew you
would say. And, remember, I will help you all I can and whenever you
need me."

He looked at her gratefully and she thrilled with triumph. At last
there was something more in his glance than the purely impersonal; he
had awakened at last, she thought, to what she might mean to him.

There followed one of those pauses that often occur when two people
are thinking intensely on different subjects. For perhaps five minutes
the cheerful fire crackled on uninterrupted. Then, suddenly
recollecting himself, Code sprang to his feet and held out his hand.

"Half-past ten," he said, glancing at the mahogany chime-clock on the
mantelpiece. "I must really go. It has been kind of you to have me up
to-night and tell me all these--"

"Inner secrets of yo