79
XXII A RECOVERED TREASURE 189
XXIII SURPRISES 199
XXIV THE SIREN 212
XXV THE GUILT FIXED 222
XXVI WETTING THEIR SALT 241
XXVII THE REWARD OF EVIL 249
XXVIII THE RACE 262
XXIX A FATAL LETTER 278
XXX ELSA'S TRIUMPH 294
XXXI PEACE AND PROSPERITY 303

THE HARBOR OF DOUBT

CHAPTER I

MALICIOUSLY ACCUSED

"Let them think what they like. If I had died I would have been a
hero; because I lived I suppose there is nothing in the history of
crime that I have not committed."

Young Captain Code Schofield sprang out of the deep, luxurious chair
and began to pace up and down before the fire. He did not cast as much
as a glance at the woman near him. His mind was elsewhere. He had
heard strange things in this talk with her.

"Well, captain, you know how it is on an island like this. The tiny
thing of everyday life becomes a subject for a day's discussion. That
affair of six months ago was like dropping a tombstone in a
mud-puddle--everything is profoundly stirred, but no one gets
spattered except the one who dropped it. In this case yourself."

Schofield stopped in his tracks and regarded his hostess with a look
that was mingled surprise and uneasiness. She lay back in a
_chaise-longue_, her hands clasped behind her head, smiling up at the
young man. The great square room was dark except for the firelight,
and her yellow dress, gleaming fitfully in it, showed the curving
lissomeness of her young body.

"Mrs. Mallaby," he said, "when you say clever things like that I
don't know what to do. I'm not used to it." He laughed as though
half-ashamed of the confession.

"Appreciate them," she directed shortly with a fleeting glance from
her great dark eyes.

"Do you demand all my time?" he asked and flushed. The well-turned
compliment caught her unawares and she admitted to herself that
perhaps she had underrated this briny youth who was again beginning to
interest her extremely.

But with the sally he seemed to have forgotten it and recommenced
pacing the floor