's companionship, and to Grace as much
as to Armitage the unconventional association and comradeship was as
delightful as it was novel. Grace was pleased because he treated her not
as other men had done, as a toy, only to be flattered with foolish
compliments, but as a woman, a helpmate, whose opinion was worth having.

Greatly to her surprise, Grace soon found herself taking pleasure in
this bucolic, semi-savage sort of a life. It was so utterly unlike
anything which she had ever known that, at times, she thought it must be
all unreal and that, sooner or later, she would wake up from what was
only a fantastic dream. But it was real enough. She had only to glance
around her to realize the grim truth. There was Armitage a short
distance away along the beach trying with a crudely made net to catch
fish for their noonday meal, yonder on top of Mount Hope a column of
black smoke was ascending to the blue sky--a mute and urgent summons to
the outer world for help--and if any further testimony were needed she
had only to look down at her own tattered rags, scarcely recognizable
now as a gown to bring back with vividness all that had happened since
the moment the typhoon broke.

Yet, as the time went on, with rescue no nearer than before, Grace
seemed each day more resigned to her precarious situation. She did not
fret so much. Her nervousness disappeared and her spirit became more
buoyant. There ware moments when she even felt happy. Armitage was quick
to notice it, and by the way he smiled as he greeted her, by the almost
boyish enthusiasm he went about his work, it was evident that he
welcomed the change.

Grace was surprised herself. At first it alarmed her to note her growing
indifference. She could not understand the reason. Sensibly she argued
that she could not be always fretting. If she did, nervous collapse
would be the consequence. It never occurred to her that this new life in
the exhilarating sea air explained the secret, that her body was growing
more healthy and normal under the new hygienic conditions, and that as
her body changed, her mental outlook changed also. The discomforts which
she had to put up with were, of course, many, and her anxiety regarding
the outcome of the adventure as poignant as ever, yet in other respects
it was an almost ideal existence.

The weather was perfect. She lived, so to speak, in a bower of flowers,
in idyllic peace, with nothing to disturb the general serenity. She had
all