sudden glare.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want?" she said, breathlessly, though she
knew quite well. In his hand he held her little bank bag of orange
canvas in which the doctor had put ten pounds for her to spend on the
trip.

"I w-want m--my--my m--money," he began, trembling and afraid to meet
her eyes.

"To buy more whisky and make yourself more horrible than ever?" she
cried, standing with her back to the door. "Well, I'll not give it to
you, and if you knock me down and fight me I'll not give it you even.
I'm a better fighter than you."

"I w-want it--to--to--pay him back," he cried and began to sob,
violently dropping the money on the floor. "He--he said--you'd been in
his cabin and--and--and in m--mine! He s--said dev--devilish things.
And I punched his ugly head for him! All for you! Be--be--because
you're--you're--Oh God, give me the money and let me pay him and then
cut him dead."

"Do you mean that you owe Ole Fred money?"

"Of c--course. How on earth have I managed since N-naples?"

"How much is it?"

"He's paid for a lot of drinks, but that doesn't count. I w-won a good
bit at poker, too. I b-borrowed sixteen pounds from him."

"But, Louis, you hadn't sixteen pounds to pay him back with," she
cried.

"Do you think I cared? Do you think I ever meant to pay him back?
Anyway, he's helped spend it, and when we get to Sydney I shan't have to
face him again, so I don't care a damn. I've g-given my credit note for
ten pounds when I land to--to--the barman, too. I'm b-broke, ole girl."

He sobbed helplessly.

"He offered me the money. People always do. They all think I'm well off
when I tell them who the pater is. And so I should be if he wasn't such
a stingy old devil."

His sobbing ceased, his face looked hard and cynical again. Marcella
watched him in amazement. She was not sure whether to be disgusted with
him or sorry for him.

At last she spoke.

"Louis--I don't understand a bit. Why did you do it?"

"Because he said rude things about you! He hates you! I only made him
my enemy for your sake--and now you won't let me cut adrift from him.
That's just like all women! Once they get their claws on money there's
no getting them off again."

"I'm not asking why you fought him, you idiot. I'm asking you why you
made such an idiotic mess of things at Naples."

He sobbed for awhile, sitting on the floor, leaning his head on her
trunk where the broken lock dangled. She laid her hand on his he