u think of the idea?"

"A first-rate one. I'd like to come in."

"No; this is all my own and Molly's. But how'll I start her off?"

"Get an efficient young man to act as private secretary; a fairly good
accountant; no rich man's son, but some one who has had a chance to
observe life. Make him a buffer between Mrs. Killigrew and the whining
cheats. And above all, no young man who has social entree to your
house. That kind of a private secretary is always a fizzle."

"Any one in mind?"

"No."

"I have," said Kitty, rising and going toward the companion-ladder to
the lower decks.

"What now?" demanded Killigrew.

"Let her be; Kitty has a sensible head on her shoulders, for all her
foolery." Mrs. Killigrew laid a restraining hand on her husband's arm.

But Mrs. Crawford smiled a replica of that smile which had aroused her
curiosity in regard to Kitty. And then her face grew serious.

Kitty had a mind like her father's. Her ideas were seldom nebulous or
slow in forming. They sprang forth, full grown, like those
mythological creatures: Minerva was an idea of Jove's, as doubtless
Venus was an idea of Neptune's. Men with this quality become
captains-general of armies or of money-bags. In a man it signifies
force; in a woman, charm.

Kitty searched diligently and found the object of her quest on the
main-deck, starboard, leaning against one of the deck supports and
reading from a book which lay flat on the broad teak rail, in a blue
shadow. The sea smiled at Kitty and Kitty smiled at the sea. Men are
not the only adventurers; they have no monopoly on daring. And what
Kitty proposed doing was daring indeed, for she did not know into what
dangers it might eventually lead her.

"Mr. Webb?"

Thomas looked up. "You are wanting me, miss?"

"If you are not too busy."

"Really, no. I have been reading." He closed the book, loose-leafed
from frequent perusals. "I am at your service."

"Do you read much, Mr. Webb?"

The reiteration of the prefix to his name awakened him to the marvelous
fact that for the present he was no longer the machine; she was
recognizing the man.

"Perhaps, for a man in my station, I read too much, Miss Killigrew."

Kitty's scarlet lips stirred ever so slightly. It was the first time
he had added the name to the prefix: he in his turn was recognizing the
woman. And this rather pleased her, for she liked to be recognized.

"May I ask what it is you are reading?"

He of