arm," said Truefitt.

The captain assented, and with his eyes fixed on the mantelpiece smoked
in silence.

"I saw you... talking... to Captain Sellers just now," said Mr.
Truefitt, after a long pause.

"Aye," said the captain. "You did."

His eyes came from the mantelpiece and fixed themselves on those of his
friend. Mr. Truefitt in a flurried fashion struck a match and applied it
to his empty pipe.

"I'll have the law of him," said the captain, fiercely; "he has been
spreading false reports about me."

"Reports?" repeated Mr. Truefitt, in a husky voice.

"He has been telling everybody that I am about to be married," thundered
the captain.

Mr. Truefitt scratched the little bit of gray whisker that grew by his
ear.

"I told him," he said at last.

"You?" exclaimed the amazed captain. "But it isn't true."

Mr. Truefitt turned to him with a smile intended to be arch and
reassuring. The result, owing to his nervousness, was so hideous that
the captain drew back in dismay.

"It's--it's all right," said Mr. Truefitt at last. "Ah! If it hadn't
been for me you might have gone on hoping for years and years, without
knowing the true state of her feelings toward you."

"What do you mean?" demanded the captain, gripping the arms of his
chair.

"Sellers is a little bit premature," said Mr. Truefitt, coughing. "There
is nothing settled yet, of course. I told him so. Perhaps I oughtn't to
have mentioned it at all just yet, but I was so pleased to find that it
was all right I had to tell somebody."

"What are you--talking about?" gasped the captain.

Mr. Truefitt looked up, and by a strong effort managed to meet the
burning gaze before him.

"I told Susanna," he said, with a gulp.

"Told her? Told her what?" roared the captain.

"Told her that you said you were not worthy of her," replied Mr.
Truefitt, very slowly and distinctly.

The captain took his pipe out of his mouth, and laying it on the table
with extreme care listened mechanically while the clock struck five.

"What did she say?" he inquired, hoarsely, after the clock had finished.

Mr. Truefitt leaned over, and with a trembling hand patted him on the
shoulder.

"She said, 'Nonsense'" he replied, softly.

[Illustration: She said, 'Nonsense' he replied, softly 152]

The captain rose and, putting on his cap--mostly over one eye--put out
his hands like a blind man for the door, and blundered out into the
street.

CHAPTER XIII

"MR. VYN