e identity of others,
whom the former had met in the cavalry charge on the masked road and
whom Coristine had seen and heard in the Richards' scow the night of the
catastrophe. They scowled, but attempted no rescue. Thanks to the
lawyer's generalship, things had been pushed through too quickly for
them to combine. For some time, Coristine travelled alone. There were
other people in the car, but he did not know them, nor did he care to
make any new acquaintances. All his friends were at Bridesdale, and he
was a homeless exile going back to Mrs. Marsh's boarding-house. At
Dromore, however, he caught sight of the wide-mouthed barrel of a
blunderbuss, and knew the Captain could not be far off. Soon that naval
gentleman got on board, helping Mrs. Thomas up to the platform, followed
by Sylvanus with the saluting weapon. They were to be his companions as
far as Barrie, and much the lawyer enjoyed their society. Marjorie was
the great subject of conversation, although, of course, the Captain had
to be enlightened in many points of recent history. He still thought
Wilkinson a sly dog, but wondered greatly at Coristine's going away.
Mrs. Thomas explained the relationship of Orther Lom. He had been a poor
neglected boy, when Marjorie Carmichael was a little girl, whom her
father, the member, had interested himself in, giving him an education,
and supporting him in part while at the Normal School in Toronto. Just
before he died, he exerted his influence to obtain a Government berth
for him, and that was the whole story. The lawyer saw it all now, and
learned too late what a foolish fellow he had been. Of course, there
were old times, and they had much to talk of, and she could not help
being civil to him, and being angry when he had reminded her father's
protege of his early poverty. Coristine sighed, and felt that, if Lamb
had been present, he would have apologized to him. To cheer him up, the
Captain invited him to join Mrs. Thomas and himself on a cruise in the
_Susan_. He would have enjoyed it immensely he said, but, having made so
many assertions of pressing business in the city, he had to be
consistent and miserable. At Barrie, he bade his last friends adieu,
parted affectionately with The Crew, and then gazed longingly at the
spars of the _Susan Thomas_ in Kempenfeldt Bay. If only the Captain had
brought the two Marjories for a cruise, he would have shipped with him
for a month, and have let business go to the dogs. There were