lly fine, I hope. I do not think you wholly appreciate
Lawford, Mr. Tapp," the girl told him firmly.

"Ha! No. I s'pose he's got to go outside his immediate family to be
appreciated," he snarled.

But at that Louise merely laughed. "You don't tell me what he has
done," she urged.

"Why, the young rascal's solved a problem in mechanics that has puzzled
us candy makers for years. I'm having a new cutting machine built
after his suggestions."

"I hope Lawford will be properly reimbursed for his idea," she
interrupted. "You know, he and I are going to need the money."

"Ha!" snorted I. Tapp again. "Ford's no fool, it seems, when it comes
to a contract. He's got me tied hard and fast to a royalty agreement
and a lump sum down if the machine works the way he says it will."

"I'm so glad!" cried Louise.

"You are, eh? What for?"

"Because we need not wait so long to be married," she frankly told him.

I. Tapp stood squarely in the path and looked at her.

"So you are going to marry him, whether I agree or not?"

"Yes, sir."

"Right in my very teeth?"

"I--I hope you won't be _very_ angry, Mr. Tapp," Louise said softly.
"You see--we love each other."

"Love!" began I. Tapp. Then he stopped, turning the thick letter over
and over in his hand. "Well!" and he actually blew a sigh. "Perhaps
there is something in that. Seems to be. I set my heart on having my
fortune and my partner's joined by Ford and Dot Johnson--and see what's
come of it."

He suddenly thrust the missive into Louise's hand.

"Look at that!"

With a growing suspicion of what it meant she opened the outer envelope
and then the inner one, drawing out the engraved inclosure. Before she
could speak a commotion along the beach drew their attention.

"What can it be?" Louise cried. "The lifesavers!"

"And their gear--lifeboat and all," Mr. Tapp agreed. "Must be a
wreck----"

His gaze swept the sea and he seized Louise's arm. "There! Don't you
see her? A vessel in distress sure enough. She's drifting in upon
Gull Rocks. Bad business, Miss Grayling."

"Oh, there is Lawford!" murmured Louise. "He's with the surfmen!"

Two teams of heavy farm horses were dragging the boat and the surfmen's
two-wheeled cart along the hard sand at the edge of the surf. The
bursting waves wetted all the crew as they helped push the wagons, and
the snorting horses were sometimes body deep in the water.

Lawford, in his fishermen's garments,