d the incidents connected with it. She came to the store after
dinner and welcomed her brother with a most subdued and chastened
spirit.

"You have been mercifully preserved, Ernest," she said, wiping her
eyes. "I saw young Lawford Tapp bring you ashore. A really remarkable
young man, and so I told Mrs. Perriton just now. So brave of him to
venture out in the lifeboat as a volunteer.

"I have just been talking to his father. Quite a remarkable man--I.
Tapp. One of these rough diamonds, you know, Ernest. And he is so
enthusiastic about Louise. He has just pointed out to me the spot on
the bluff where he intends to build a cottage for Lawford and Louise."

"What's this?" demanded Professor Grayling, sitting up so suddenly on
the couch that Diddimus spat and jumped off in haste and anger.

"I--I was just going to tell you about Lawford," Louise said in a small
voice.

"Oh, yes! A little thing like your having a lover slipped your mind, I
suppose?" demanded her father.

"And a young man of most excellent character," put in the surprising
Mrs. Conroth. "Perhaps his family is not all that might be desired;
but I. Tapp is e-_nor_-mously wealthy and I understand he will settle a
good income upon Ford. Besides, the young man has some sort of
interest in the manufacturing of candies."

Trust the Lady from Poughkeepsie to put the best foot forward when it
became necessary to do so. The professor was gazing quizzically at the
flushed face of his daughter.

"So that is what you have been doing this summer, is it?" he said.

"That--and looking after Cap'n Abe," confessed Louise.

"I'll have to look into this further."

"Isn't it terrible?" interrupted Mrs. Conroth. "They say the two
brothers are out on that wreck and they cannot be reached until the
gale subsides. And then it will be too late to save them. Well,
Louise, that old sailor was certainly a brave man. I am really sorry I
spoke so harshly about him. They tell me it was he who put your father
in the boat. I hope there is some way you can fittingly show your
appreciation, Ernest."

"I hope so," said Professor Grayling grimly.

Lawford came to the store before bedtime--very white and
serious-looking. He had tried with the patrol crew to launch the boat
again and go to the rescue of the two old men supposed to be upon the
wreck. But the effort had been fruitless. Until the gale fell and the
tide turned they could not possibly get out to Gull