first served, with him."

"He served Hill the worst dose," said Winn, "and it looks as if Hill
were the ultimate object of his plot, and the rest of us only pawns in
his game."

"You at least called 'checkmate' to him," answered Ethel, smiling
admiration, "but tell me about the island. That is of more interest to
me. The city end of this affair is now ancient history."

"Oh, the island is a poem," replied Winn, earnestly, "a spot to forget
the world on and learn a new life. Its people are poor, but honest,
kind, and truthful; their houses turkey coops, their customs ancient,
their religion sincere, their livelihood gained by fishing, and the
island a wild spruce-clad ledge of granite with bold sea-washed cliffs
and an interior harbor that is a dream of peace, seldom rippled. There
is an ancient beacon built by the Norsemen on a hill nine centuries ago,
a ravine surpassingly grand with a cave called the Devil's Oven, and an
old tide-mill at the head of their harbor, where a love-lorn girl once
hanged herself."

"A charming spot, truly," said Ethel, "and if I had known all this last
July, and there had been a comfortable hotel there, we should have
summered on this delightful island instead of on the mountains."

"It would have amused you a week," replied Winn, smiling, "but not
longer. There were no golf links or young dudes to flirt with there."

Ethel colored slightly.

"That is the worst of having friends," she said, "they are bound to
gossip about one. I don't mind," she added gayly; "I am a flirt and
admit it cheerfully, but what else are men good for?"

"Not much, I admit," answered Winn, sarcastically, "especially if they
have money or prospects of it; and if not, they are good to practise
on."

"Now, Winn, my dear fellow, don't emulate Jack Nickerson," she responded
suavely, "the role doesn't become you. You can be an adorable bear, but
not a barking puppy."

"Jack's not a puppy," asserted Winn.

"I never said he was," answered Ethel. "He can be worse than that; he
can be a gossipy old maid, always sneering, and that is more abominable
than a puppy any day. But tell me about the people on the island, and
which fisher maid you fell in love with."

"Why should you imagine I looked twice at any island maid?" answered
Winn.

"Oh, you were bound to," asserted Ethel, laughing. "You wouldn't be the
delightful man you are unless you did, so tell me all about her. Did she
wear her flaxen hair in a braid a