d and looking me
earnestly in the face.

I was at a loss what to say, being so flustered by her carriage and her
words, which seemed to make it plain to me that I had sorely misjudged
the dead man. But I said nothing, and moved a little way from her; and
she, seeing my disinclination, laughed again, and then 'God blessed' me
with a vehemence and earnestness that, as I thought, meant me more harm
than good. But after that she turned and went back to the rest of the
women, and I could see her going from one to the other, soothing and
comforting them, and showing them how to make the best of their bitter
commons on the island. And as I watched her I wondered; but I had little
time for watching or for wondering.

CHAPTER XXIV

FAIR ISLAND

For the nonce I will make bold to leave Captain Marmaduke sailing the
seas and to occupy myself solely with the fate of those who were
encamped on the island, and chiefly of Marjorie and Lancelot and thereby
myself who had the good fortune to be with them to the end of the
enterprise. And, oh, as I think of Marjorie in those days it is ever
with fresh wonder and delight and infinite gratitude to Heaven for the
privilege to have seen her. She seemed just a boy with boys, she with
Lancelot and me, and she wore her boyish weed with a simple
straightforward ease that made it somehow seem the most right and
natural thing in the world. But that was ever her way; whatever she did
seemed fit and good, and that not merely to my eyes who loved her, but,
as I think, to most. And she was very helpful in mind and body, always
eager to bear her share in any work that was toward, and in council
advising wisely without assertion. It might seem at first blush a
handicap for adventurers to have a girl on their hands, but we did not
find it so, only always, save for the peril in which the maid was, a
gain and blessing. And so to our fortunes. You must know that from the
further coast of our island--the further from our wreck, I mean--we
could discern the outlines of other islands, the nearest of which
appeared to be within but a few hours' sail. It was plain, therefore,
that we were, very fortunately for us, cast away in the neighbourhood of
a considerable archipelago, and that we had every reason on the whole to
rejoice at our condition instead of bewailing it.

Now, though the island we were on was in many ways fair and commodious,
we were not without confidence that another island, which la