ge and powder which streaked the battered
face I guessed that a sneer at her age would sting like a wasp. I wanted
to rouse the woman's temper. If she lost her head, she might show her
hand!

"You'll have worse than hysterics, you fool, before I finish," she
snapped. "I'm going to make Roger Fane acknowledge me as his wife and
give me everything I want--money, and motor cars, and pearls--and, best
of all, a _position in society_. I'm tired of being a free lance."

"He won't do it!" I cried.

"He'll have to--when he hears what will happen if he doesn't. If I can't
live a life worth living, I'll die. Roger Fane will go off this yacht
under arrest as my murderer."

"You deserve that he should kill you, but he will not," I said.

"He'll _hang_ for killing me, anyhow. You see, the more _motive_ he has
to destroy me, the more impossible for him--or you--to prove his
innocence. Do you think I'd have told you all this, if any one was
likely to believe such a cock-and-bull story as the truth would sound to
a jury? But I'm through now! I've said what I came to say. I'm ready to
act. Do you want a row, or will you go quietly to the door of Roger's
cabin (he must be there by this time) and tell him that his wife, Linda
Lehmann, is waiting for him in your stateroom? _That_'ll fetch him!"

I had no doubt it would. My only doubt was what to do! But if I refused,
the woman was sure to keep her word, and rouse the yacht by screams.
That would be the worst thing possible for Shelagh and Roger. I decided
to go, and break to him the news with merciful swiftness.

If I could, I would have turned a key upon the creature, but the doors
of the _Naiad's_ cabins were furnished only with bolts. My one hope,
that she'd keep to my room, owed itself to the fact that she was too
drunk to move comfortably, and that, despite her bluff, the best trump
she had was quiet diplomacy with Roger.

Softly I closed the door, and tiptoed to his, three staterooms distant
from mine. My tap was so light that, if he had gone to sleep, I should
have had to knock again. But he opened the door at once. He was fully
dressed, and had a book in his hand.

"Something has happened," I whispered in answer to his amazed look. "Let
me come in and explain. I can't talk out here."

He stood aside in silence, and I stepped in. Then I motioned him to shut
the door.

CHAPTER VII

THE SECRET BEHIND THE SILENCE

This was the first time I'd seen Roger's cabin,