s,
for there was nothing that Pembroke suspected less than that he himself
was a hero.

"Pretty tough work you have of it," said Caius at last; "if it was only
christening and marrying and burying them all, you would have more than
enough to do, with the distances so great."

"Oh, bless you! my boy, yes; it's the distance and the weather; but what
are we here for but to do our work? Life isn't long, any way, but I'll
tell you what it is--a man needs to know the place to know what he can
do and what he can't. Now, the Bishop comes over for a week in summer--I
don't know a finer man than our Bishop anywhere; he doesn't give himself
much rest, and that's a fact; but they've sent him out from England,
and what does he know about these islands? He said to me that he wanted
me to have morning service every Sunday, as I have it at Harbour Island,
and service every Sunday afternoon here on The Cloud."

"He might as well have suggested that you had morning service on the
Magdalens, afternoon service in Newfoundland, and evening service in
Labrador."

"Exactly, just as possible, my boy; but they had the diphtheria here, so
I couldn't bring him over, even in fair weather, to see how he liked the
journey."

All this time Caius was cudgelling his brains to know how to bring the
talk back to Madame Le Maitre, and he ended by breaking in with an
abrupt inquiry as to how old she was.

A slight change came over Pembroke's demeanour. It seemed to Caius that
his confidential tone lapsed into one of suspicious reserve.

"Not very old"--dryly.

Caius perceived that he was being suspected of taking an undue interest
in the benefactress of the island. The idea, when it came from another,
surprised him.

"Look here! I don't take much interest in Madame Le Maitre, except that
she seems a saint and I'd like to please her; but what I want to know is
this--there is a girl who is a sister, or niece, or daughter, or some
other relation of hers, who is on these islands. Who is she, and where
is she?"

"Do you mean any of the girls she has in her house? She took them from
families upon the island only for the sake of training them."

"I don't mean any of those girls!"--this with emphasis.

"I don't know who you mean."

Caius turned and faced him. Do what he would, he could not hide his
excited interest.

"You surely must know. It is impossible that there should be a girl,
young, beautiful and refined, living somewhere about here, an