girl beside him might mean, what effect
it might have upon her, upon her future--and upon her relations with
him, Sears Kendrick.

Hitherto those relations had been those of comrades, fellow workers,
partners, so to speak, in an enterprise the success of which involved
continuous planning and fighting against obstacles. A difficult but
fascinating game of itself, but one which also meant a means of
livelihood for them both. Elizabeth had drawn no salary, it is true, but
without her help her mother could not have held her position as matron,
not for a month could she have done so. It was Elizabeth who was the
real matron, who really earned the wages Cordelia received and upon
which they both lived. And Elizabeth had told the captain that she
should remain at the Fair Harbor and work with and for her mother as
long as the latter needed her.

And now Sears was realizing that the necessity for either of them to
remain there no longer existed. Cordelia, thanks to Mrs. Phillips'
bequest, had five thousand dollars of her own. Elizabeth had, for the
six or seven years before her thirtieth birthday, an income of at least
twelve hundred yearly. Cordelia's legacy would add several hundred to
that. If they wished it was quite possible for them to retire from the
Fair Harbor and live somewhere in a modest fashion upon that income.
Many couples--couples esteemed by Bayporters as being in comfortable
circumstances--were living upon incomes quite as small. Sears was
suddenly brought face to face with this possibility, and was forced to
admit it even a probability.

And he--he had no income worth mentioning. He could not go to sea again
for a long time; he did not add "if ever," because even conservative
Doctor Sheldon now admitted that his complete recovery was but a matter
of time, but it would be a year--perhaps years. And for that year, or
those years, he must live--and he had practically nothing to live upon
except his Fair Harbor salary. And then again, as an additional
obligation, there was his promise to Judge Knowles to stick it out. But
to stick it out alone--without her!

For Elizabeth was under no obligation. She might not stay--probably
would not. She was a young woman of fortune now. She could do what she
liked, in reason. She might--why, she might even decide to marry. There
was Kent----

At the thought Sears choked and swallowed hard. A tingling, freezing
shiver ran down his spine. She would marry George Kent and