The evening world. Newspaper, September 18, 1916, Page 13

MIRABEL’S ISLAND By LOUIS TRACY A story of Romance and Mystery Who tral Vigure a) Girl the Con Has Vled to « Storm Swept Deland Where She Lives Alone HAL we ond? ’ did Death + uire from the mn tidet of \y in) The mou rome stiffly Mis body was torn and spent, but ite if As¥ wreknres Sus etlll eubjuweted by @ soul. Clutebing the at i tier @ith benw 4 foerre * cleared « min’ of eplnarift foam from ~\\ Fie ay, ~ Wie bloodsiod eyes with the free hand. Around tim eneried ang raged 1 ) ae @ yellow-maned ofa Whipped into frothy madness, in from a ~ . of wpart, cordage and Mapping canvas; low above raced black @ & > ie chaotic fury, Mut he had vowed he would mot yield until he fell had kept hie vow during # night that told of eternity, Now the day was | here §=Throvgh ‘he of ecud he thought he bad een something | something! Coult na? © Teehe hed been mistaken. One of the group of emai) telands dimly een to the westward at dewn-—-wheiher dawn began an bour ago he know not—now lay almost ahead = Moghantcally he changed the eutter's course a couple of polnta to port. The foresal! etil! helé—all for it seemed as if soine m 4 topes!!, mainyard end boom, and started the #o badly that the vessel's fore part wae full of water, Yet un ere epared, and to that emall mercy the yeeht ve broached to and filled @ thou- nand times during the night, ner could her owner have made that desperate fight for life--made euch « fight as few men have ever madi that wes left of the trim cany deep had sheered away Jib rounded by mast and fore owed steering way tackle night | vid Lindsay had . flgning Ber juard action et pursuin eee ourged to trensy dy an equinoctial gale; now the dawn bad brought @ forlorn hope, and with fine courage he mustered the last remnante of his errengt for oe which rently could bave only one ieeue, r+ that through the narrow t ye mity of long, narrow island, of which @ lofty peak, capping !ts northerm half, bad nlone been visibie earlier, Extending far to seaward on the right, and ap- parently barring the way tn front, vidi of flying spray showed clearly ' reef after reef lay between the island and its northerly neighbors. As well he could judge, for his enduranc tan end and his sight was failing, the northern tip of the island Was not a hundred yards dis- tant, and he leaned against the tiller e last flicker of consciousness, Then he before his waning exes; mse Sump for which he had nerved which barred the way. The impact against the rock jarred the pomnants of his senses out of him and he fell like # log, with bis feet lapped by the tide at its full flood and his head and shoulders nestling into soft, snug shing! ee 6 6 8 6, . . a, jay there until arouse yy tha which’ Ne took for the barking of a dog—a sound so Intimate and homely that in moments of distress it ever vibrates in the ear of civilized man a chord of confidence, a promise of help. And once he had risen to his feet and stretched his limbs, even taking a deep breath or two to & sure himself that no ribs were bro! —in fact, once he was sure of life David Lindsay took quick strides to- va complete recovery, At tock im perhaps # minute F 4 order his mind and ascertain that he was uninjured, save for many bruises and some slight abrasions of tie His first collected plance was y ying crippled and ine retyelving beach where he had flung himgelf ashore Then he looked inland, and ¥ stantly conscious of # fe cling of surprise, He accounted for by tie expectation of being halted by some island fisherman, perhaps” gnarled und weather-beaten Scot, | would address him in G 1 te after a moments serutin D! plage etruck him as uninhabited, save Pawwds CHAPTER 1 Otherwise whe must li Tearing out the leaf, he the empty beer bottle, whiel vorked securely and threw far out) Into the clearest space of water could discern, “The {iret message!" he “I wonder fend and ho SF ay weather tnoderet ‘Savin Linear, &. 7. many more many, if aay, picked up?” Then be suddenty felt chilly. Fith erto his brain bad been dom! reat fact that he was him aside as no longer worthy of its spite, by aliv but flesh reminded the spirit that tt, too, ‘tner in the compact called nd wu lite until the blood glowe: but, knew that he risked a if he did not change his garments, So and when he reappeared he had the sem- blance of some well dressed yachta- | he coamings, he was almost startled by aming seabirds that leaped into the alr at sight of him. A pair of cormorants were standing on the spread out oilskins, and one was plucking viciously at the stout a@ flock of we cloth. ‘Then David used words of sailorlike import, and sprang to the beach in a fury, whereupon the feathered brigands made off with an uproar of raucous cries that mentarily shut out the howling of the wind and the booming diapason of* the one e, that the storm had caet now the bruised and shiveri He ung bie arm in his phystcally fit though he went into the little cabin, himself during that horrible rush nian who had just stepped from © across the arti ear be jaunch onto the landing pier of the toue! e 5 t al Ya clutched wildly at the dour obstacle When his head rose above the) og “eis iter of the ut it tn | he re. ed ous illness mo- Worl The Day of Rest a ———-= LEIS GET Away AN REATY Fron Tay Heat LETS GO ! JOHN And Go WE COUNTR FoR The Day ‘ _ 7 _) ) c f r | | : | a“ | HANE Found A Good Pain al Lock ie oR (Wave A HOLE IN My GLOVES | | HAVE ONE, LETS Go 1 CANT Ping i+ MY HAT Pig aur ‘ ' IT'S THe ONLY ONE i WAVE DING BusT IT! WHAT'S UPS the reef. tmpudent and {nquiring eye at the unimportant, mere humps on the “Evidently, my first task will be stranger, : i shoulder of the third and most south- hard and bitter,” he growled. Aes ; ki erly, which rose well above the He was no stranger to harsh death here on earth do you come ihree.hundred-feet line. In fact, he and its melancholy demands on the from?” demanded David remembered that {ts height, three living, but he had never yet dug @ = “Mirabel," was the inexplicable hundred and twenty-eight fect, was grave, and he cast about in his mind which might be found on board the Firefy. for some suitable implement given on the chart, Active and, light-footed though he ) progress Lunga answer. “And who, or where, 1s Mirabel?"* He could think of no other devico The Jackdaw uttered that sardonic veon built with d mag. than the fashioning of a spade from laugh again and hopped away, His willcence by the voleano and the storm a pole and a plece of the planking: plunuge was smooth and glossy, but @M4 he had to pick and choore each which abounded in every little cove One wing lad ben wd step after leaving the well, since there onthe island at high-water mark. ONG )NiNE Had been | {n the was no semblance of a path except So he procured an axe, a saw, a Mddle of the humerus, ho had from the landing-place to the higher hammer and nails and set reaolutely In a few minutes he had some sulties attend- uth African caused him to experiment at promising bit of sand be- fore essaving the birrer task of mak- to work. contrived knowledge of the di ing kon: once on & rough spade, but sepulture in a depend solely on his legs for move- t level of the island proper, and his boots were not stout enough for such rough work, At last he stood on a little pl 1, bounded by a sheer clift on the left and « steep escarpment of rock on the right. So barren and desolate and wholly deserted was the gray aspect of rock You didn’t fly here, that's sure, Jack," sald David, who was unfeign- edly glad of the bird's company. “I suppose you once Were ‘Mirabel's' pet, though whether Mirabel was a lady or @ yacht, [ don't know. Any- 7 ne ROW, Old sport, Lam pleased to see And reef an this section that Lindsay for a Rroup of shy Highland cattle In B Tia erat Tha anes a struck you. and I'll find you some fatted Would aufoubtedly have. returned to now eying him from the shelter of a or less, He climbed the oNff bya, calf. the yacht by the way he had come Gramy cleft. a few hundred yards OF lees. Ie climbed the cltfr by He climbed into the cabin and wore it not for the problem. act. by way, Atany rate, there Was no sign f ‘put Boon ascertained that CroUsht out 4 ship's biscuit and @ the Jackdaw and the cattle. Whither ot man or dog=-though he fancied he barrennass of the island ice of corned beer, hud they gone? fecide that trivial iad heard a dog barking—-had even renee es May ani Ha, ha, ha! Good dog! Carlo! point he pressed ot persuaded himself that it w small ; w nt for—it was Carlo!" voctferated the bird, dancing ?° he hill did not fall evenly toward dog. A man of lesa experience (ian vid Lindsay would not have At this disheartening conclusion yeadily. The presence of cattle, com- bined with. the certainty that. the island could not be far removed from Mull and the mainland of Argyll, might have reassured a novice, But this stalwart castaway knew that the denizens of such places had a sixth senso in prescience of a wreck or of a Visit by strangers. Had there really been people on the island they would have been waiting on the beach to drag him and the Firefly high and dry when the yacht struck, No; be must have mistaken the Rapping of canvas ‘or the barking of a dog. : itis next action was well caleulated to alarm any suspicious watcher who might be lurking in one of the ravines thi arred the hillside. He went to th ht, opened and stooped into a hatchway facing the well and lifted out the body of a man There could be no sort of doubt t the man was dead, for mere loss fousness differs from death of life differs from the ripose of the grave, Moreover, this ran had been slain by a murd 9 t.ow which had shattered the top of tie skull. The corpse was clothed in & satlor’s uniform. The yacht’s name was worked in discolored white let- ters on the breast of a blue jersey and the white cord of a jackknife was dyed brown In parts, Lindsay carried the body up the beach and laid it on the compara tively dry patch of shingle where he himself had fallen. Then he brought an ollakin coat—not his own, which was lying in the wederand Savered face and limp figure tothe ke Th ently shod feet atuck out at helpless looking angles and their forlorn aspect seemed to annoy Lindsay, for he went back to the yacht, fished up his cost from the sump of water and smal! spoil of the sea which had lodged above the grating, and thus completed the shroud, From the yacht's cabin he procured achart and conaulted it, Soon he was examining the features of tha co line and checking the bearings of such Islan ight. = FI were in Apparently. tlefied to his exact whereabouts, @ took a notebook and pencil from a breast pocket of his reefer jacket and wrote Tee AERTS eee en Tames’ Farrow killed, apparently by ' eee was buliding of a cairn when he hap- al | nened receded dozens of smaller Islets, seriously contemplating to a neti that hundred the were revealed Ry prodding here and there with the the open hatch mass of basalt set In the sea He of the lost wing tn unison with its the fellow, tide had goon, yards or more into small pieces. from the yacht, and already seve: new patches of tolerably dry shingle gulped out of sight, he sprang to th: about excitedly and flapping the stump Haifway down it ex- a well-marked horse- due south, The brokea thus provided by na- sularly regular in its y curve, and two smal stood somewhat to the of its entrance might have RU qd into vh ning amphitheatre ture was. sit crest and inn: hilly which puthwes shall know the whole family said David, breaking the biscuit But the jackdaw meat; when ‘it was 1 preferred the yacht's deck and thence to the top of broken tonmast. he found one spot "Oh, you naughty dog!” said the ne WAIORIOR GORY NINem in front of a coiumn-lke rock where bird, and then he whistled shrilly t Was not any fantasy of the gravel and pebbles ran deen. Busily | Now, a man seldom iniplies that a that caused David Lindsay to nving the improvised shovel, ho dog is “naughty,” but by preforenc: ‘t 0 the hollow, ike cleared a pit of the necessary size, emphasizes the fact with the toe of though he was, obliged to divest him. his boot; even if he uses the word, bh self of boots and rocks and turn up doca not Nis trousers to the knees, owing to the Stress on the first syllable percelation of water, shelved rapidly, and the tide would fall for another five hours, so he rea- & dog soned that the hole would empty It- self suMciently before his prepara- tlons wer As the water hal ceased ta flow disdaining tho biseult, he raced up the Into the pit he went to the yacht for path and in the directio a bucket, dense flock of seabirds, he uncow his charged the most disagreeable part of of chain the undertaking by searching the poor anchor well abov follow's pockets and making an. in- ventory of their This done, he lifted the inert form in his strone arms and garried it to Haht the packed with pebbles and put on his coat, socks, and boots, and 4, endeavored in the same breath to and protected from the gle. throw off the pall of sorrow which tory sure of a fire when ni comoleted, Then, again driving awny shinmate’s remains, nontents. edge of that strange grave CHAPTER II. "DB and the: one , there, sh 1 ked away down tered from every wind, yet ive it that so pl {as to receive the maximum i ten heard Of sunshine, was a house—a well- But the bench from a woman's lips. built, habltable house! “So Mirabel is a lady, and she has Though amoke did mot curl out of named Carlo?" commented &!¥ of the chimneys, the place wore Lindsay. bi nied “smug aspect of habitation, A Ho, ho! Of we go; Tom, Dick, Wicket gate standing ajar, and the Harry and Joe,” cackled the bird, and, Presence of three milch goats, w as many kids, surreptitiously devours Ing some growing Vegetables within n of the glen a Lindsay was about to flow, when inclosuve, undyubiedly helped this dd the inbred caution of the exple conceit David, eager for hu and dis. caused him to pay out a few fathoms companionship, soon put the mat and bury @ fluke of the to test He ran down the Nigh-water mark, slope and entered the garden He was driving the anchor home with he obeyed the law of nations by ix heel when he saw a red eye wink- ing oUt the thioves; then he kno ing at him brig! from the port at the closed outer door of « p There Was no answer, though hat luck!" he cried, hurrying to waited patiently and rapped loudly the caboose for a tin of colza, He enough to wake the Seven Sleepers. had passed and repassed the yacht a At last he grasped the old-fashe <haeh nee on i . Marveara sid foned aneck on tie door, Lo! the where the green light had given out, h lftec f @ door opened, ende of timber but had not hepnened to look at ita tc fitted and the door opened. | A formed the lid of poor Far. companion, Carefully unshipping the he stood in the kitchen. Then Lind: row's singular coMfn: when MAtern, and carrying it into the cebia naw that a @aa nok along cn out of the wind, he found that it still Tinga, for the room was warm were welshted with contained @ amall quantity of ol Greig (eine woah ne fra the whole whereas the starboard lamp wae | "atsing to tho hearth, he felt @ stone; stones, and had enwrapped his soul. A hoarse cackle of laughter emote ter than all the artillery of the storm. He , WAS 80 astounded that even his huns drew together in a mob. They were ter'a eyes roved @ second or two be- two-year-old b fore finding out that the scoffer was a |! his Jackdaw, perched on a stone among ran, bearine somewhat to the left and the cars with an Inalstenee gr herbage. Well!" he gasped. “Fine day, front of him, nd, David empty. said the bird, halting north part of the island, there wero and cocking a! a fire had been lighted there during the morning, and he fancied She ita 1 Nath’ linn ng embers had been hastily thrown aside, 8 pipe, and with both empe gclng as a bie kitchen fovel, which atond ed, Nea a pile of tors, bore traces of have hese operations consumed fully 'M been used for the purpowa, ten minutes. When he looked for the Any one hove he w ' an ‘s jackdaw again that mysterious visitor Volea rang hollow through the silent ad vanished, He went up the glen, Toms which seemed to offer the easiest line 9 "The place is ampty," he admitted of approach to the hill, and the cattle finally, “It seems to say: ‘Come in, if you want shelter, but leave the tn- mates alone, They know you are here, and don't wish to make your acquaintance,” Without another house or its contents, he hurried out, but, true to his oririnal intent, fol- lowod the westerly ride of the Island At any rate, David could now light cks, and not In the it likely to be vicious; indeed, as ed them, they turned tat! and he ne giance at tho vanishing over a hillock. He had not gone far before he learned that, instead of one hill on the three, set In @ row; but two were less difficult Some effort had been made to cut a path among the rocks, and, if David climbed higher, he ad- vanced more rapidly, Ile noticed a giant of @ rock which was separated from tl mainiand by @ narrow chasm hardly ‘ten feet wide, yet more than a hundred feet deep, as !y could tell by the din of a tidal rac booming up through the cleft; but o@ Was now all an eye for aught that moved, and he gave no hi to a natural phenomenon which would otherwise have proved trresistibie, Hin keen hearing was of no aval! in that war of Wind and wave, but never @ white-tailed rabbit bobbed into cover or tall fern-frond swayod in the gale but he noted tt He missed nothing, elther at his feet or on the skyline, and thus it came to pass that, when he was croasing a small gully where the rain had gatii- ered {nto a minlature rivulet, he saw a footprint in a little drift of sand Tt was clean, well-cut and recent as his own might have been had he stepped in some such place during his passage along the east side, Ho looked around sharply ta make sure was not being watched from some h crag or cleft, Gray rock, wind-swept undergrowth, stormy sky, and lower. jug sea made up the whole of the pleture, and the only living things ta sight were the rabbita and the sea- fowl Yet here was a footprint or a Woman's -a neat, well-mouldod sole and broad } and by the side of It, scarcely legible, owing to the thinning of the sand on a emooth a child's slab of rock, the pads of a dog—a small dog! Where was the wearer?--that was the puzzle, and David at once eet his Wits at work on Its solution ere Was no one Visible— that part of the {stand afforded hardly y cov nless @ Spy Was lying full len the grass behind a bowider o he resolved instantly to adopt » trick Known to every seout shikarl Aw soon as he had certain, with sidciong glance, was well over the show Hil he ran ewiftly up the that 1, Then, choosin:: sing cleft branching to the climbed steadily up until just peer through a tuft of rock heather growing there. He lay at a fortable angle and waited. Hit fen himself, he surveyed the greaior part of the western coastline; if he was being tracked or next move rested with t From a recess tn that rook ond the chasm rose a woman, or er a girl probably yet tn her en ia David could » n the clear, uy Hight which now m all n o vivid. Inst of the ¢ rae mespun dress and pluid shawl of cottish fisher-folk, she wore a iceable and stylish coat and short rt of dark tweed, such as may be by the score on the moors any ng the shooting sea land touch was giveu to a m o' Shanter cap by an eagle's feather set jauntily on the left side, and, lest the astounding vision should be incomplete in any detail, the young lady not only held a black Aberdeen terrier on a leash, but car. ried @ double-barrelled hammerless « un. “Mirabel and Carlo—ten thousand pounds to a potato on the dounle event!" breathed Lindsay, But he did not budge. Enforced residence on Lunga had suddenly become exciting He watched the girl's proceedings with @ breathless interest that did not lack @ spice of fear-~in her be- My CORSET N TRIN: ray ' Sane oe PUTIN A NEW cH, BELIEVE ij Pea half—for she laid the gun aside, drew ck in the rock, a long plank from a er bridged that awesome pyon with it, picked up gun and dog, und crossed to the mainland, though. she Lindsay's figure had dis- appeared so recently she pulled the plank tn, hid it In another crevice and, still keeping the dog on the leash, sped Hehtly on David's trail Girl and dox were speeding up the ineline--and David saw thay the ter- rier had been cleverly munzted with a bit of rope—when a loud laugh rang from @ rocky pinnacle above the ravine in which Lindsay Was cone cealed “Ha, ha, hat" came a "Good dog, Carlo! Wow! Wow The irl stopped. “on, Jack, yon bad bird!" phe erted jow you startled me! “Now ts my chance,” thought David, He thrust head and shoulders well in view, and lifted his cap. ing, madam,” he sald, disregarding «io instant blanching of the girl's face when ghe looked up at hin. “1 hope you will forgive me for apperring in this fashion, but It i hardly my faut.” Di not appear to he afratd. Vi she stanchly scoraful, her eyes gazed into his as if the sight of him was intensely disagreeable, most odious. “Who are you, and what do you want? she demanded, and her well- bred accents fully accorded with her rance ly name is David Lindsay,” gaid, meeting her steadfast glance quiet good humor. “My cutter cast ashore here soon a wnd I had no option What T wanted then worthy life." nig the truth,” h you looked @ fort of person when came ashore. You 4 ortunately, one of my men wos Killed by the colliston which «is abled the yacht, and the other was ‘ overboard.” hesitated perceptibly, Each nent she was becoming more and nyinced that the intruder on e domain Was a gentleman, But she upper hand of him, and moant Come down to the path," she said, with « fae air of command, “I must have » proof of your statements, and please believe that Lean use a fun as well as carry one,” CHAPTER Ul INDSAY felt that he was be- ing eyed critically, and he i felt, too, that the girl was rather at @ loss how best to obtain the “proof” sho spoke of, In truth, this Diana of the Isles had seen fit to adop strange attl- tude, and Lindsay thought it would help !f he brought an enforced ac- quaintance to commonplace le He stooped and patted the dog's head "Carlo takes me on trust, at any rate," he sald, “I rather fancy it was he who roused ime’ el Ho stopped abruptly, The girl's face, mobile and expressive beyond the ordinary, betr 1a new te that astounded him almost gasped, d Daily Magazine, Monday. September 18, 1916 — Another “Craig Kennedy” by scientific methods, brings to book @ clever criminal whose ability to master “burglar. BPGIN anne “Tea, ond ye thie ve Mirabel? Vor the tite imagine what that very lips whit her ey (You must keep t north end the teland. Do not ware to approa [my house, 1 aim weil protects you will lear oat if you and she leaving David |dumfounded. He did not stir, but | watched her graceful fgure as she beat against the wind and climbed the ravine in which he had found her footprint. the dit not look round to ascertain what had become of him, and the last he saw of her the skyline wae le’ feath and wun swinging oa The imperious tenant of the island said she would bring, of send, @ quantity of eatables to that same place at noon, Well, if she declined to talk, perhaps she might be will. ing to read, so he strode off to the yacht and wrote a letter, tearing an other leaf out of his notebook for the purpos® Heb ing materials, becs land @ fresh stock w | not des | Having q | | nary developments of the past hour. In order to snatch a comfortable run out of notepa aiting her arrival at the port ahe was ay parently ed to reach, ndings 1 wie to mabe 4 ti DVT taxpsar constructed a tripod of timber heavy enough withstand the pressure of the wind, he the atrip of paper, addressed it Mirabel," and tied ft to a leg tripod, which he carried to the tier,” and fixed in such wise that the girl could not fail to see, Having settled the tripod securely, he re- turned to the yacht, lt his pipe, and sat down to ponder the extraordi- of meal ho had taken ter on board the yacht, and the temptation to curl up in « dry bunk gave the strongest thi must not yleld to the blandishments of ti nature, or he might awake when Was too late to save the Firefly from almost certain destruction during the next tide, 1s frat task was to fix @ block and tackle to @ rock and adjust a in such manner that could get @ pull from the t when it lifted under the income ing tide, Then he fashioned four role lers, placed one beneath the keer well fo d and tied the others loosely in the style of @ rope ladder, so that they would not be washed out of position before the hull rested on them Even with the assistance of the pul- ley and the driving power of the ad- vancing waves tt was no light task to haul a tive-ton cutter up that slop- ach. He toiled manfully upul as wet with perspiration as he ever been from salt water, Foot by foot tho Firefly drew neare Water mark, but the changing of the rollers more than once exposed to real peril, F sat By half past six he found he could not budge the Firefly another inch, It seemed to him that the ude had then ed ite maximum, and he felt fairly confident that with double moorings hiv little ark was safe, By that tne he was utterly spent, Heedless of the pouring rain, he sat on & bowlder to restore his ex haunted energies by a fow minutes rest, The noise of the storm was stu- pendous; tt seemed, if such @ thing Were possible, to grow louder as the t grew darker, [It wan impos ie to detect any ordinary sound, n he of the it Was not surprising that he ould have failed to detect the ap- + proach ¢ n fxure that hurried 1 sl the path from the raised floor { the island, The irl was cloaked ke David himself in an otlskin and With a sou'we der her chin, Wh. she did not falter Ing by his touched his own er firmly tied un- zed that one Ha started, rather more nervously that might be looked for in one of his strong physique “Sorry,” he sald. “You took mo by surprise.” "You cann here to-night!” ed sh tll be all right on board the he replied, no You must come to my house... , LT apologize. 1 read your note, . . . - have been horrid.” This strange gir! did not shrink, but grasped his arm compellingly and led him up the steep slope without another word. He did resist, He had almost reached the Hmit of en- durang At lust he understood vaguely that clamor of wind and sea was ubat. and through the darkness a big, aquare, yellow gleamed comfort. ably at him ir feet crunehed on \ path und smoother than the uneveu rock, and a dog barked, Doors were opened, and David lurched into the well-lighted kite lanced ind Carlo con tround in the Jackdaw, perched on the k of a h chatr, cackled his ap Ls s' down, and don't talk," ' yooe at his ear, He turned ' the girl as though she pieasant and unexpected Mu eyed and allowed \ nin the chair, from tho bird sprang with’a loud Hy ARTHUR B. REEVE high. f story. Thia time Kennedy, oem: { whiskey and het be sald. “drink thet, and J soon be yourself in Then we must get that © oe well Coo A little p hitting some Heotch broth, if thet she sald “It will be ready in one minute. While it te beating you must get rid of the coat ° Finsh the whiskey, f but Donald There! don't like the aye tt ie in mell of it about in true wWifely style While she spoke, a bad & pannikin nesting am burning logs. Then she helped to dt vest David of bis ollfskin, made him sit in another chair on account of the ranwater oleh bad poured off him when they entered the house, protecting her hands and dre el fro fore he could frame a promee uid have restored him te « normal etate so speedily as that sim. ple action “Oh, 1 nay permit that! And Tean't permit argument, Nothing "he broke out, “I can't retorted. “I have often done it for my father, and your boots fit more loosely than bis. Next, please! , . Now some slippers, They aro in front of the sitting room fire.” Lindsay was beginning to resent the absurd weakness which had seized him; he was on the worge of explains ing that he would return to the Fire. fly within fifteen mirutes when it occurred to him that the girl was making amends for the earlier ta of hospitality and it would be churlisn to cavil at her wffort: Ho } pled the slippers and took the soup and bread she placed before him on a small table. Long ere the meal Was finished ho was himself again. He knew that his compenion was scrutinizing — bins with an odd mixture of concern and wonder in her eves, so ha resolved to make an pnd speedily of a situation that must be fraught with a good deal of difficulty for her. While he was wondering what to say and how best to say it she gave him a cue, “Do you remember that I told you I was sorry for having misjudged you when we met this morning?” David flanced around the cosy en ahd waved a comprehensive “For any {maginary debt incurred by you J have been repaid a hundred~ fold,” he said. “I might even ques- tion the original obligation. _ I took you by stealth—played a trick on you -and you had the right to resent It. Now, before I go, may I gratify a pardonable curtosity?” Ile thought he saw again in her eyes the Moker of fear which he had cought at thelr first meeting. | “Lonly want to ask if you aré really living here alon: he continued. St “Hut you mentioned the well-found- ed views of a gentleman gamed Don- ald" he sald, “Oh, Donald?’ she erted. “Donald fri Weather permitting.” actly, Tt may not permit now for six weeks.” “What?” he almost shouted. She stooped rapidly, picked up hte neaboota, and to the door at the font of the ata! “We can discuss the tion of af- fairs fully In the morn! he eald. smiling with serene indifference. “You will find a fire and light in the eitting- room, and there are plenty of blan- kets piled up on @ big eouch. sleaning sult and some of my fal underclothing are airing on a chetr in front of the fire, . or . » Of cour It fs anite too absurd to think vour going to the yacht fn a storm ‘ke this. Good nteht!" And she was gone, gone with his boots! CHAPTER IV. 'NDSAY slept the sleep of a Just man tired. He had the veldt habit of awaking with each sense alert, and his first glimpse of unfamiliar surroundings told him that he was co: us and not dreaming, The couch on which he found him- self lay beneath the window, which, 1 be remembered, faced south, and is brain began to measure a gle of light on the opposite wall asty calculation brought him to his feet with a bound, and he con- sulted his watch in the despairing} hope that his estimate of the Ume might be wrong. “Nine o'clock!" he growled. “I've lain there like a log for twelve solid hours, Now, what will that blessed irl think? She has been up ard about since daybreak, for sure," A slight rattling of crockery came from the kitchen; then he knew that ® similar sound had roused him. He opened the door a few Inches and stuck his head out, Mirabel, wearing a businesslike Holland apron over her dress, was laying the table for breakfast, She smiled in the most friendly way. “Good morning,” she said. “Did I disturb you? I gave you the round of the clock, and would have called you in another five minutes, Now aim going to the well," Mirabel took @ sou'wester from a hook and began to te Its strings un der her chin. Then she was gone, carrying two pails. (To Be Continued) —« as Q