Such an idea had not occurred to Reynolds before, but as he thought it
all over that night as he sat silent in the smoking-room, it did indeed
seem most reasonable. Why should he think any more about the girl? he
mused. He had been a fool for allowing his heart to run away with his
head. How could he for one instant imagine that such a girl would be
left until now without many admiring suitors, with one successful over
all the others? And no doubt that one was Jack, whose name had fallen
from the captain's lips.

Although Reynolds felt that the girl was not for him, yet he could not
banish her from his mind. She had aroused him from the paralysis of
indifference, for which he was most grateful. He would make a
desperate effort not to be again enmeshed in such a feeling. He would
throw himself ardently into the search for gold, and then turn his
attention to Henry Redmond, and strive to solve the mystery surrounding
the man.

After breakfast the next morning he went out on deck, and found the
girl already there comfortably seated in a large steamer chair. She
had evidently been reading, but the book was now lying open upon her
lap, and her hands were clasped behind her head. Reynolds caught the
gleam of a jewel on one of her fingers, and he wondered if it was an
engagement ring she was wearing. Her eyes were looking dreamily out
across the water, away to a great fog-bank hanging and drifting over
the face of the deep. Reynolds, too, looked, and the sight held him
spellbound. The mass of fog slowly rose and rolled across the
newly-bathed sun. Then it began to dissolve, and dim forms of trees
and islands made their appearance, growing more distinct moment by
moment. The scene fascinated him. It was truly a fairy world upon
which he was looking.