of Captain Jack's arm.

Captain Jack took hold of that hand to disengage it. But Mlle. Nadiboff
merely held the tighter, while the boy was conscious that she was
gazing up at him appealingly.

"I don't wish to be rude, Mademoiselle; don't, force me to be," the
submarine boy urged. "Will you kindly release my arm?"

Then, with a subdued though angry exclamation, the girl obeyed.

"You will not even hear me?" she cried, stamping one foot lightly
against the veranda boards, while now her eyes brimmed with tears.

"By jove, but she's a bully actor," thought Benson, with a sort of
admiration.

"I am sorry, Mademoiselle," he replied, "But I am wanted now. I am
forced to say 'good evening.'"

With a bow he turned and left her, replacing his cap as he strode away.

"Oh, that fool, that unnatural young man!" she cried, angrily, to
herself. "He prefers what he calls 'duty' to the friendly glance of a
pretty eye. Bah! Perhaps he is laughing at me at this moment. If he
is, he is laughing much too soon, for I shall teach him a lesson or two.
You are not yet beyond my reach, my brave young Captain!"

The veil that Mlle. Nadiboff carefully wound so that two folds fell
across her face concealed a hard, sneering, almost barbaric look that