A quarter of an hour later he arose to go, and the lawyer asked him
when he intended returning.

"That all depends upon her. If she wants me back again, she can write,
through you, and I'll come--if she has conducted herself with a
reasonable amount of propriety for such a pretty woman."

Then, with an ugly look on his face, Challis went out; next day he
embarked in the LADY ALICIA for a six months' cruise among the islands
of the North-west Pacific.


* * * * *


That was four years ago, and to-day Challis, who stands working at a
little table set in against an open window, hammering out a ring from a
silver coin on a marline-spike and vyce, whistles softly and
contentedly to himself as he raises his head and glances through the
vista of coconuts that surround his dwelling on this lonely and almost
forgotten island.

"The devil!" he thinks to himself, "I must be turning into a native.
Four years! What an ass I was! And I've never written yet--that is,
never sent a letter away. Well, neither has she. Perhaps, after all,
there was little in that affair of R----'s. . . . By God! though, if
there was, I've been very good to them in leaving them a clear field.
Anyhow, she's all right as regards money. I'm glad I've done that. It's
a big prop to a man's conscience to feel he hasn't done anything mean;