"
"No, never! How did you suspect my share in the matter?"
"You were the first to offer your services. You persisted in working
at a spot from which the rest of us had been warned, and the captain
allowed it. I knew there must be method in your madness."
"You were right; it was a personal duty, and I could not have done
otherwise. But you had no such motive, Allyne, and yet, understanding
the danger, as you evidently did, you stood to your work as close to me
as you could get. I like a brave man!"
"Well, if it has wiped out old scores, Carnegie--"
"It has. But come--they are beckoning. I'll tell you something,
however. After it was over, last night, and the captain and I were
congratulating ourselves, he remarked, with a jerk of his thumb toward
your grimy self, 'That young man's head is too cool to be muddled up
with the devil's brew. I'm sorry about that!'"
The last words were whispered hurriedly, and there was no time to
respond, but Allyne's face shone as the ladies greeted them, with merry
reproaches for their laggardness, and soon all were seated, quietly
listening to Mrs. Poinsett, who was an excellent reader. Faith was not
so good a listener, that morning, however. It was an exquisite day,
after the storm. The air was of a crystal purity and delicious
coolness, the sea, rough enough to attract the gaze, yet not so rough
as to distract the nerves, and the sky's soft blue was occasionally
flecked with small, faint cloudlets, that seemed like distant flocks of
sheep, grazing in heavenly meadows.
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