is
meditations were broken by the entrance of the boy with the steaming
coffee, followed by Bill bearing a couple of teaspoons.

"I nearly went to sleep," said Poppy, as Fraser roused her gently.

She took off her hat and jacket, and Fraser, taking them from her, laid
them reverently in his bunk. Then Poppy moved farther along the seat,
and, taking some coffee pronounced herself much refreshed.

"I've been very rude to you," she said, softly; "but Mrs. Wheeler was
very unkind, and said that of course I should go to you. That was why."

"Mrs. Wheeler is--" began Fraser, and stopped suddenly.

"Of course it was quite true," said Poppy, healthfully attacking her
plate; "I did have to come to you."

"It was rather an odd way of coming," said Fraser; "my legs ache now."

The girl laughed softly, and continued to laugh. Then her eyes
moistened, and her face became troubled. Fraser, as the best thing to
do, made an excuse and went up on deck, to the discomfort of Bill and
the boy, who were not expecting him.

Poppy was calm again by the time he returned, and thanked him again
softly as he showed her her bunk and withdrew for the night. Bill and
the boy placed their berths at his disposal, but he declined them in
favour of a blanket in the galley, where he sat up, and slept but ill
all night, and was a source of great embarrassment to the cook next
morning when he wanted to enter to prepare breakfast.

Poppy presided over that meal, and it, and the subsequent walk to
discover lodgings, are among Fraser's dearest memories. He trod on air
through the squalid roads by her side, and, the apartments having been
obtained, sat on the arm of the armchair--the most comfortable part--and
listened to her plans.

"And you won't go away without letting me know?" he said, as he rose to
depart.

Miss Tyrell shook her head, and her eyes smiled at him. "You know I
won't," she said, softly. "I don't want to."

She saw him to the door, and until he had quitted the gate, kept it
hospitably open. Fraser, with his head in a whirl, went back to the
_Swallow_.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The prime result of Mrs. Banks' nocturnal ramble with Mr. William Green,
was a feeling of great bitterness against her old friend, Captain John
Barber. Mr. Green, despite her protests, was still a member of the crew
of the _Foam_, and walked about Seabridge in broad daylight, while she
crept forth only after sundown, and saw a hidden meaning in every "Fine