g a mild description of last night's encounter, to
abstain from acquainting Grace with Lord Huntingford's discovery of his
name--whether accidental or otherwise. Quite rightly he surmised that it
would unnecessarily distress her, and he preferred not to cross the
bridge until he came to it.

It was the evening following the conflict. As night approached, the sun
fell behind the shores of the Red Sea, the stars twinkled out through
the blackness above, and yet they had not caught a glimpse of her
Ladyship. At dinner, he and Grace had agreed that she had either
renounced them entirely, or had been compelled to avoid him in
particular. Veath was less concerned. He was thinking of another woman.

Hugh and Grace again stole away for a few moments of seclusion on deck.
They found chairs and sat down, neither very talkative.

"Oh, Hugh, just think where we are," she murmured at last. "Thousands
of miles from home, and no one the wiser save ourselves. Chicago is on
the other side of the world."

"Are you sorry you came, dear?"

"I am glad. But isn't it awful to consider how far we are from everybody
we know? We might just as well be dead, Hugh." She was very solemn and
wide-eyed.

"I am afraid you are losing heart," he said disconsolately.

"Why, Hugh Ridgeway--Ridge, I mean,--how can I afford to lose heart now?
Don't ever say that to me again."

"Yes; we are a long way from home, dear," mused he after a while.

"How far are we from Manila?" she asked suddenly.

"A million miles, judging by the way time goes. We'll be there in twenty
days, the captain says."

"What do you suppose Mr. Veath will say when he hears of our marriage?"
This question was propounded after a longer interval of silence
than usual.

"Why should we care what Mr. Veath says? If he doesn't approve, let him
go to--" but Hugh checked his fiery speech as abruptly as he began it.

"He will be awfully shocked to learn how we have deceived him," she went
on, as if he had not spoken.

"Well, do you care?" demanded Hugh.

"Yes, I care," she cried. "I shall be very sorry if he loses the good
opinion he may have formed. He is the kind of a man who would not
understand such an affair as this."

"But, then, we are not obliged to tell him. We can get married and leave
Manila at once without ever seeing him again. After that we will be Mr.
and Mrs. Ridgeway, and he could never find the people known as Hugh
Ridge and sister."

"That would be a shamele