ck their happiness sooner or later. No;
in Heaven's name, leave them in peace!"

"I think you are wrong," Sir Kersley said. He was looking straight up
into Max's face with eyes of shrewd kindliness. "I think it is extremely
improbable that she never will remember. And I think, moreover, that it
is hardly to be desired that she should not."

"I disagree with you!" said Max harshly.

"Yes, my dear fellow, I know you do. You are no impartial judge. You
want--very naturally--to save her from any suffering. And I don't think
you will succeed. If you could have persuaded her to marry you, you
might have done it. Forewarned is forearmed; you would have known how to
safeguard her. But utter ignorance is no safeguard at all. I don't think
she would thank you for it--if she knew."

Max's mouth twisted in its most cynical smile. "I wonder," he said.

Sir Kersley said no more. Beyond the bare fact of his brief engagement
and its rupture, Max had confided in him not at all. He had left him to
infer that she had been caught by a nearer attraction in his absence--an
inference which her present engagement to his brother had seemed to
confirm. And Sir Kersley had been far too considerate to probe for
further enlightenment. But he was not privately by any means satisfied
with regard to the matter of Max's long and fruitless journey. He was
not accustomed to seeing Max beaten, and the spectacle hurt him.

He urged his opinion no further, for it was evident that Max was firmly
determined to withstand it; but when Max had gone he sat and
contemplated the matter with a troubled frown. There seemed to be
something he had not fathomed behind Max's silence.

As for Max he departed for the docks with that air of grimness that had
somewhat grown on him of late. Though bound upon a welcoming errand, he
knew that it was not going to be a particularly easy one.

He was somewhat late in arriving, and the great steamer had already come
to her moorings. Among the waiting crowd he discerned Dr. Jim and
Muriel, but he did not make his way to them. He knew they would meet
later, and he was not feeling sociable that afternoon.

So he stood aloof and waited, searching the many faces that lined the
deck-rails for the one face that alone he longed to see. He spied her at
last, and was conscious of a momentary pang that he fiercely stifled.
She was standing there at the rail above him, waving her handkerchief to
Dr. Jim. Nick was on one side of her, a