legraph
lady into tellin' us."

* * * * *

It was an empty pursuit. The young woman from St. John's was obdurate.
Not a hint escaped her in response to the baiting and awkward
interrogation of Tommy Lark and Sandy Rowl; and the more they besought
her, the more suspicious she grew. She was an obstinate young
person--she was precise, she was scrupulous, she was of a secretive,
untrustful turn of mind; and as she was ambitious for advancement from
the dreary isolation of Point-o'-Bay Cove, she was not to be
entrapped or entreated into what she had determined was a breach of
discipline. Moreover, it appeared to her suspicious intelligence that
these young men were too eager for information. Who were they? She had
not been long in charge of the office at Point-o'-Bay Cove. She did
not know them. And why should they demand to know the contents of the
telegram before undertaking the responsibility of its delivery?

As for the degree of peril in a crossing of Scalawag Run, she was not
aware of it; she was from St. John's, not out-port born. The ice in
the swell of the sea, with fog creeping around Point-o'-Bay in a
rising wind, meant nothing to her experience. At any rate, she would
not permit herself to fall into a questionable situation in which she
might be called severely to account. She was not of that sort. She had
her own interests to serve. They would be best served by an exact
execution of her duty.

"This telegram," said she, "is an office secret, as I have told you
already. I have my orders not to betray office secrets."

Tommy Lark was abashed.

"Look you," he argued. "If the message is of no consequence an' could
be delayed----"

"I haven't said that it is of no consequence."

"Then _'tis_ of consequence!"

"I don't say that it is of consequence. I don't say anything either
way. I don't say anything at all."

"Well, now," Tommy complained, "t' carry that message across Scalawag
Run would be a wonderful dangerous----"

"You don't have to carry it across."

"True. Yet 'tis a man's part t' serve----"

"My instructions," the young woman interrupted, "are to deliver
messages as promptly as possible. If you are crossing to Scalawag
Harbor to-night, I should be glad if you would take this telegram with
you. If you are not--well, that's not my affair. I am not instructed
to urge anybody to deliver my messages."

"Is the message from the maid?"

"What a question!" the youn