ere."

Aynesworth found her rug and wrapped it around her. She leaned back and
closed her eyes.

"I shall try to sleep," she said. "I had such a shocking night."

He understood at once that she was on her guard, and he changed his
tactics.

"First," he said, "may I ask you a question?"

She opened her eyes wide, and looked at him. She was afraid.

"Not now," she said hurriedly. "This afternoon."

"This afternoon I may not have the opportunity," he answered. "Is your
husband going to meet you at New York, Mrs. Travers?"

"No!"

"Are you going direct to Boston?"

She looked at him steadily. There was a slight flush of color in her
cheeks.

"I find your questions impertinent, Mr. Aynesworth," she answered.

There was a short silence. Aynesworth hated his task and hated himself.
But most of all, he pitied the woman who sat by his side.

"No!" he said, "they are not impertinent. I am the looker-on, you know,
and I have seen--a good deal. If Wingrave were an ordinary sort of man,
I should never have dared to interfere. If you had been an ordinary sort
of woman, I might not have cared to."

She half rose in her chair.

"I shall not stay here," she began, struggling with her rug.

"Do!" he begged. "I am--I want to be your friend, really!"

"You are supposed to be his," she reminded him.

He shook his head.

"I am his secretary. There is no question of friendship between us. For
the rest, I told him that I should speak to you."

"You have no right to discuss me at all," she declared vehemently.

"None whatever," he admitted. "I have to rely entirely upon your mercy.
This is the truth. People are thrown together a good deal on a voyage
like this. You and Mr. Wingrave have seen a good deal of one another.
You are a very impressionable woman; he is a singularly cold,
unimpressionable man. You have found his personality attractive. You
fancy--other things. Wingrave is not the man you think he is. He is
selfish and entirely without affectionate impulses. The world has
treated him badly, and he has no hesitation in saying that he means to
get some part of his own back again. He does not care for you, he does
not care for anyone. If you should be contemplating anything ridiculous
from a mistaken judgment of his character, it is better that you should
know the truth."

The anger had gone. She was pale again, and her lips were trembling.

"Men seldom know one another," she said softly. "You judge from the
su