ed he was the man for an awkward job," he said.

Barbara looked at him rather hard. "Perhaps I did say so. You don't
imply you are sending Mr. Lister because you thought I'd like it?"

"Not at all," said Cartwright. "The thing's a business venture. Still
your statement carried weight. I admit your judgment sometimes is
sound."

She turned her head and when she looked up and replied, her voice was
rather hard.

"You must not trust my judgment. I have been cheated."

"My dear!" said Cartwright. "Perhaps my remark was unlucky, but the
cleverest of us is sometimes cheated, and you were not cheated long.
We'll let it go. I'm bothered about your mother. She feels the damp and
cold and is not picking up. Perhaps we ought to send her South. I must
talk to the doctor."

In the morning he saw the doctor, who said they had better wait for a
time, and Cartwright occupied himself by outfitting the salvage
expedition. Finding it necessary to go to London, he called on the
gentleman from whom he had bought the wreck a short time ago.

"When we made the agreement, you asked if I knew anybody who would give
me five hundred pounds for the boat," remarked Mr. Morse. "Just then I
did not know, but not long since I was offered a better price than
yours."

"Ah," said Cartwright, thoughtfully. "She lay in the sand for some time
and nobody bothered about her. Who was willing to buy?"

The other smiled. "A shipbroker stated a sum at which he would take her
off our hands. It was plain he was an agent, but he wouldn't give his
customer's name. I don't imagine you will find out from him. I tried!"

Cartwright said it was strange, and went off soon afterwards. When he
went down in the lift he smiled, for he thought he saw a light; after
all, his speculation was not as rash as it looked.

When he got home Mrs. Cartwright had come downstairs and she joined the
others at dinner. The doctor said she was stronger and might soon
undertake a journey South; he suggested the Canaries, and Cartwright
approved.

"If you sail by a Cape liner, it's a short run, and after you leave the
Spanish coast the sea is generally smooth," he said. "Since I must stay
at the office, we must decide who is going with you."

Hyslop said he would like to go, and would do so if it were necessary,
but to get away just then was awkward. Grace declared somebody must stop
to look after Cartwright and the house, and she imagined this was her
post. For all that, since