some remaining splinters embedded in the flesh; covered
the wound with lint, and finished the operation by a bandage as neat
as his neat sailor's touch, coupled with some knowledge of surgery,
gained in the experiences of his privateering days, could accomplish
it. He spoke little: only a word of encouragement, of admiration for
her fortitude now and then; and she spoke not at all during the
ministration. She had raised her other hand to her eyes, with a
gesture natural to one bracing herself to endurance, and had kept it
there until, his task completed, her silence, the manner in which she
hid her face from him awoke in him all that was best and loftiest in
his generous heart.

As he rose to his feet and stood before her, he too dared not speak
for fear of bruising what he deemed an exquisite maidenliness, before
which his manhood was abashed at itself. For some moments there was no
sound in the cabin save that of the swift rushing waters behind the
wooden walls and of the labour and life of the ship under full sail;
then he saw the tumultuous rising of her bosom, and thought she was
weeping.

"Madeleine," he cried with passionate anxiety, "speak! Let me see your
face--are you faint? Lie upon this couch. Let me get you wine--oh that
these days were passed and I could call you wife and never leave you!
Madeleine, my love, speak!"

Molly rose to her feet, and with a gesture of anger threw off her hood
and turned round upon him. And there in the light of the lamp, he
glared like one distraught at the raven locks, the burning eyes of a
strange woman.

She was very pale.

"No," said Molly, defiantly, when twice or thrice his laboured breath
had marked the passing of the horrible moment, "I am not Madeleine."
Then she tried to smile; but unconsciously she was frightened, and the
smile died unformed as she pursued at random:

"You know me--perhaps by hearsay--as I know you, Captain Smith."

But he, shivering under the coldness of his disappointment, answered
in a kind of weary whisper:

"Who are you--you who speak with her voice, who stand at her height
and move and walk as she does? I have seen you surely--Ah, I know....
Madam, what a cruel mockery! And she, where is she?"

Still staring at her with widely dilated eyes, he seized his forehead
between his hands. The gesture was one of utter despair. Before this
weakness Molly promptly resumed the superiority of self-possession.

"Yes," she said, and this time th