ded not
the sense of sight, that of hearing was enough. Nay, more, a subtile
sixth sense, whatever it might be, had warned Laurence Stanninghame of
the identity of the intruder.

"No case of mistaken identity here," he said. "But how is it you are all
by yourself?"

"Oh, I got tired of all the whirl and chatter. I craved for some fresh
air, and so I stole away," said Lilith. "Why, how heavy the dew is here
in these tropical seas!" she added, withdrawing her arm from the
taffrail upon which she had begun to lean.

The man, watching her furtively, said nothing for a moment. That same
chord within him thrilled to her voice, her propinquity. Doubtless his
nerves, high strung with recent worry, were playing the fool with him.
He was conscious of a kind of envenomed resentment, almost aversion; yet
his chief misgiving at that moment, which he recognized with added
wrath, was lest she should leave him as quickly as she had come.

"All by yourself as usual!" she went on, flashing at him a bright smile.
"Thinking, I suppose?"

"I don't know that I was. I believe I was trying to realize the
immensity and silence of the midnight ocean, as far as that tin-pot
racket down there would allow one to realize anything. Then it occurred
to me how long it would take for the intense solitude to drive a man mad
if he were cast away alone in it."

"Not long, I should think," answered Lilith, gazing seriously out over
the smooth, oily sea. "The horror of it would soon do that for me."

"And yet why should it have such an effect at all?" he went on. "The
grandeur of the situation ought to counterpoise any such weakness. Given
enough to support life without undue stinting, with a certainty of
rescue at the end, and, I think, a fortnight as castaway in these
waveless seas would be an uncommonly interesting experience."

"What? A fortnight? A whole fortnight in ghastly solitude! Silence only
broken by the splash or snort of Heaven knows what horrible sea monster!
Any consideration of peril apart, I am sure that one night of it would
turn me into a raving, gibbering lunatic."

"Perhaps. People are differently built. For my part, discounting the
'sea monster,' I am certain I should enjoy the experience. For one
thing, there would be no post."

"But no more there is here on board," she said, struggling with the
laugh which the dry irrelevancy had brought to her lips.

"No--but there's--Swaynston."

This time the laugh came rippling out