ady to take me on
trust. However," she went on, before he could interrupt her, "I intend
to tell you what you refuse to ask. No," as he leant forward and
kissed her again, "now sit up and light your pipe. There are to be no
interruptions like that."

She smiled wistfully and gently pushed him back into his chair.

"Now," she began, as he settled himself to listen, "I must go back
such a long, long way. Before I was born. Father was a sea captain
then. First the captain of a whaler, afterward he bought a ship of his
own and traded round the East Indies. He often used to talk of those
days, not because he had any desire to tell me of them, but it seemed
to relieve him when he was in a bad temper. I don't know what his
trade was, but I think it was of an exciting nature. He often spoke of
the risks, which, he said, were amply compensated by the money he
made." Tresler smiled gravely. "And father must have made a lot of
money at that time, for he married mother, bought himself a fine house
and lands just outside Kingston, in Jamaica, and, I believe, he kept a
whole army of black servants. Yes, and he has told me, not once, but
a hundred times, that he dates all his misfortunes from the day he
married my mother, which always seems unfair to her anyway. Somehow I
can never think of father as ever having been a kind man, and I've no
doubt that poor mother had anything but an easy time of it with him.
However, it is not for me to criticize." She paused, but went on
almost immediately. "Let me see, it was directly after the honeymoon
that he went away on his last trading trip. He was to call at Java.
Jake was his mate, you know, and they were expecting to return in six
months' time with a rich harvest of what he calls 'Black Ivory.' I
think it was some native manufacture, because he had to call at the
native villages. He told me so. But the trip was abandoned after three
weeks at sea. Father was stricken down with yellow fever. And from
that day to this he has never seen the light of day."

The girl pushed her work aside and went on drearily.

"When he recovered from the fever he was brought home, as he said
himself, 'a blind hulk.' Mother nursed him back to health and
strength, but she could not restore his sight. I am telling you these
things just as I have gleaned them from him at such moments as he
chose to be communicative. I imagine, too, from the little things he
sometimes let fall when he was angry, that all this tim