iled in, and with the way that she still had on her the _Mercury_
slowly drifted to the spot which I had chosen as her final berth, and
the anchor was let go, in three and a half fathoms of water.

I am afraid I earned a certain amount of unpopularity by steadfastly
refusing to allow anyone to leave the ship until the explorers should
have returned, but the refusal was part of my policy of extreme caution,
of leaving nothing to chance, and of taking no risks of any kind, and I
adhered to it, explaining my reasons, and, I think, convincing the
majority that I was right.

With the mooring of the _Mercury_ in the berth which I had chosen for
her inside the Basin, I considered my task and my responsibility at an
end; and, seating myself in a basket chair on the poop, beneath the
awning, I disposed myself to begin thinking out some plan for the
ordering of my own future conduct. But I had scarcely settled myself
comfortably when I was joined by Grace Hartley, who strove to conceal a
somewhat embarrassed manner, and the obvious fact that she had something
on her mind, behind an attempt at light and frivolous conversation. I
endured this as long as I could; but at length the girl's preoccupation
became so marked that I interrupted her somewhat unceremoniously by
saying:

"Pray excuse me for breaking in upon your entertaining remarks, Miss
Hartley, but do you not think you had better come to the point, and have
done with it? You want to say something to me, and do not quite know
how to begin. Is not that the fact?"

"Yes, Mr Troubridge, it is," she acknowledged; "although how you
managed to guess it, I am sure I don't know."

"Well," said I, "let it suffice that I have guessed it. Now, go ahead
and just tell me what it is."

The girl hesitated for some time, and at length said, with a laugh of
embarrassment:

"I know quite well what it is that I want to say; but my difficulty is
that I do not know how you will take it, for I have only a very hazy
idea what are your own ideas upon the subject."

"Has it anything to do with Gurney, by any chance?" I asked.

"Well, yes, it has--in a way," she answered. "The fact is, Mr
Troubridge, that now, when that horrid man Wilde's scheme seems to be
nearing fruition, I am beginning to realise that I am in a very awkward
and difficult position; and I am feeling very anxious. I have heard
much talk, lately, that has greatly alarmed me; and I have been
compelled to ask myself