old-mounted case he drew out a card. "I'm
looking for your brother."

"He won't be home for some time yet. But won't you step in, Mr. Necker,
from out of the sun?"

"Thank you. It is warm, isn't it? Warmer than ordinary?"

"No, I shouldn't say so. It's usually hot here."

"Then it must be hot here when it is hot. It wasn't so bad out in the
Gulf. I just got in--from Key West. Not many passengers come here, Miss
Welkie?"

"Only somebody especially interested in the works--usually from
Washington. Do you mind if I go ahead with this ensign for my nephew,
Mr. Necker?" She held up a partly finished American ensign. Above the
top of it the visitor could see part of the very white forehead and a
front of dark straight hair. "I promised to have it ready for my nephew
surely by morning, and after my brother gets home there probably won't
be much spare time. But were you the only passenger for here, Mr.
Necker?"

"There was one other. He got off at the new fortification landing.
Twenty-nine or thirty perhaps he was--a well-made, easy-moving kind."
His voice was casual, but his gaze was keen enough. It never left her
face. "A tall man came running down to meet him," he resumed. "They
seemed terribly glad to see each other."

"That must have been my brother to meet--Mr. Balfe, was it?--your
fellow-passenger."

He hesitated a moment. "Mr. Balfe--yes, that was it. The captain--or was
it the captain?--said that there was a Mr. Balfe who went on special
missions for the government, but whether this was the Mr. Balfe or not
he could not say."

She sewed serenely on. "I've heard that that steamer captain is
developing into a great gossip. Our Mr. Balfe is my brother's dearest
friend and godfather to my brother's boy--the boy you were speaking to
on the beach--and if he ever found himself in this part of the world
without calling on us, I don't know what my brother would think."

This time Miss Welkie looked up, and Necker smiled with her. Also he
peered smilingly through the veranda vine. "So that is your brother's
boy out there? Well, well! And a fine boy, too! A beautifully shaped
head. Bright, I'll bet?"

"Naturally"--with a tender smile--"we think so."

"I'll bet he is. And of course your brother is laying great plans to
assure his future?"

"I'm afraid you are not well acquainted with my brother, Mr. Necker."

[Illustration: "And of course your brother is laying great plans to
assure his future?"]

"Not persona