. Her radiant freshness dazzled, her elusive but
absolute quality of charm bewitched--and her high spirits dismayed him.
He entered her presence reluctantly, yielding alone to the spur of
necessity. To keep out of her way was not only an impossibility, but
would have served to rouse her suspicions; and she must not know:
however difficult the task, he must dissemble, keep her in ignorance of
his discovery. On that point he was resolved.

"Well, sir!" she called heartily over her shoulder. "And where, pray,
have you been all this long time?"

"I went for a swim," he said evasively--"thought it might do me good."

"You're not feeling well?" She turned to look him over.

He avoided her eye. "I had a bad night--probably because I had too much
sleep during the day. I got up feeling pretty rusty--the weight of my
years. Cold water's ordinarily a specific for that sort of thing, but it
didn't seem to work this time."

"Still got the hump, eh?"

"Still got the hump," he assented, glad thus to mask his unhappiness.

"Breakfast and a strong cup of tea or two will fix that," she announced
with confidence. "It's too bad there's no coffee."

"Yes," he said--"sorry!"

"No signs of a response to our C. Q. D.?"

"None as yet. Of course, it's early."

He lounged out of the kitchen with a tin bowl, a towel and a bar of
yellow soap, and splashed conscientiously at the pump in the dooryard,
taking more time for the job than was really necessary.

From her place by the stove, she watched him through a window, her eyes
like a sunlit sea dappled with shadows of clouds speeding before the
wind.

He lingered outside until she called him to breakfast.

His stout attempts to match her cheerfulness during the meal fell
dismally short of conviction. After two or three false starts he gave it
up and took refuge in his plea of indisposition. She humoured him with a
covert understanding that surmised more in a second than he could have
compressed into a ten-minute confession.

The meal over, he rose and sidled awkwardly toward the door.

"You'll be busy for a while with the dishes and things, won't you?" he
asked with an air meant to seem guileless.

"Oh, yes; for some time," she replied quickly.

"I--I think I'll take a stroll round the island. There might be
something like a boat hidden away somewhere along the beach."

"You prefer to go alone?"

"If you don't mind."

"Not in the least. I've plenty to occupy my idle hands.