aster drove her, expostulating in an agony of
terror, forward among the rest. Nobody appeared concerned about this
alien's tragedy, except one man, and Agatha was not surprised when
Wyllard rose and quietly laid his hand upon the official's shoulder.

A parley appeared to follow, somebody gave an order, and when the alien
was led back again the woman's cries subsided. Agatha looked at Mrs.
Hastings and once more a smile crept into the older woman's eyes.

"Yes," said Mrs. Hastings, "I guessed he would feel that he had to
interfere. That is a man who can't see any one in trouble." She added,
with a little whimsical sigh, "He had a bonanza harvest last fall,
anyway."

They moved aft soon afterwards, and the _Scarrowmania_ was smoothly
sliding seawards with the first of the ebb when Agatha met Wyllard. He
glanced at the Lancashire sandhills, which were fading into a pale ocher
gleam amid the haze over the starboard hand, and then at the long row of
painted buoys that moved back to them.

"You're off at last! The sad gray weather is dropping fast astern," he
said. "Out yonder, the skies are clear."

"Thank you," replied Agatha, "I'm to apply that as I like? As a matter
of fact, however, our days weren't always gray. But what was the trouble
when those steerage people came on board?"

Wyllard's manner, she noticed, was free alike from the complacent
self-satisfaction which occasionally characterizes the philanthropist,
and from any affectation of diffidence.

"Well," he answered, "there was something wrong with that woman's
husband. Nothing infectious, I believe, but they didn't seem to consider
him a desirable citizen. They make a warning example of somebody with a
physical infirmity now and then. The man, they decided, must be put
ashore again. In the meanwhile, somebody else had hustled the woman
forward, and it looked as if they would take her on without him. The tug
was almost ready to cast off."

"How dreadful!" said Agatha. "But what did you do?"

"Merely promised to guarantee the cost of his passage back if they would
refer his case to the immigration people at the other end. It is
scarcely likely that they'll make trouble. As a rule, they only throw
out folks who are certain to become a charge on the community."

"But if he really had any infirmity, mightn't it lead to that?"

"No," Wyllard responded dryly. "I would engage to give him a fair start
if it was necessary. You wouldn't have had that woman lan