the day of the rapier and the mask."

She half closed her eyes and looked at him through the long lashes.

"What were you doing down on Greenberry Point?" she demanded.

"How did you know?" he asked, surprised.

"Oh! very naturally. I was in Annapolis--I saw your name on the
register--I inquired--and I had the tale of the camp. No one, however,
seemed to think it queer!" laughing.

"Why should they? Camping out is entirely natural," Croyden answered.

"With the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs?"

"We were in his party!"

"A party which until five days ago he had not joined--at least, so the
Superintendent told me, when I dined at his house. He happened to
mention your name, found I knew you--and we gossiped. Perhaps we
shouldn't, but we did."

"What else did he tell you?"

"Nothing! he didn't seem even to wonder at your being there----"

"But _you_ did?"

"It's the small town in me, I suppose--to be curious about other people
and their business; and it was most suspicious."

"What was most suspicious?" he asked.

"Your actions. First, you hire a boat and cross the Bay direct from
Hampton to Annapolis. Second, you procure, through Senator Rickrose, a
permit from the Secretary of the Navy to camp on Greenberry Point.
Third, you actually do camp, there, for nearly, or quite three weeks.
Query:--Why? Why go clear to the Western Shore, and choose a
comparatively inaccessible and exposed location on United States
property, if the idea were only a camp? Why not camp over on Kent
Island, or on this coast? Anywhere, within a few miles of Hampton,
there are scores of places better adapted than Greenberry Point."

"You should be a story teller!" he laughed. "Your imagination is
marvelous. With a series of premises, you can reach whatever conclusion
you wish--you're not bound by the probabilities."

"You're simply obscuring the point," she insisted. "In this instance,
my premises are facts which are not controverted. You admit them to be
correct. So, why? Why?----" She held up her hand. "Don't answer! I'm
not asking for information. I don't want to be told. I'm simply
'chaffing of you,' don't you know!"

"With just a lingering curiosity, however," he added.

"A casual curiosity, rather," she amended.

"Which, some time, I shall gratify. You've trailed me down--we _were_
on Greenberry Point for a purpose, but nothing has come of it, yet--and
it's likely a failure."

"My dear Mr. Croyden, I