respects the
marriage,' said Attwater.

'Ah!' said Herrick.

'You see, I may look to make an excellent marriage when I go home,'
began Attwater, confidentially. 'I am rich. This safe alone'--laying his
hand upon it--'will be a moderate fortune, when I have the time to place
the pearls upon the market. Here are ten years' accumulation from a
lagoon, where I have had as many as ten divers going all day long; and I
went further than people usually do in these waters, for I rotted a lot
of shell, and did splendidly. Would you like to see them?'

This confirmation of the captain's guess hit Herrick hard, and he
contained himself with difficulty. 'No, thank you, I think not,' said
he. 'I do not care for pearls. I am very indifferent to all these...'

'Gewgaws?' suggested Attwater. 'And yet I believe you ought to cast an
eye on my collection, which is really unique, and which--oh! it is the
case with all of us and everything about us!--hangs by a hair. Today
it groweth up and flourisheth; tomorrow it is cut down and cast into the
oven. Today it is here and together in this safe; tomorrow--tonight!--it
may be scattered. Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of
thee.'

'I do not understand you,' said Herrick.

'Not?' said Attwater.

'You seem to speak in riddles,' said Herrick, unsteadily. 'I do not
understand what manner of man you are, nor what you are driving at.'

Attwater stood with his hands upon his hips, and his head bent forward.
'I am a fatalist,' he replied, 'and just now (if you insist on it)
an experimentalist. Talking of which, by the bye, who painted out the
schooner's name?' he said, with mocking softness, 'because, do you know?
one thinks it should be done again. It can still be partly read; and
whatever is worth doing, is surely worth doing well. You think with
me? That is so nice! Well, shall we step on the verandah? I have a dry
sherry that I would like your opinion of.'

Herrick followed him forth to where, under the light of the hanging
lamps, the table shone with napery and crystal; followed him as the
criminal goes with the hangman, or the sheep with the butcher; took the
sherry mechanically, drank it, and spoke mechanical words of praise. The
object of his terror had become suddenly inverted; till then he had seen
Attwater trussed and gagged, a helpless victim, and had longed to run in
and save him; he saw him now tower up mysterious and menacing, the angel
of the Lord's wrath, arme