young girl sitting quietly on a bench. He could not connect her with
Flora's unexpected outcry. The admiral was not familiar with Madge's
appearance. He had seen her only a few times, and he had not remembered
her face.

Flora was now crying bitterly. She did not cease to stare at Madge, yet
she did not speak.

The little captain sprang to her feet. "Don't be frightened, Miss
Harris," she said quietly. "I am sorry I startled you. I hope you don't
take me for a ghost. We have been shipwrecked for several weeks and
only got in this afternoon----"

"Then I haven't murdered you!" Flora sobbed, running forward and
flinging her arms about the other girl's neck. "I know that I am
hateful and snobbish, and that I like to make other people
uncomfortable, but I didn't mean any real harm to come to the houseboat
when I asked Alfred Thornton to cut her loose from her moorings. I just
wanted you not to come back here again. And I have not let Alfred
Thornton confess that he cut your boat away from the anchor, because I
was afraid we would both be put in jail."

Tom Curtis had come upon the little scene and stood listening in
silence to Flora's surprising confession. He put his arm through
Madge's and drew her quietly away from Flora's embrace. "It is too late
to confess this dreadful story to-night, Miss Harris," he declared
coolly. "Miss Morton has just arrived, and I am taking her to my
mother. Her friends are spending the night at Portsmouth. My mother has
just told me they have telegraphed her that they will be here
to-morrow. If you will come to see us in the morning we can talk
matters over more quietly; the street is not the place for this
discussion."

Flora bowed humbly to Tom's verdict. "I'll come at eleven," she
answered. The girl seemed so happy to know that the girls had not been
drowned that she did not seem to care what punishment or disgrace might
be in store for her.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE TELLING OF THE SECRET

"Must we see Flora Harris and her grandfather, Tom?" asked Madge the
next morning. "We are having such a jolly time together. They will
spoil everything."

The little captain was standing with her arm about Mrs. Curtis, her
curly head close to her friend's beautiful white one. The room was
filled with the re-united houseboat party, Miss Jenny Ann, Lillian,
Phil and Eleanor, also Lieutenant Jimmy Lawton and his shadow, Jeff,
the deaf and dumb boy. A little table in the center of the sitting r