s, intent upon the girl's
face, were keen with the shrewdness in them. Jocelyn sprang to her
feet, her face flaming, her body tense.

"The--the wretches!" she gasped.

Roger Hapgood made no reply, content for the moment to rest upon his
oars, watching the boat he had launched drift as it would.

"Why," asked Jocelyn, after a little, her face puzzled--"why do you
tell me this, when you are one of Mr. Crawford's lawyers?"

He lifted his hand as though warding off a blow.

"Don't say that! Miss Jocelyn, did you think that I was the sort of
man, so forgetful of his manhood, that I would remain in the service
of such people when I had found them out? Did you dream that I could
remain a part of a project a second after such a man as Conniston had
been put at the head of it? Did you think," half sadly, half
reproachfully, "that I could continue my affiliations with such men
after the treatment which Mr. Truxton--_your father_--had received?
Miss Jocelyn, I went straight to Mr. Winston and handed him my
resignation. Thank God that if I must give up my position I can at
least keep my self-respect!"

It was very effectively done, and Jocelyn thrilled with it.

"I am so sorry!" she said, softly, her light touch sympathetic upon
his arm. "So sorry that because of us--"

"Don't say it--please don't, Miss Jocelyn! I can never forget that it
was I, no matter how innocently, who helped them in getting the excuse
they were looking for. And don't you see, I shall feel in a way that
my fortune is linked with yours, I shall feel that there are certain
bonds between us, I shall feel that in a small, very small way I am
being of some light service to your father and," very softly--"and to
you."

"But what will you do? You have so few friends here. This is a new
country to you--"

"For a moment I thought of returning immediately to the East. But I
could not. Why? I won't tell you now; I dare not." He paused long
enough to look the things which short acquaintance forbade him saying,
and then, as though shaking himself mentally, went on, "What shall I
do? I have already done it. Just so long as I thought blindly that the
right was with us I worked for reclamation as a man does not often
work. And now that the scales have dropped from my eyes, do I
hesitate? I have gone to Mr. Swinnerton. I have offered him my
services. And he has seen fit to accept them. And now I shall not have
to sit idly by, my hands in my lap, waiting to see th