m department store on Washington Street covers
acres--_acres_! Was it there that you worked, Ida May?"

"No," replied Ida May calmly.

"What store did you work in?"

"Hoskin & Marl's," said the girl, still unruffled.

"To be sure. That's what Esther Coffin said she heard, I remember.
But I never got to that store. Couldn't go to all of 'em. It tired
me to death, just going around Marshall & Denham's."

This and similar incidents were building blocks in the structure
which she was raising. Nor did she consider it a structure of
deceit. The foundation only was of doubtful veracity. These people
had accepted her as somebody she was not, it was true; but she
gained nothing thereby that the real Ida May would not have had to
win for herself.

With Tunis approving and encouraging her, how could the girl spend
much time in doubt or any at all in despair? She felt that she was a
much better girl--morally as well as physically--in this environment
than she had been for many, many months. Instead of being conscience
wrung in playing the part of impostor and living under an assumed
name and identity, she felt a sense of self-congratulation.

And when in the company of the captain of the _Seamew_ she felt
almost exalted. There was a pact between them that made their tie
more than that of sister and brother. Yet, of love they never
spoke--not during those first weeks on Wreckers' Head. He never
failed to talk with Sheila as he came up from the town when the
schooner lay at her moorings in the cove or was docked ready to
discharge or take aboard freight. Business remained good, but all
was not plain sailing for the young shipmaster. He confided in the
girl many of his perplexities. When he went away again, rain or
shine, the girl did not fail to be up and about when he passed the
Ball homestead. He knew that she did this purposely--that she was on
the watch for him. Her reason for doing so was not so clear to the
young man, but he appreciated her interest.

Was he overmodest? Perhaps. He might have gained courage regarding
the girl's attitude toward him had he known that, on the nights he
was at home, she sat in her darkened, upper room and watched the
lamp he burned until it was extinguished. On the other hand, Tunis
Latham's brotherly manner and cheerful kindness were a puzzle to
Sheila. She knew that he had been kinder to her than any other man
she had ever met. But what was the root of that kindness?

There were many