that can be made. I
glory in the fact that we are together in this, Sheila, and whatever
comes of it, we stand or fall together!"

"Ah, Tunis, you _are_ a man! I knew that before. But nothing you can
say will bend my determination. I withdraw all I said to you Sunday
and on Monday morning before you went away. I positively withdraw
all I promised you. It cannot be, Tunis. We cannot look forward to
any happiness when we began so unwisely."

"'Unwisely?' What do you mean?" demanded the captain of the
_Seamew_. "Chance threw us together. _Providence_, I tell you! I
needed you fully as much as you needed me. And surely these poor old
folks needed you, Sheila. Consider what you have been to them."

"It makes no difference in our association, Tunis," she said,
shaking her head.

"Why, that night we talked upon that bench on Boston Common, had I
dared propose such a thing, I would have said: 'Come and marry me
now.' I would, indeed, Sheila."

The girl clenched her hands and drew in a breath. She raised her
face to his, and in the darkness Tunis Latham saw it shine with a
light from within. A great and desperate longing filled her voice
when she cried:

"Oh, why didn't you do just that, Tunis Latham? I would have said
'yes.' And all this--_this_ need not have been."

Swiftly she caught him around the neck, pressed her lips fiercely to
his, while the tears rained down her face, wetting his face as well.
Then she was gone. He heard her sobbing wildly in the dark. He was
alone.

CHAPTER XXIII

A CALL UNANNOUNCED

Cap'n Ira and Prudence did not see Sheila again that evening, for
she slipped in by the kitchen door after they had gone into the
sitting room and went up to her own chamber. They heard her mount
the stairs and marked the tread of her light feet overhead.

The girl was not thinking of the old people just then. Their need
entered into her determination to remain if she could. But this
night was one time when Sheila Macklin thought almost altogether of
herself and her personal difficulties.

Her present and acknowledged love for the young captain of the
_Seamew_ had been of no mushroom growth. She might not say, as Tunis
did, that she had fallen in love at first sight. But very soon after
meeting the young shipmaster from Big Wreck Cove she had appreciated
his full value and realized that he was far and away the best man
she had ever met.

Indeed, in that moment when Tunis Latham had caught Sheila