hrinking body into peril and exulted in the punishment it received."

Beth looked at him wonderingly.

"You are a strange man, indeed," said she. "Really, I cannot understand
your mental attitude at all."

He chuckled and rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"I can," he returned, "for I know what causes it." And then he went away
and left her, still seeming highly amused at her bewilderment.

In the operating room the next day Gys appeared with a rubber mask drawn
across his features. The girls decided that it certainly improved his
appearance, odd as the masked face might appear to strangers. It hid the
dreadful nose and the scars and to an extent evened the size of the
eyes, for the holes through which he peered were made alike. Gys was
himself pleased with the device, for after that he wore the mask almost
constantly, only laying it aside during the evenings when he sat on
deck.

It was three days after the arrival of Mrs. Denton and her mother--whose
advent had accomplished much toward promoting the young Belgian's
convalescence--when little Maurie suddenly reappeared on the deck of the
_Arabella_.

"Oh," said Patsy, finding him there when she came up from breakfast,
"where is Clarette?"

He shook his head sadly.

"We do not live together, just now," said he. "Clarette is by nature
temperamental, you know; she is highly sensitive, and I, alas! do not
always please her."

"Did she find you in Dunkirk?" asked the girl.

"Almost, mamselle, but not quite. It was this way: I knew if I permitted
her to follow me she would finally succeed in her quest, for she and the
dear children have six eyes among them, while I have but two; so I
reposed within an ash-barrel until they had passed on, and then I
followed them, keeping well out of their sight. In that way I managed to
escape. But it proved a hard task, for my Clarette is very persistent,
as you may have noticed. So I decided I would be more safe upon the ship
than upon the shore. She is not likely to seek me here, and in any event
she floats better than she swims."

Patsy regarded the little man curiously.

"Did you not tell us, when first we met you, that you were heart-broken
over the separation from your wife and children?" she inquired in severe
tones.

"Yes, of course, mamselle; it was a good way to arouse your sympathy,"
he admitted with an air of pride. "I needed sympathy at that time, and
my only fear was that you would find Clarette, as you th