ce more. "Help me _now_!"
and then a voice spoke to her by name, and she looked up, to see Rob's
anxious face looking into hers.

"What is it, Peggy? Something troubles you--something more than you
will tell the others. Can you tell me? Can I help you, dear?"

It was the old Rob back again at the first hint of trouble, the old Rob,
with no trace of the laboured pleasantness of the past weeks, but with
eyes full of faithful friendship. Peggy gave a gasp of relief, and
clutched his arm with an eager hand.

"Oh, Rob, yes! I'll tell you! It was a secret, but I must tell some
one, I must have some one to consult." And then in hurried accents she
confided to him her promise to Mrs Asplin, and the sad reason which
made it so necessary to preserve her from alarm. "You see, Rob, it is
very serious," she said in conclusion. "It may be a case of life and
death, for the doctor said she couldn't bear any strain, and when I
promised, knowing so well all that it meant, she will feel she has good
reason for fear, if we do not return. All the night long, and both her
girls here! Oh, Rob, think what it will be! I feel as if I could not
bear it; is if I could run all the way home to comfort her. You always
helped me, Rob; you used to find a way for me out of my old childish
troubles--do help me now! Think of _some_ way by which we can get
back."

Rob looked at her fixedly, and his lips smiled, but his eyes were grave
and steady.

"I'll try, Peggy," he said, "I'll do my best. There is nothing I would
not do for Mrs Asplin and--_you_! Remember always, whatever happens,
that nothing you could have done for me to-day would have made me so
happy as asking my help in your trouble." He turned away as he spoke
the last word, for the rest of the party were now approaching along the
sands, bearing with them a branch of a tree, and the table-cloth which
had been used for lunch. It had occurred to Arthur that if a flag could
be erected at this particular spot, it might possibly catch the eyes of
the fishermen, and attract them to call at the island on their way to
the shore, and the idea had been enthusiastically welcomed by his
friends. It is astonishing how speedily the charms of a situation are
minimised when that situation becomes a necessity instead of a choice.
Before the discovery of the missing boat, the island had seemed all that
was charming and romantic; now it seemed suddenly to have become chilly
and forsaken, a