asp and a
slight quivering of the white throat. On one knee by the side of the
berth, Max slipped an arm under the pillow, thus lifting the girl's head
a little, that she might not choke. As he did this she swallowed
convulsively, and opening her eyes wide, looked straight into his.

"Thank heaven!" exclaimed Max. "You frightened me."

She smiled at him, their faces not far apart, her wonderful hair
trailing past his breast. Yet in his anxiety and relief Max had lost all
sense of strangeness in the situation. Drawing long, slow breaths, she
seemed purposefully to be gaining strength to speak. "It's nothing--to
faint," she murmured. "I used to, often. And I feel so ill."

"Have you any one on board whom I could call?" Max asked.

"Nobody," she sighed. "I'm all alone. I--surely this cabin is 65?"

"I think it's 63. But no matter," Max answered hurriedly. "Don't bother
about that now. I----"

"When I came in first this morning, I rang for a stewardess to ask if
there was to be any one with me," the girl went on, a faint colour
beginning to paint her white cheeks and lips with the palest rose. "But
nobody answered the bell. There was no luggage here, and I thought I
must be by myself. But afterward a stewardess or some one put my bag off
this bed on to the upper one so I dared not take the lower berth. I put
the door on the hook, to get air; but when I heard somebody come in, I
never dreamed it might be a man."

"Of course not," Max agreed. "And I--when I saw a form in the dim light,
lying up there--I never thought of its being a woman. I can't tell you
how sorry I am to have seemed such a brute. But----"

"After all, it's a fortunate thing for me you were here," the girl
comforted him. "If you hadn't been, I should have fallen out of the top
berth and perhaps killed myself. I should hate to die now. I want so
much to see my father in Africa, and--and--somebody else. I think you
must have saved my life."

"I should be so happy to think that," Max answered warmly. "I haven't as
pleasant an errand in Africa as you have. But whatever happens, I shall
be thankful that I came, and on this ship. I was wondering to-day if I
were glad or sorry to have been born. But if I was born to save a girl
from harm, it was worth while, of course, just for that and nothing
else. Now, if you're feeling pretty well again, I'd better go." Gently
he drew his arm out from under the pillow, thus laying down the head he
had supported.

Th