ruin and disgrace
me in order to make profit for himself. And there is no more to be said
about him!" She paused.

"Captain Mayo, I know what idea you must have of me--of a girl who would
do what I have done! But you don't have half the scorn for me I have for
myself--for the girl I was. But I have my self-respect now! I respect
the woman that I am at this moment after that experience! Perhaps you
don't understand. I do! I'm glad I have that self-respect. I shall face
what is ahead of me. I shall do right from now on." She spoke quickly
and passionately, and he wanted to say something, but his sailor tongue
halted. "I am not going to bring up a certain matter--not now! It's too
sacred. I am too miserably ashamed! Again, Captain Mayo, I say that I
want to stand with you as man to man! I want to render service for what
you have done for me. You have lost everything out of your life that you
value. I want you to have it back. Will you listen to me now?"

"Yes, Miss Marston."

"You go to my father with a letter from me. I do not believe he knows
what kind of methods have been practised by his understrappers, but he
can find out. You tell him that he must find out--that he must make
them confess. You tell him that this is a man's fight, and that you are
fighting back with all the strength that you can command. You tell him
that you have me hidden, and that I cannot get away--as my own letter
will tell him. You tell him that he must make a fair exchange with
you--give you back what is yours before he can have what is his."

Mayo walked backward limply, feeling for the wall with his hands behind
him, and leaned against it.

"You are single-handed--it's a big game they play up in the city when
they are after money--and you must take what cards are offered," she
insisted, displaying the shrewdness of the Marston nature.

"You mean to say that I'm going to your father as if I were holding you
for ransom?" he gasped.

"Something like that," she returned, eagerly. "The only way you'll get
what you want--and get it quickly--is by a good bluff. I have had some
good samples of your courage, Captain Mayo. You can do it beautifully."

"But I'm not going to do it!"

"I say you are!"

"Not by a--" His feelings were carrying him away. He was forgetting that
these dealings were with an impulsive girl. His anger was mounting. She
was putting him on the plane of a blackleg.

"Go ahead and talk as strongly as you like, Captain Ma