oung princess, who
is she?"

We were already close to the two girls, however, and I hesitated to
reply. He drew the reins, and I saw him regarding the elder girl
with great interest.

She raised her blue eyes as we stopped--eyes as blue and clear as
the sky itself. Her fair hair hung in waves about her shoulders,
and as her rosy lips were parted to say, "Good morning, Halcro!"
they revealed a row of white and regular teeth.

"Good morning, Thora!" I said in reply to the greeting she had
given.

"I hope your foot is mending," said she very gently.

"Yes," said I; and Captain Gordon turned to me as though he
wondered at my sudden shyness.

Thora looked down at a daisy growing at her feet in the green turf,
seeming to seek inspiration from its golden heart. Then she raised
her eyes to me again and said softly--oh, so softly:

"I'm real glad, Halcro, that ye werena drowned when the Curlew was
wrecked."

I was about to thank her for the part she had taken in my rescue
when Captain Gordon interrupted. Said he:

"If that sinner, Carver Kinlay, had had his own way Halcro would
have been drowned like the rest."

Thora's cheeks grew crimson.

"It is my father you speak of, sir," she said very bravely; "and I
hope what ye say isna true."

"Your father! Carver Kinlay your father!" exclaimed the skipper
incredulously. "Really, I beg your pardon, my girl."

But already there was a tear in Thora's eye, and she turned to join
Hilda Paterson, who had gone on in advance. And the two girls
walked onward to school.

"Well!" ejaculated the captain as he whipped up pony, "well, I
should never have believed it!"

"Believed what, Mr. Gordon?" I asked.

"Why, that such a sweet young girl as that was the daughter of that
villainous Carver Kinlay."

"Ay! Thora's a bonnie lassie," I observed, with more feeling than I
meant the words to convey; "and she's as good as bonnie."

"My lad, thank Heaven that your lucky stone and your splendid
swimming saved you from that dreadful Sound of Hoy."

"I would rather they had saved my father, Mr. Gordon."

"I've no doubt you would, Halcro; but I was thinking of something
else. I was thinking that when you grow older, and when little
Thora--as you name her--is a woman--"

"Tuts! Mr. Gordon," said I, guessing what he would be at. "The
Kinlays and the Ericsons will never be friends."

Thereafter Captain Gordon became very quiet and thoughtful, and
when again he spoke it was about m