am mighty sure it wasn't to me."

Miss Colton did not answer, nor did I.

The breeze sprang up again soon after, from a different quarter this
time, but the tide had ebbed so far that I was obliged to make the
detour around the end of the flat upon which Victor had grounded the
dingy. "Big Jim" raised himself on his elbow.

"Hello!" he exclaimed, "here's another joyful spot. Mabel, it was along
here somewhere that Paine acquired the habit of carrying you about like
a bundle. It must have been a picturesque performance. Wish I might have
seen it."

He laughed heartily.

"Father," said the young lady, coldly, "don't be silly--please."

He chuckled and lay down again, and no one spoke during the rest of the
voyage. It was after nine when I brought the boat up to the wharf, made
her fast, and lowered and furled the sail.

"Better come up to the house with us and have a bit to eat, Paine,"
urged Colton. "You must be hungry; I know I am."

"Oh, no, thank you," said I. "Supper will be waiting for me at home."

"Glad to have you, if you'll come. Tell him to come, Mabel."

Miss Colton's invitation was not over-cordial.

"I presume Mr. Paine knows what is best for him to do," she said. "Of
course we shall be glad to have him, if he will come."

I declined, and, after thanking me for the sail and the pleasure of the
fishing trip, they left me, Colton carrying his big squiteague by the
gills, its tail slapping his leg as he climbed the bluff. A moment later
I followed.

The night was, as my feminine passenger had said, wonderfully quiet, and
sounds carried a long way. As I reached the juncture of the path and
the Lane I heard a voice which I recognized as Mrs. Colton's. She was
evidently standing on the veranda of the big house and I heard every
word distinctly.

"You are so unthinking, James! You and Mabel have no regard for my
feelings at all. I have been worried almost to death. Do you realize the
time? I warned you against trusting yourself to the care of that common
FELLOW--"

The "fellow" heard no more. He did not wish to. He was tramping heavily
through the dew-soaked undergrowth. He needed now no counsel against
"playing with fire." The cutting contempt of Mrs. James W. Colton's
remark was fire-extinguisher sufficient for that night.

Miss Colton and I met again at the door of the bank a day or two later,
just at closing time. Sam Wheeler had already gone and I left George at
his desk, poring over paper