of surprise when his visitor came the following
evening.

"It's the thin end of the wedge," said Miss Nugent, who came into the
room after Hardy had departed; "you don't know him as well as I do."

"Eh?" said her father, sharply.

"I mean that you are not such a judge of character as I am," said Kate;
"and besides, I have made a special study of young men. The only thing
that puzzles me is why you should have such an extraordinary fascination
for him."

"You talk too much, miss," said the captain, drawing the tobacco jar
towards him and slowly filling his pipe.

Miss Nugent sighed, and after striking a match for him took a seat on the
arm of his chair and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I can quite
understand him liking you," she said, slowly.

The captain grunted.

"And if he is like other sensible people," continued Miss Nugent, in a
coaxing voice, "the more he sees of you the more he'll like you. I do
hope he has not come to take you away from me."

[Illustration: "I do hope he has not come to take you away from me."]

The indignant captain edged her off the side of his chair; Miss Nugent,
quite undisturbed, got on again and sat tapping the floor with her foot.
Her arm stole round his neck and she laid her cheek against his head and
smiled wickedly.

"Nice-looking, isn't he?" she said, in a careless voice.

"I don't know anything about his looks," growled her father.

Miss Nugent gave a little exclamation of surprise. "First thing I
noticed," she said, with commendable gravity. "He's very good-looking
and very determined. What are you going to give him if he gets poor Jack
out of this miserable business?"

"Give him?" said her father, staring.

"I met Jack yesterday," said Kate, "and I can see that he is as wretched
as he can be. He wouldn't say so, of course. If Mr. Hardy is successful
you ought to recognize it. I should suggest one of your new photos in an
eighteenpenny frame."

She slipped off the chair and quitted the room before her father could
think of a suitable retort, and he sat smoking silently until the
entrance of Mrs. Kingdom a few minutes later gave him an opportunity of
working off a little accumulated gall.

While the junior partner was thus trying to obtain a footing at Equator
Lodge the gravest rumours of the senior partner's health were prevalent
in the town. Nathan Smith, who had been to see him again, ostensibly to
thank him for his efforts on his behalf, was of o