"Wasn't it the height of folly to have been silly about a married woman?
and one who isn't worth a thought?"

"It was something worse than folly when it came to his being _engaged to
marry_ her all this time--even when he proposed to me! How dared he do
it? How had he the nerve to ask me to be his wife when he knew she was
waiting to marry him on his return to India, having won her decree?"

"I heard she had divorced her husband--the designing wretch! She is a
perfectly horrid woman. Poor Jack! I don't wonder at his meaning to
throw her over after knowing you!"

"But to be engaged to two women at the same time!--it is wicked and
humiliating! Why didn't you tell me of her?"

"It is something to know that you have saved him from making the mistake
of his life!"--ignoring the question.

This was an inspiration on the part of Joyce, and Kitty was rendered
dumb. Joyce immediately pursued her advantage.

"To have been compelled to marry Mrs. Fox into whose snare he had
fallen, would have been a dreadful thing for poor Jack, who, at the
most, is only an overgrown schoolboy without much experience of the
world. I did not tell you of it as I thought it was over and done with."

"As a man of honour, he is bound to keep his word to her and marry her
as he said he would,"--obstinately.

"I would rather see him dead. There is no honour about Mrs. Fox or her
methods. She deliberately set out to work this thing, and her punishment
is in your hands. Jack loves you. You have no right to force him into
marriage with a woman who will ruin his life for him."

"I think he has behaved abominably."

"If you are looking for perfection in the man you intend to marry, you
had better make up your mind to live an old maid. Good-night!" and
having delivered her parting shot, Joyce turned away, feeling no longer
the same childish creature of a few months ago. She had awakened in
right earnest.

Needless to say, Jack spent the night in his clothes on deck. Sleep was
impossible; and, in the hope that she would relent and creep on deck to
find him and retract the hard things she had said, he haunted the
companion till the stars paled and the day began to break.

But Kitty, though very loving, had a temper that was not easily calmed.
Jack had behaved abominably right through, and should not get things all
his own way, she decided, and while relenting inwardly, she maintained
towards him an attitude of cold disapproval. She had given him b