ke Tania
was afraid. That person was Philip Holt! She had feared him since the day
of her own mother's death, and the very thought of him was enough to fill
her childish soul with terror.

Tania was playing alone on the sands near that houseboat at the time Mrs.
Curtis and Philip Holt were discussing her future. Madge and Miss Jenny
Ann were inside the houseboat, within calling distance of Tania, but not
where they could see her. The little girl had just built a house of
shining pebbles and was gazing at it with a pleased smile when she heard
a step near her on the sand. Tania stared up at Philip's thin, blonde
face in terror-stricken silence.

"Tania," the young man asked harshly, "have you told any one down here
that you have ever seen or known me before?"

Tania shook her head mutely.

"Remember, if you do, I am going to have you shut up in a big house with
iron bars at the windows where you can never go out or see your friends
any more," Philip Holt went on, keeping his voice lowered to a whisper.

Slowly Tania's black eyes dropped. She tried to be brave and to pretend
that she did not care, but the loss of her freedom was the one thing that
Tania feared with all her soul. If she were shut up somewhere, how could
she ever talk to her fairies, or see the blue sky that she so loved? And
now, to be parted from the girls forever was too dreadful! Indeed, she
would not dare to tell what she knew. Philip Holt was sure of it.

It was at that moment that Madge slipped out on the houseboat deck to see
if Tania were all right. To her surprise she saw that Philip Holt was
talking to the little girl. She had not thought that Philip Holt cared
enough for children to waste a minute's time with them. She therefore
wondered at his sudden interest in Tania. Madge walked quietly off the
houseboat. She was wearing tennis shoes and her softly-shod feet made no
sound. She caught one glimpse of Tania's mute, white face and stopped
short in time to hear Philip say:

"Even if you do tell that old Sal is my mother, Tania, no one will
believe you. She herself will deny it and help me to have you shut up,"
declared Philip Holt menacingly.

Madge caught each word as though it had been addressed to her. For
Tania's sake, and because she knew that for many reasons it was wiser,
she held her peace for the time being.

"How do you do, Mr. Holt?" she asked innocently. "I just saw you from the
deck of the houseboat."

Philip Holt leaped