n 'em a great send-off, and I run ashore
jist a purpose for 'em. It's curus ye haint seen Jess up thar. I'd
a-s'posed ye would."

Winn's heart sank.

"When do you go back, captain?" he said finally, trying to hide his
bitter disappointment. "I supposed you made daily trips as usual."

"Only Tuesdays and Fridays," he answered; "thar ain't much need o'
runnin' oftener."

And this was Friday!

And Winn, the now ardent Romeo, had three full days and four nights to
spend on Rockhaven, and Juliet was not there!

There are many of the fair sex who will say that it served him right.

And what a picture of cheerless desolation was this sea-girt island when
Winn neared it! A half gale was blowing, the waves leaping high against
the snow-topped cliffs, and as the _Rockhaven_, rolling, pitching, and
half coated with frozen spray, turned into the little harbor and neared
her dock, only one man, shivering in oil skins, was there to meet her.

"I wish ye'd put up with me," said Captain Roby to Winn, when the
steamer's plank was shoved out. "We'd be more'n glad to hev ye, an'll
make ye welcome."

And Winn, dreading the empty white cottage next to Mrs. Moore's fully as
much as that excellent woman's curiosity, accepted the captain's offer.
That evening, in spite of Winn's disappointment, was a pleasant one to
him, for the news of his arrival had flown like the wind, and a constant
stream of callers came to the captain's house. It seemed as if all
Rockhaven was desirous of extending a welcome hand, and from Parson Bush
down to men whose names Winn had never known, they kept coming. Never
before had he been so lionized or made to feel that he had so many
friends, and so cordially did they one and all greet him that, had the
Rev. Bush suggested that they all join in a hymn of thankfulness, Winn
would not have been more surprised. It recalled the parting words of
Jess, and in a forcible way.

But alas! that genial philosopher was absent!

Winn, however, saw his opening, and with a little natural pride, stated
that he now owned the quarry, and, if some capital could be furnished
by these island people, he was in a position to put in a matter of five
or ten thousand dollars, and the industry would be started anew. Then as
a climax to this proposition, he read to them the history of the
Rockhaven Granite Company and gave a description of the auction of its
assets.

But he did not mention the price he had paid for the quarry.