do see. You might not be proved guilty, but you'd be under a cloud.
Shelagh would still want to marry you. But she's very young, and easy to
break as a butterfly. The Pollens----"

"I wouldn't accept such a sacrifice even if they'd let her make it. Yet
you speak of hope!----"

"I do--a desperate hope. Can you open that coffin you brought on board
to-day, take out--whatever is in it--and--and----"

"My God!"

"I warned you the plan was terrible. I hardly thought you would----"

"I would--for Shelagh. But you don't understand. That coffin will be
opened by the police at St. Heliers to-morrow, and----"

"I do understand. It's you who do not. Everyone on board knows that the
coffin was floating in the sea--that we came on it by accident. You
could have had nothing to do with its being where it was. If you had,
you wouldn't have taken it on board! The body found in that coffin
to-morrow won't be associated with you. _She_--must have altered
horribly since old days. And she has changed her name many times. The
initials on her linen won't be L.L. There'll be a nine-days' wonder over
the mystery. But _you_ won't be concerned in it. As for what's in the
coffin now, _that_ can safely be given to the sea. Whatever it may be,
and whenever or wherever it's found, it won't be connected with the name
of Roger Fane. If there's the name of the maker on the coffin, it must
come off. Oh, don't think I do not realize the full horror of the thing.
I do! But between two evils one must choose the less, if it hurts no
one. It seems to me it is so with this. Why should Shelagh's life and
yours be spoiled by a cruel woman--a criminal--whose last act was to try
to ruin the man she'd injured, sinned against for years? As for--_the
other_--the unknown one--if the spirit can see, surely it would be glad
to help in such a cause? What you would have to do, you'd do reverently.
There must be tarpaulin on board, or canvas coverings that wouldn't be
looked for, or missed. There must be a screw-driver--and things like
that. The great danger is, if the coffin's in plain sight anywhere, and
a man on watch----"

"There's no danger of that kind. The coffin is in the bathroom adjoining
my cabin."

"Then--doesn't it seem that Fate bade you put it there?"

For a moment Roger covered his face with his hands. I saw him shudder.
But he flung back his head and looked me in the eyes. "I'll go on
obeying Fate's orders," he said.

Without another word betwe