th the heart of a bull. But he saved my life, and that naturally
counts for a good deal with me. And how is your niece after last
night's terrible experience?"

"My niece? D'ye mean Iris?" demanded Bulmer, obviously somewhat
annoyed.

"Yes."

"She's not my niece; she's----"

"Your grand-daughter, then?"

"No, sir. That young lady 'as done me the honor of promisin' to be my
wife."

"Oh!" said Dom Corria, fixing his brilliant eyes on Bulmer's vexed face.

"There's no 'Oh' about it," growled Dickey. "It was all cut an' dried
weeks ago, an' she 'asn't rued of 'er bargain yet, as far as I can make
out."

"You mean that the marriage was arranged before the _Andromeda_
sailed?" said Dom Corria gently.

"W'y, of course. It couldn't very well be fixed after, could it?"

"No--not as between you and her. I can vouch for that. Forgive me,
Mr. Bulmer--I have a daughter of marriageable age, you know, and I
speak as a parent--do you think that it is a wise thing for a man of
your years to marry a girl of twenty?"

"If I didn't, I wouldn't do it."

"But may it not be selfish?"

Then downright Lancashire took hold of the argument.

"Look 'ere, wot are you drivin' at?" demanded Dickey, now in a white
heat of anger. He had yet to learn that the President preferred a
straight-forward way of talking.

"I want you to forego this marriage," he said.

"Why?"

"Because that charming girl loves another man, but feels that she is
bound to you. I understand the position at last. Mr. Bulmer, you
cannot wish to break her heart and drive that fine young fellow, Philip
Hozier, to despair. Come, now! Let you and me reason this thing
together. Possibly, when she agreed to marry you she did not know what
love is. She is high-minded, an idealist, the soul of honor. What
other woman would have consented to be separated from her friends on
Fernando Noronha merely because it increased their meager chances of
safety? How few women, loving a man like Philip Hozier, who is assured
of a splendid reward for his services to this State, would resolutely
deny the claims of her own heart in order to keep her word?"

Bulmer had never heard anyone speak with the crystal directness of Dom
Corria. Each word chipped away some part of the fence which he had
deliberately erected around his own intelligence. Certain facts had
found crevices in the barrier already; Dom Corria broke down whole
sections. But he was a hard man, and st