ra_."

"Is Mrs. Fane a guest there, too?"

He spoke loud enough for Rosamund to hear; and she answered for herself
with a smile at him, brimful of malice:

"Delighted to have you come aboard, Captain Selwyn. Is that what you are
asking permission to do?"

"Thanks," he returned dryly; and to Alixe: "If you are ready, Gerald and
I will take you over to the _Niobrara_ in the motor-boat--"

"Oh, no, you won't!" broke in Neergard with a sneer--"you'll mind your
own business, my intrusive friend, and I'll take care of my guests
without your assistance."

Selwyn appeared not to hear him: "Come on, Gerald," he said pleasantly;
"Mrs. Ruthven is going over to the _Niobrara_--"

"For God's sake," whispered Gerald, white as a sheet, "don't force me
into trouble with Neergard."

Selwyn turned on him an astonished gaze: "Are you _afraid_ of that
whelp?"

"Yes," muttered the boy--"I--I'll explain later. But don't force things
now, I beg you."

Mrs. Ruthven coolly leaned over and spoke to Gerald in a low voice;
then, to Selwyn, she said with a smile: "Rosamund and I are going to
Brookminster, anyway, so you and Gerald need not wait. . . . And thank
you for coming over. It was rather nice of you"--she glanced insolently
at Neergard--"considering the crowd we're with. _Good_-night, Captain
Selwyn! _Good_-night, Gerald. So very jolly to have seen you again!"
And, under her breath to Selwyn: "You need not worry; I am going in a
moment. Good-bye and--thank you, Phil. It _is_ good to see somebody of
one's own caste again."

A few moments later, Selwyn and Gerald in their oilskins were dashing
eastward along the coast in the swiftest motor-boat south of the
Narrows.

* * * * *

The boy seemed deathly tired as they crossed the dim lawn at Silverside.
Once, on the veranda steps he stumbled, and Selwyn's arm sustained him;
but the older man forbore to question him, and Gerald, tight-lipped and
haggard, offered no confidence until, at the door of his bedroom, he
turned and laid an unsteady hand on Selwyn's shoulder: "I want to talk
with you--to-morrow. May I?"

"You know you may, Gerald. I am always ready to stand your friend."

"I know. . . . I must have been crazy to doubt it. You are very good to
me. I--I am in a very bad fix. I've got to tell you."

"Then we'll get you out of it, old fellow," said Selwyn cheerfully.
"That's what friends are for, too."

The boy shivered--looked at the floor