gerly was unpopular; Glenn himself had tacitly admitted so much. Was it reasonable to suppose, then, that these thieves would sacrifice themselves to save him?

A slow smile of cruel satisfaction curled about my lips. I am not naturally malicious nor revengeful, but this man had aroused a hatred within me of which I had not hitherto deemed myself capable. "Without cause he has sought my destruction and laid a net for my feet; now let that net catch himself, into that very destruction let him fall!"

What a master hand King David was when it came to fashioning a satisfying anathema against an enemy!

CHAPTER VII

A TARGET FOR SUSPICION

“GWENDOLEN, I want you

to come out with me at

once and get married," quoth the Captain as he entered my room that evening. Moreover, he said it as though he were issuing a command “to charge the guns." His brows were drawn into a portentous frown; his voice was tense, sharp, dictatorial.

Be

Now, no maiden-not even one of twenty-eight summers-likes to be ordered to the altar. side, as a second cause of complaint, "Sir Romeo" was inexcusably late in putting in his appearance. It was evident that a wholesome touch of discipline was needed here. Captain Duncan McCracken must learn that it was a free American woman with whom he was mating, not one of his meek and docile compatriots.

Therefore I received his suggestion in a distinctly mutinous spirit. "My dear Duncan," I railed, "you forget your prayer book. Matrimony is a state to be entered into soberly, dis

creetly and advisedly, not to be sprung upon one like a jaunt to Coney Island."

"But you must, Gwen," he persisted. "Come, let us waste no more time. I have a cab at the door."

His tone was so imperative, his manner so urgent, that I now realised this was no idle whim, but a resolution forced upon him by some sudden emergency.

I glanced quickly into his face and saw that it was set and stern. There was a worn, harassed expression about the eyes and his customary cheery smile was totally lacking. For the first time in my acquaintance with him I found him grim and unresponsive.

"What has gone wrong?" I cried. "Tell me what is the matter, Duncan?”

I suppose he noted the swift paling of my cheek, the abrupt change in my manner from gayety to apprehension, for he made an unsuccessful effort to summon up a reassuring laugh.

"What a 'timorous beastie' you are, to be sure,” he said, holding me off at arm's length. "Why should you fancy anything has gone wrong simply because I have grown tired of waiting and want to claim you for my own at once.

"The fact of the matter is, Gwen," hurriedly and averting his eyes, "there are important reasons that I should return home immediately,— er-some things a bit out of fix on the estate, you understand." He gulped over that and his face became as red as a boiled lobster. "So I thought we could hunt up a padre and get married tonight, and sail the first thing in the morning on the Campania. I have already booked our passage; that was what made me so late in getting here.

"You'll do this for me, won't you, Gwen?" he pleaded earnestly. "I know it's a bit rough on you, my girl, dragging you off in this way without any toggery or anything of the sort, but I'll make it all up to you when we get to the other side. Say you'll consent, dear; it is really necessary that I should go."

"And what about the stolen jewels?" I asked. "Oh, bother the jewels!" he broke in impatiently. "Are we to waste our lives and wreck our happiness hunting up a lot of other people's trumpery? Let the detectives attend to that, that's what they are paid for. We'll sail away and forget that the Van Suydens and Elida Yeats and the whole rotten lot ever existed!"

"See here, Duncan McCracken," I said, laying my hand on his arm and forcing him to look me squarely in the eye, "if you were in a pretty tight place, where the enemy was pressing you close, but which honour dictated you should hold at any cost, would you turn your back and run away?"

"But this is entirely different," he protested hastily. "You have no call to sacrifice yourself"

“Ah, I have trapped you," I broke in triumphantly. "Will you never learn, Duncan, that it is useless to try to deceive me? Confess that it is on my account and not by reason of 'er-some things a bit out of fix on the estate,' you are urging this step. Let me share the knowledge with you, Duncan. Tell me what has happened to set you so aflutter in regard to me?"

Despite the gravity of the situation, for I realised that it was no small danger menacing me which could so alarm my lover, I could not restrain a smile at the dear fellow's confusion. He scarcely knew whether to admire or be provoked at the promptness with which I had punctured his laboured diplomacy.

Nevertheless, he still tried to evade me, to put