Renovated certainly the saloon of the Ferndale was to receive the

"strange woman." The mellowness of its old-fashioned, tarnished

decoration was gone. And Anthony looking round saw the glitter, the

gleams, the colour of new things, untried, unused, very bright--too

bright. The workmen had gone only last night; and the last piece of work

they did was the hanging of the heavy curtains which looped midway the

length of the saloon--divided it in two if released, cutting off the

after end with its companion-way leading direct on the poop, from the

forepart with its outlet on the deck; making a privacy within a privacy,

as though Captain Anthony could not place obstacles enough between his

new happiness and the men who shared his life at sea. He inspected that

arrangement with an approving eye then made a particular visitation of

the whole, ending by opening a door which led into a large state-room

made of two knocked into one. It was very well furnished and had,

instead of the usual bedplace of such cabins, an elaborate swinging cot

of the latest pattern. Anthony tilted it a little by way of trial. "The

old man will be very comfortable in here," he said to himself, and

stepped back into the saloon closing the door gently. Then another

thought occurred to him obvious under the circumstances but strangely

enough presenting itself for the first time. "Jove! Won't he get a

shock," thought Roderick Anthony.

He went hastily on deck. "Mr. Franklin, Mr. Franklin." The mate was not

very far. "Oh! Here you are. Miss . . . Mrs. Anthony'll be coming on

board presently. Just give me a call when you see the cab."

Then, without noticing the gloominess of the mate's countenance he went

in again. Not a friendly word, not a professional remark, or a small

joke, not as much as a simple and inane "fine day." Nothing. Just

turned about and went in.

We know that, when the moment came, he thought better of it and decided

to meet Flora's father in that privacy of the main cabin which he had

been so careful to arrange. Why Anthony appeared to shrink from the

contact, he who was sufficiently self-confident not only to face but to

absolutely create a situation almost insane in its audacious generosity,

is difficult to explain. Perhaps when he came on the poop for a glance

he found that man so different outwardly from what he expected that he

decided to meet him for the first time out of everybody's sight. Possibly

the general secrecy of his relation to the girl might have influenced

him. Truly he may well have been dismayed. That man's coming brought

him face to face with the necessity to speak and act a lie; to appear

what he was not and what he could never be, unless, unless-In short, we'll say if you like that for various reasons, all having to

do with the delicate rectitude of his nature, Roderick Anthony (a man of

whom his chief mate used to say: he doesn't know what fear is) was

frightened. There is a Nemesis which overtakes generosity too, like all

the other imprudences of men who dare to be lawless and proud . . . "




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