"Please!" she said pleadingly. "What does it mean to you, Leslie?
We were kind to you, weren't we? When you were ill, we took you on,
my sister and I, and now you hate us."
"Hate you!"
"He didn't know what he was doing. He wasn't sane. No sane man
kills--that way. He had a revolver, if he had wanted--Please
give me that key!"
"Some one will suffer. Would you have the innocent suffer with
the guilty?"
"If they cannot prove it against any one--"
"They may prove it against me."
"You!"
"I was in the after house," I said doggedly. "I was the one to
raise an alarm and to find the bodies. You do not know anything
about me. I am--'Elsa's jail-bird'!"
"Who told you that?"
"It does not matter--I know it. I told you the truth, Miss Elsa;
I came here from the hospital. But I may have to fight for my life.
Against the Turner money and influence, I have only--this key.
Shall I give it to you?"
I held it out to her on the palm of my hand. It was melodramatic,
probably; but I was very young, and by that time wildly in love
with her. I thought, for a moment, that she would take it; but she
only drew a deep breath and pushed my hand away.
"Keep it," she said. "I am ashamed."
We were silent after that, she staring out over the rail at the
deepening sky; and, looking at her as one looks at a star, I thought
she had forgotten my presence, so long she sat silent. The voices
of the men aft died away gradually, as, one by one, they rolled
themselves in blankets on the deck, not to sleep, but to rest and
watch. The lookout, in his lonely perch high above the deck, called
down guardedly to ask for company, and one of the crew went up.
When she turned to me again, it was to find my eyes fixed on her.
"You say you have neither money nor influence. And yet, you are a
gentleman."
"I hope so."
"You know what I mean"--impatiently. "You are not a common sailor."
"I did not claim to be one."
"You are quite determined we shall not know anything about you?"
"There is nothing to know. I have given you my name, which is
practically all I own in the world. I needed a chance to recover
from an illness, and I was obliged to work. This offered the best
opportunity to combine both."
"You are not getting much chance--to rest," she said, with a sigh,
and got up. I went with her to the companionway, and opened the
door. She turned and looked at me.