"They're generous," said Dick with emotion, for he saw what the change in his position might enable him to do. "There's only one thing: the agreement is to stand until the completion of the dam. What will happen afterwards?" "Then if I have no more use for you here, I think I can promise to find you as good or better job. Is that enough?" Dick gave him a grateful look. "It's difficult to tell you how I feel about it, but I'll do my best to make good and show that you have not been mistaken." "That's all right," said Fuller, getting up. "Sign the document when you can get a witness and let me have it." He went away and Dick sat down and studied the agreement with a beating heart. He found his work engrossing, he liked the men he was associated with, and saw his way to making his mark in his profession, but there was another cause for the triumphant thrill he felt. Clare must be separated from Kenwardine before she was entangled in his dangerous plots, and he had brooded over his inability to come to her rescue. Now, however, one obstacle was removed. He could offer her some degree of comfort if she could be persuaded to marry him. It was obvious that she must be taken out of her father's hands as soon as possible, and he determined to try to gain her consent next morning, though he was very doubtful of his success. When he reached the house, Clare was sitting at a table in the patio with some work in her hand. Close by, the purple creeper spread across the wall, and the girl's blue eyes and thin lilac dress harmonized with its deeper color. Her face and half-covered arms showed pure white against the background, but the delicate pink that had once relieved the former was now less distinct. The hot, humid climate had begun to set its mark on her, and Dick thought she looked anxious and perplexed. She glanced up when she heard his step, and moving quietly forward he stopped on the opposite side of the table with his hand on a chair. He knew there was much against him and feared a rebuff, but delay might be dangerous and he could not wait. Standing quietly resolute, he fixed his eyes on the girl's face. "Is your father at home, Miss Kenwardine?" he asked. "No," said Clare. "He went out some time ago, and I cannot tell when he will come back. Do you want to see him?" "I don't know yet. It depends." He thought she was surprised and curious, but she said nothing, and nerving himself for the plunge, he resumed: "I came to see you in the first place. I'm afraid you'll be astonished, Clare, but I want to know if you will marry me." She moved abruptly, turned her head for a moment, and then looked up at him while the color gathered in her face. Her expression puzzled Dick, but he imagined that she was angry. "I am astonished. Isn't it a rather extraordinary request, after what you said on board the launch?"