But Iris would not accept the advice offered her. Perhaps she was not quite so certain as Maggie seemed to be of Jack’s claim to be trusted. Perhaps she dreaded the questions he might put to her--or certain tender memories connected with her former rejection of his suit, combined with the miserable disappointment of her married life, warned her that a renewal of friendship between them might prove a dangerous solace under her present circumstances. Any way, she studiously avoided him, even to the length of refusing to take any fresh air on deck; and Vernon Blythe’s heart grew heavier and heavier under the daily disappointment of meeting her. It was not, however, for want of distraction that he brooded over the memory of his first love, for all the girls aboard ship showed their willingness to talk to, and even flirt with him. As he walked to one end of the poop now, to take a look out, Grace Vansittart tried to detain him. ‘Mr Blythe,’ she said, ‘can you tell me what that vessel that is so near the land is doing?’ Vernon fetched the glass from the pilot-house, and leaning it against the for’ard mizen shroud, gazed for some moments at the vessel. ‘She is flat aback,’ he answered, as he finished his survey, ‘and I think will have some difficulty in getting away.’ ‘But why? She has the same wind that we have.’ ‘Not exactly. She is close under the land, where it is calm.’ ‘How nice it must be,’ remarked Grace admiringly, ‘to know everything.’ She was looking very attractive that day, dressed in a costume of blue serge, that toned down the fulness of her outlines, with a broad leather belt encircling her waist, and a wide straw hat, trimmed with corn and poppies, sheltering her fresh young face. Had Vernon Blythe been heart whole, he might have fallen a victim to the fascinations of this handsome girl, who was looking at him very encouragingly out of her large brown eyes, and doing her level best to engage him in a conversation. But Grace Vansittart’s charms would have held no danger for him, even if Iris Harland’s proximity were not rendering him fireproof. He was engaged--not formally, indeed, but still by mutual consent--to Alice Leyton, and no temptation would have induced him to abrogate his rights. Not that Alice had made many demands upon his attentions lately; on the contrary, she rather ignored the fact of the tie between them, and generally kept away at the other side of the deck when they occupied it at the same time. But Jack was not sufficiently in love with her to resent the action. On the contrary, he thought it displayed a becoming reticence on her part, which he had often wished she possessed before. And so he contented himself with shaking her hand when they met in public, and kept all his loverlike confidences for the very rare occasions when they encountered each other alone. Alice had no reason, however, to be ashamed of her _fiancé_, who was one of the smartest young officers in the merchant service, and a pattern