Sheila, muffled in oilskins and sea boots, but with her wet hair flowing over her shoulders, stood beside the skipper. No matter how satisfied and confident Tunis might appear, the girl was still in an uncertain state of mind. "And so," she said to him anxiously, "I do not know what to tell them. Cap'n Ira seemed so poorly and so unhappy. And he says Aunt Prue is almost ill. "But it was Cap'n Ira who told me what to do when we saw the _Seamew_ in danger; how to get the men together and how to launch the boat! Oh, it was wonderful! He was not too overcome to be practical and realize your need, Tunis." "Trust Cap'n Ira," agreed the young man. "And what other girl could have done what you did, Sheila? Hear what Cap'n John Dunn says? You ought to be a sailor's daughter. _I_ can tell him you are going to be a sailor's wife." "No, no! Oh, Tunis! It can't--" "No 'can't' in the dictionary," interrupted the captain of the _Seamew_. "You and I are going to have one big talk, Sheila, after I take you up home." "Up home?" she repeated. "You are going back to Cap'n Ira's. You know you are. That other girl has beat it for Boston, you say, and there's not a living reason why you shouldn't return to the Balls. Besides, they need you. I could see that with half an eye when I went away the other morning. The old man hobbling around the barn trying to catch an old hen was a sight to make the angels weep." "Poor, poor Cap'n Ira!" she murmured. "And poor Aunt Prudence--and poor _me_!" exclaimed Tunis. "What do you think is going to happen to me? If you go away, I shall have to sell all I own in the world and follow you." "Tunis!" she cried, almost in fear. "You wouldn't." "I certainly would. I am going to have you, one way or another. Nobody else shall get you, Sheila. And you can't go far enough or fast enough to lose me." "Don't!" she said faintly. "You cannot be in earnest. Do you know what it means if you and I have any association whatsoever? Oh! I thought this was all over--that you would not tear open the wound--" "I don't mean to hurt you, Sheila," he said softly. But he was smiling. "I have got something to tell you that will, I believe, put an entirely different complexion on your affairs." "What--what can you mean?" she burst out. "Oh, tell me!" "I'll tell you a little of it now. Just enough to keep you from thinking I am crazy. The rest I will not tell you save in the Balls' sitting room before Cap'n Ira and Aunt Prue." "Tunis!" she murmured with clasped hands. "Yesterday I spent two hours in the manager's office of Hoskin & Marl's. They have been looking for you for more than six months. Naturally, there was no record of you after you left that--that school when your time was out. They didn't seem to guess you'd have got work in that Seller's place." "What do you mean? What did they want me for?" gasped the girl.