was even more reassuring than the lip and eye homage to which she was
accustomed.

In these moments of abstraction she inspected him curiously. His
unshorn face was tanned a deep brown which with his rough clothing and
longish hair gave him rather a forbidding aspect, and the lines into
which his face fell in moments of repose were almost unpleasantly
severe; but his eyes which had formed the painter's habit of looking
critically through their lashes had a way of opening wide at
unexpected moments and staring at her with the disconcerting frankness
of those of a child. He turned them on her now so abruptly that she
had not time to avert her gaze.

"You'll be missed, won't you?" he asked.

She smiled.

"Yes, I suppose I shall. They'll see the open hangar--"

"Do you think any one could have been watching your flight?"

"Hardly. I left at dawn. You see I've been bothered a lot by the
curiosity of my neighbors. That's why I've been flying early."

"H--m. It's a pity to worry them so."

Markham rose and knocked out the ashes of his pipe.

"You see, Thimble Island is a good distance from the channel and only
the smaller pleasure boats come this way. Of course there's a chance