Dicky looked at me curiously.  Whether he believed me or not I do not know.  At any rate, he did not press the question.

Neither did he again refer to Dr. Pettit, to my sincere relief.

We made a merry picnic of our impromptu luncheon, and after it, when we were dried by the sun, we spent a comfortable lazy two hours lounging on the beach.

If I had not seen Grace Draper’s blanched face and the terrible look in her eyes when she had heard Dicky’s exclamation of indifference toward her, I would not have dreamed that her heart held any other emotion except that of happy enjoyment of the day.  She laughed and chatted as if she had not a care in the world, directing much of her conversation to me.  It crossed my mind that for some reason of her own she was trying to make it appear to every one that we were on especially friendly terms.

It was after one of Dicky’s periodical trips to Jim’s fire, which Harry Underwood did not allow him to forget, and his report that the dinner would be shortly forthcoming, that Grace Draper rose and said carelessly:  “Suppose we all have another dip before dinner; there won’t be time before we leave for a swim afterward, and the water is too fine to miss going in once more.  What do you say, Mrs. Graham?  Will you race me?”

I saw Lillian’s quick little gesture of dissuasion, and through me there crept an indefinable shrinking from going with the girl, but the men were already chasing each other through the shallow water, and I did not wish to humiliate my guest by refusing to go with her.

“It can hardly be called a race,” I answered quietly, “for you swim so much better than I, but I will do my best.”

I followed her into the water with every appearance of enjoyment, and exerted every ounce of my strength to try to keep up with her rush through the waves.

I knew she was not exerting her full strength, for she is a magnificent swimmer, but I found that I had all I could do to keep pace with her.  She seemed to be bent on showing off her skill to me, or else she was, trying to test my nerves by teasing me.

I knew that she was able to swim under the water when she chose, but that did not accustom me to the frequent sudden disappearances which she made, or to her equally sudden reappearances above the surface of the water.

She would dash on ahead of me a few yards, then her head would disappear beneath the waves.  The next thing I knew she would bob up almost at my side.  There was a fascination about this skill of hers which gripped me.  I was so engrossed in watching her that I did not realize how far out we had gone until at one of her quick turns, I, following her, caught a glimpse of the beach.

To my overwrought imagination it seemed miles away.  I suddenly felt an overwhelming terror of the cloudless sky, the rolling waves, even of the girl who had brought me out so far.

I looked wildly around for her, but could not see her anywhere.  Evidently she was indulging in one of her underwater tricks.  I turned blindly toward the shore.  As I did so I felt a sudden jerk, a quick clutch at my foot, a clutch that dragged me down relentlessly.