“I bet he’s seen some rough times,” Lawford rejoined with vigor.  “We used to think Cap’n Abe told some stretchers about his brother; but Cap’n Amazon looks as though he had been through all that Cap’n Abe ever told about—­and more.”

“Oh, he’s not so very terrible, I assure you,” Louise said, much amused.

“Did you notice the scar along his jaw?  Looks like a cutlass stroke to me.  I’d like to know how he came by it.  It must have been some fight!”

“You will make him out a much more terrible character than he can possibly be.”

“Never mind.  If he’s anything at all like Cap’n Abe, we’ll get it all out of him.  I bet he can tell us some hair-raisers.”

“I tell you he’s a nice old man, and I won’t have you talk so about him,” Louise declared.  “We must change the subject.”

“We’ll talk about you,” said Lawford quickly.  “I’m awfully curious.  When does your—­er—­work begin down here?”

“My work?” Then she understood him and dimpled.  “Oh, just now is my playtime.”

“Making pictures must be interesting.”

“I presume it looks so to the outsider,” she admitted.  It amused her immensely that he should think her a motion picture actress.

“Your coming here and Cap’n Amazon exchanging jobs with his brother have caused more excitement than Cardhaven and the vicinity have seen in a decade.  Or at least since I have lived here.”

“Oh!  Then are you not native to the soil?”

“No, not exactly,” he replied.  And then after a moment he added:  “It’s a great old place, even in winter.”

“Not dull at all?”

“Never dull,” he reassured her.  “Too much going on, on sea and shore, to ever be dull.  Not for me, at least.  I love it.”

They reached the store.  Louise bade the young man good-morning and went around to the back door to greet Betty.

Lawford made his purchases in rather serious mood and returned to his motor boat.  His mind was fixed upon the way Louise Grayling had looked as he stepped ashore and greeted her.

He had been close enough to her now, and for time enough as well, to be sure that there was nothing artificial about this girl.  She was as natural as a flower—­and just as sweet!  There was a softness to her cheek and to the curve of her neck like rich velvet.  Her eyes were mild yet sparkling when she became at all animated.  And that demure smile!  And her dimples!

When a young man gets to making an accounting of a girl’s charms in this way, he is far gone indeed.  Lawford Tapp was very seriously smitten.

He saw his youngest sister, Cicely, whom the family always called L’Enfant Terrible, speeding back to the villa in the automobile.  She had not gone as far as Paulmouth, after all, and she reached home long before he docked the launch.  Lawford did not pay much attention to what went on in the big villa.  His mother and sisters lived a social life of their own.  He merely slept there, spending most of his days on the water.