How was one to be sure if this were really the right Ida May?  If one girl could make the claim and carry it through so easily, why not another?  How could this girl, crying in the rocking-chair, prove her statement that she was Mrs. Ball’s niece?

These thoughts seethed in Sheila Macklin’s brain.  She must keep cool!  She must hold herself down, keep control of her own mind, and keep the whip hand of this girl before her.

And, then, there was Tunis to think of.  The appearance of the real Ida May Bostwick wrecked all her happiness, of course, with Tunis.  Sheila could not let him continue his association with her.  Yet what course should she pursue to save him?  That suddenly became the first consideration in Sheila Macklin’s mind.

How to do this?  How to save Tunis from being overwhelmed by the result of his own ill-considered deed?  Impulse and love on Tunis Latham’s part had brought about this terrible situation.  Not that the girl blamed him in the least.  Her thought was to protect the captain of the Seamew from being sucked into the whirlpool which she clearly beheld beside her path.

Save Tunis!  It must be done.  This little, inconsequential, weak-minded, loose-lipped girl must not be allowed to wreck Tunis Latham’s life.  If people came to accept as true the tale the girl could relate, Tunis’ reputation would be smirched utterly in the opinion of all Big Wreck Cove folk.

Much as Sheila Macklin felt that her own happiness with Tunis was now impossible—­a flash of Aunt Lucretia made this realization the more poignant—­he must be sheltered from any folly regarding this thing.  She knew well his impulsive, generous nature.  Who had a fuller knowledge of it than she?

She must think and act for herself, without any conference with Tunis.  But she must do the only thing, after all, that would balk this wretched girl from the city—­for a time, at least.

The real Ida May Bostwick had no friends here and no acquaintances among the people of Big Wreck Cove.  It would be no easy matter for her to establish either credit or the fact of her identity in the community.  It would take time and perhaps be very difficult for Ida May to bring forward conclusive evidence that would convince the Balls, or anybody else, of her real personality and prove that the girl in possession was an impostor.

All the latter had to do was to maintain her already-accepted standing, deny the true Ida May’s claim, and demand that the latter show proof of her apparently preposterous statement.  At least, some considerable delay must ensue through Sheila’s course before the girl could convince anybody that she only claimed what was her own.

Nor need the battle end there.  Ida May Bostwick might find it very difficult to prove to the satisfaction of all concerned that she was the actual niece of Prudence Ball.  The very fact that Tunis had brought Sheila and introduced her as the girl he had been sent for was proof so strong that it could not be lightly denied.