“No!  No!  Mr. President.  I know—­” began Charley.

But Milton interrupted, “Mr. President, he was with me and part of the time Miss Diana Allen, a wonderful woman, was with us.  And Mr. Huntingdon is afraid they’ll turn their dirty tongues on her.”

The President’s face lighted as if he had received good news.  “Really!  With you!”

“Yes, with me for a week and more.  And I want to tell you, sir, that for nerve and endurance and skill in a boat and as a pal and friend under life and death conditions I’ve never seen any one to surpass him.  He scorned cards while he was with us.  We had no liquor.  We admired him beyond words and had no idea who he was.”

“No!” cried the President, delightedly.  “Why, there must be a real story in this!  Go on with it, Milton!  Enoch,” as the Secretary came in, “I’m winning the truth out of your old cruising pal, here!”

“I can’t help it, Mr. Huntingdon!” cried Milton as Enoch turned toward him indignantly.  “Miss Diana said this noon that if you didn’t tell the story, she would.”

“There you are!” exclaimed the President.  “Wouldn’t you know she’d take it that way?  And on second thoughts I think I’d rather hear the story from her than any one else.”

“But she can’t tell you about the voyage, sir,” protested Milton.

“That’s true,” agreed the President.  “I shall have to arrange one of my choice little dinners and have you and Miss Diana Allen there to pad out the Secretary’s account.”  Then, with a sudden change of voice, he walked over to Enoch and put his hand on the younger man’s shoulder.  Abbott nodded to Milton and the two slipped out.

“You are a bit twisted about women, dear old man!  Come, you must let Milton put out the right kind of a denial of Brown’s story.”

“Brown will put the denial out for himself,” said Enoch sternly.  “I’ve reached my limit.  Mr. President, I have asked Mr. Fowler, Brown, and the reporter who’s been maligning me to come to my office to-morrow afternoon.  I think I shall be able to settle this matter.  I would perhaps have done it before but I could not settle in my own mind just how I wanted to go about it.  Fowler refused to come until I told him the purpose of the meeting.”

“And you know now how to end this miserable affair?” asked the President, wonderingly.

“Yes,” replied Enoch.  “And now, Mr. President, what can I do for you?”

“Exactly what you are doing, Enoch.  Clear up this disgusting matter.”

“You came to see me for that, sir?”

The President smiled.  “You do not seem to realize that a great many people, people who never saw you, are deeply troubled about you.  You do not belong to yourself but to us, Mr. Secretary.”

“Perhaps you are right, sir,” said Enoch humbly.  “I thank you most sincerely for coming.”

“Will you come to me as soon as you have finished, to-morrow, Enoch?”