Tish’s fury knew no bounds, for there we were marooned and two of us wet to the skin.  I must say for Hutchins, however, that when she learned about Aggie she was bitterly repentant, and insisted on putting her own sweater on her.  But there we were and there we should likely stay.

It was quite dark by that time, and we sat in the launch, rocking gently.  The canoeing party had lighted a large fire on the beach, using the driftwood we had so painfully accumulated.

We sat in silence, except that Tish, who was watching our camp, said once bitterly that she was glad there were three beds in the tent.  The girls of the canoeing party would be comfortable.

After a time Tish turned on Mr. McDonald sharply.  “Since you claim to be no spy,” she said, “perhaps you will tell us what brings you alone to this place?  Don’t tell me it’s fish—­I’ve seen you reading, with a line out.  You’re no fisherman.”

He hesitated.  “No,” he admitted.  “I’ll be frank, Miss Carberry.  I did not come to fish.”

“What brought you?”

“Love,” he said, in a low tone.  “I don’t expect you to believe me, but it’s the honest truth.”

“Love!” Tish scoffed.

“Perhaps I’d better tell you the story,” he said.  “It’s long and—­and rather sad.”

“Love stories,” Hutchins put in coldly, “are terribly stupid, except to those concerned.”

“That,” he retorted, “is because you have never been in love.  You are young and—­you will pardon the liberty?—­attractive; but you are totally prosaic and unromantic.”

“Indeed!” she said, and relapsed into silence.

“These other ladies,” Mr. McDonald went on, “will understand the strangeness of my situation when I explain that the—­the young lady I care for is very near; is, in fact, within sight.”

“Good gracious!” said Aggie.  “Where?”

“It is a long story, but it may help to while away the long night hours; for I dare say we are here for the night.  Did any one happen to notice the young lady in the first canoe, in the pink tam-o’-shanter?”

We said we had—­all except Hutchins, who, of course, had not seen her.  Mr. McDonald got a wet cigarette from his pocket and, finding a box of matches on the seat, made an attempt to dry it over the flames; so his story was told in the flickering light of one match after another.

VI

“I am,” Mr. McDonald said, as the cigarette steamed, “the son of poor but honest parents.  All my life I have been obliged to labor.  You may say that my English is surprisingly pure, under such conditions.  As a matter of fact, I educated myself at night, using a lantern in the top of my father’s stable.”

“I thought you said he was poor,” Hutchins put in nastily.  “How did he have a stable?”

“He kept a livery stable.  Any points that are not clear I will explain afterward.  Once the thread of a narrative is broken, it is difficult to resume, Miss Hutchins.  Near us, in a large house, lived the lady of my heart.”