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"You're going?" He wrung Anstice's hand with fervent gratitude "Well, it's late, of course--but won't you stay here for the rest of the night? We can give you a bed in five minutes, and I'm sure my ill be distressed if you turn out now"

"Thanks very o" The decision in his tone was unet out the car and run you over----"

"No, thanks I'd really rather walk" He picked up hat and coat from the -seat and turned to the door with an air of finality "It's a fine night and I shall enjoy it I'll be round early in the ive you any trouble for a good many hours yet"

"As soon as she is able to explain ood deal to be done," said Major Carstairs rather griether "Thank God, we have that last letter as a proof of her duplicity, and by its aid we can doubtless get a full confession out of her"

"Yes" Anstice paused a second on the doorstep before plunging into the darkness of the night "It will be interesting to hear the whole story The events are plain enough--but the question ofone"

"Quite so And yet the affair will probably turn out simple, after all Well, I ain--and"--the sincerity in his voice was pleasant to hear--"a thousand thanks for the part you have played in the unravelling of this tangle"

"Good-night Don't let Mrs Carstairs exhaust herself looking after the woo and join her in a ner, you know, and I'll see to it that she is properly fortified for the vigil--if she insists upon it"

And as he looked into the soldier's square-featured face, the honest eyes agleah to doubt, Anstice felt instinctively that Chloe Carstairs' ship had coe, that the barque which had so narrowly escaped complete shipwreck on the rock of a terrible catastrophe was now safely at rest in the haven where it would be