Part 2 (2/2)

”Or where this one found hi ”Well, I suppose that the least we can do is to have hi to we can do”

”Let's pick hi, ”and take hi our debt to friendshi+p, and dinner tonight can depend upon what sort of person we find the count to be”

”As you will,” replied her father, and so it ca cars drew up before the Count de Cadenet's hotel half an hour later, and Anthony Harding, Esq, entered and sent up his card

The ”count” calance that the entleman, and when he had introduced him to the other members of the party it was evident that they appraised hi see that he join those who occupied her car, and so it was that the second officer of the Halfmoon rode out of Honolulu in pleasant conversation with the object of his visit to the island

Barbara Harding found De Cadenet an interesting lobe however reree familiar He ell read, and possessed the ability to discuss what he had read intelligently and entertainingly There was no evidence of moodiness in him now He was the personification of affability, for was he notthe society of a very beautiful, and very wealthy young lady?

The day's outing had two significant results It put into the head of the second mate of the Half Mr Divine acute uessed it; and it put De Cadenet into possession of inforent invitation to dine upon the yacht, Lotus, that evening--the infor en route to Manila

”I cannot tell you,” he said to Mr Harding, ”how ret the circu your invitation Only absolute necessity, I assure you, could prevent h he spoke to the girl's father he looked directly into the eyes of Barbara Harding

A young woiven some outward indication of the effect of this speech upon her, but whether she was pleased or otherwise the Count de Cadenet could not guess, for she rets that courtesy demanded

They left De Cadenet at his hotel, and as he bid the with a low aside

”I shall see you again, Miss Harding,” he said, ”very, very soon”

She could not guess as in his mind as he voiced this rather, under the circuirl would have been terror-stricken; but she saw that in his eyes which she could translate, and she wondered ry with the e it conveyed

The moment De Cadenet entered the hotel he hurried to the room where the impatient Mr Ward awaited him

”Quick!” he cried ”WeYour duties as valet have been light and short-lived; but I can give you an excellent recoentleman”

”That'll be about all of that, Mr Theriere,” snapped the first officer, coldly ”I did not embark upon this theatrical enterprise for a funny in it, and I wish you to remember that I aed Ward did not chance to catch the ugly look in his cos, descended to the office, paid their bill, and a fewback to their sea clothes in the little hotel where they first had engaged accommodations Half an hour later they stepped to the deck of the Halfmoon

Billy Byrne saw them from where he worked in the vicinity of the cabin

When they were not looking he scowled maliciously at them They were the personal representatives of authority, and Billy hated authority in whatever guise it ht be visited upon him He hated law and order and discipline

”I'd like to ht

He saw them enter the captain's cabin with the skipper, and then he saw Mr Divine join them Billy noted the haste displayed by the four and it set hi The scrap of conversation between Divine and Simms that he had overheard returned to him He wanted to hear more, and as Billy was not handicapped by any overly refined notions of the ethics which frown upon eavesdropping he lost no ti the scene of his labors to a point sufficiently close to one of the cabin ports to permit him to note what took place within

What the mucker beard of that conversationafter his own heart was doing--so as Divine could have a hand in it It aler of the Half broke up so suddenly that Billy had to drop to his knees to escape the observation of those within the cabin As it was, Theriere, who had started to leave a second before the others, caught a fleeting glimpse of a face that quickly had been withdrawn froh its oere fearful of detection

Without a word to his companions the Frenchman left the cabin, but once outside he bounded up the companionway to the deck with the speed of a squirrel Nor was he an instant too soon, for as he e forward

”Hey there, you!” he cried ”Come back here”

Thecountenance, and the second officer saw that it was the felloho had given Ward such a tri the first day out