LITMIR.BIZ

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remembering what he had seen, only pressed her hands in his, and, stooping, kissed her on the forehead again and again Then he walked, tear-blinded, down the straight path to the gate.

      A moment after, he felt a man's hand on his collar, and, turning, met the hard eyes of Draper. Sheridan's face was still quivering with the powerful emotion.

      "What do you mean, Draper?" he demanded angrily, dashing the hand aside.

      "I mean to let you know," said Draper, contemptuously, weighing the words, "that I saw all your snivelling scene, and that I have seen all your impertinent attentions to that girl."

      Will Sheridan controlled himself by a violent effort, because the name of Alice Walmsley was in question.

      "That girl, as you impertinently call her," he said, calmly, "is one of my oldest friends. My attentions have never been impertinent to her."

      "You lie, you cur!" brutally answered Draper.

      Though few words had been spoken, here was the culmination of an enmity that was old and rankling. On both sides there had been repression of feeling; but now the match had touched the powder, and the wrath flamed.

      The word had barely passed the insulter's lips, when he reeled and tumbled headlong from Sheridan's terrible blow. As soon as the blow was delivered, Will turned, and walked towards his own home, never even looking behind.

      It was half a minute before Draper picked himself from the frozen earth, still dazed with the shock. He showed no desire to follow, or continue the quarrel. With teeth set like a vice, and a livid face, he looked after the strong figure of Will, till he turned into his father's house.

      Next day the young men left the village, and entered on their duty as officers of the Canton, which lay in a Liverpool dock. No one knew of their quarrel, as neither had spoken of it, and there had been no witnesses.

      The preparations for sea kept them apart for several days the vessel sailed from Liverpool, and soon cleared the Channel. Two weeks later, when the ship passed, on a beautiful night, within right of the Western Islands, the young men came face to face on the poop. Will Sheridan had come on deck to enjoy the delightful scene, not thinking that the first mate was officer of the watch.

      "Draper," said Will, in a friendly tone, holding out his hand when they met, "I did not know you were engaged to Miss Walmsley. We should both be sorry for what happened that night."

      The eyes of Draper glittered like steel as he answered in a sneering tone—

      "And who told you, Sir, that I was engaged?"

      "I judge so from your conduct," said Will.

      "You are not a good judge, then," answered Draper.

      "Then there's all the less reason for us to quarrel, man. Take back your insulting words, and let me apologize for my violence."

      "My insulting words—let me see, what were they? Ah, yes,"—he spoke slowly, as if he meant to wound with the repetition—"I think I said that I had been a witness to your snivelling scene of farewell—and that I was acquainted with your unsought and impertinent attentions to that girl. By the way, I may tell you that she herself made me acquainted with the offensive persistence of her obtuse admirer."

      "She told you?" said Will, staggered by the word. "She said my love was offensive to her?"

      "Ha! No—not love exactly," said the other, with the same biting sneer; "I believe you never gave her a chance to fling that in your teeth."

      "Take care, Draper!" said Sheridan.

      "Well, let us go on with the insulting words, as you choose to call them. I also said you were a liar, if I remember well and a cur—did I not?"

      "Why do you repeat the foul words, man?" asked Sheridan, indignantly.

      "Why, because I used them after careful choosing and because they are true! Stay!—" he added, raising his voice, and backing to the rail, as he saw Sheridan approaching." I am the first officer of this ship, and if you dare to raise your hand against me, I will shoot you like a dog. We'll have no mutiny here."

      "Mutiny!" cried Sheridan, more astounded and puzzled than angry. "What in heaven's name are you talking about? I want to be calm, Draper, for old times' sake. You call me vile names, and threaten my life, and yet I have given you no earthly cause. What do you mean?"

      "I mean, that he who pretends to be my friend, while he ruins my character, is a liar; and that he who tells a slander in secret is a coward."

      "Slander your character?" said Sheridan, "I never said an ill word of you—though I have unwillingly become acquainted with some things that I wish I had never known."

      The latter part of the sentence was slowly added. Draper winced as if cut with a whip.

      "You have made a charge" continued Sheridan, sternly, "and you must explain it. How have I slandered you?"

      Draper hesitated. He hated the man before him, like a fiend; but he hated still more the subject he had now to touch.

      "You knew about that girl in Calcutta," he said, now fairly livid with passion; " no one in England knew it but you."

      "Yes," said Sheridan, slowly, "I learned something about it, against my will."

      "Against your will," sneered the other, "was it against your will you told the story to—her?"

      Draper never repeated Alice's name, as if it were unpleasant to his tongue.

      "I never mentioned your shameful affairs," answered Sheridan, with scorn and indignation; " but you are justly punished to have thought so."

      "You did tell her!" cried Draper, terribly excited; "you told her about my marriage in Calcutta."

      "Your marriage!" and Sheridan stepped back, as recoiling from a reptile. Then, after a pause, as if speaking to a condemned culprit—

      "Your infamy is deeper than I thought. I did not know till now that your victim in Calcutta was also your wife."

      With lightning rapidity Draper saw the dreadful confession his error had led him into. He knew that Sheridan spoke the truth, and he hurriedly attempted to close the grave he had exposed.

      "She is dead," he said, searching Sheridan's face; "you should have known that, too."

      "Dead or alive, God have pity on her!" answered Sheridan whose face and voice were filled with revulsion and contempt. "For her sake, I pray that she may be dead; but I do not believe you. I shall see that those be warned in time who are still in danger."

      Sheridan deliberately turned on his heel and entered the cabin, while Draper, confounded and dismayed at his self conviction, leant on the rail looking out at sea, cursing his own stupidity that had betrayed him.

      "Who else could have known?" he muttered; "and who else could have told her? But she doesn't wholly believe it and, when I swore it was false that last evening, I think she believed me. I'll take care, at all events, that he shall have no chance to unsay my word."

      For hours the brooding rascal walked the poop deck, till the watch was changed, when he went below, and tried to sleep.

      Counternining the Miner

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      Will Sheridan's life on the Canton was a restless and unhappy one from the night of his altercation with Draper. He was daily associated with a man who had exposed his own villainy; a caitiff so vile, that he had sought, and probably still intended, to blight the life of a girl he had known from childhood.

      The discipline of the ship required a certain courtesy and respect towards the first officer. This formal recognition Will paid, but nothing more.

      A few days after this meeting Draper made an advance towards intimacy; but this was repelled with such cold severity as showed him that he had

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