She was silent a long time, and gazed at him, and he did not realize that he was the object of such intent regard. Several times she opened her mouth and seemed about to address him eagerly, for her eyes were brilliant and her cheeks were flushed.

"I wish I had the money to lend you," she ventured, at last.

"Oh, I wouldn't take it--not from a girl, Polly. No, indeed! This is a gamble for men--not an investment for the widow and orphan," he declared, smiling at her. "I believe in it; that's because I'm desperate and need to win. It's for a big reason, Polly!"

She turned her face away and grew pale. She flushed at his next words:

"The biggest thing in the world to me is getting that steamer off Razee and showing that infernal Marston and all his 'longcoast gang that I'm no four-flusher. I've got it in for 'em!"

He patted the hands she clasped on her knees, and he did not notice that she was locking her fingers so tightly that they were almost bloodless.

He rose and started for the door.

"I'll go and pacify Rowley to-night, and be ready for an early start."

"Boyd," she pleaded, "will you do me a little favor?"

"Most certainly, Polly."

"Wait till to-morrow morning for your business with Mr. Rowley."

"Why?" He looked at her with considerable surprise.

"Because--well, because you are a bit unstrung, and are tired, and you and he might have words, and you might not use your cool judgment if he should be short with you. You know you are a little at odds with all the world just now!" She spoke nervously and smiled wistfully. "I would be sorry to have you quarrel with Mr. Rowley because--well, father is a partner, and has already had words with him. Please wait till morning.

You must not lose the schooner!"

"I'm too far down and out to dare to quarrel with Rowley, but I'll do as you say, Polly. Good night."

"You're a good boy to obey a girl's whim. Good night."

The moment his foot was off the last step of the porch she hurried to her room in the cottage and secured a little packet from her portfolio.

She heard the thud of his dory oars as she walked down the street. She was glad to know that he was safely out of the way.

Rowley's dingy windows shed a dim blur upon the frosty night. It was near time for him to close his store, and when she entered he was turning out the loafers who had been cuddling close to his barrel stove.

After a few moments of waiting the girl was alone with him.

"No, I don't want to buy anything, Mr. Rowley. I need your help. I ask you to help me to do a good deed."

He pulled his spectacles to the end of his nose and stared at her doubtfully and with curiosity.

"If it's about the schooner, I'd rather do business with men-folks," he said.

"This is business that only you and I can do, and it must be a secret between us. Will you please glance at this bank-book?"

He licked a thin finger and turned the leaves.

"Deposit of five thousand dollars and accrued interest," he observed, resuming his inquisitive inspection of her animated countenance.

"My mother's sister left me that legacy. It's all my little fortune, sir. I want to loan that money to my father and Captain Mayo."

"Well, go ahead, if you're fool enough to. I ain't your guardeen,"

a.s.sented Deacon Rowley, holding the book out to her. "But I advise you to keep your money. I know all about their foolishness."

"My father wouldn't take it from me--and Captain Mayo wouldn't, either."

"That shows they ain't rogues on top of being fools."

"But I have faith that they can succeed and make a lot of money if they get a start," she insisted. "I see you do not understand, sir, what I need of you. I want you to lend them that money, just as if it came from you. I'll give you the book and a writing, and you can draw it."

"No, ma'am."

"Won't you help a girl who needs help so much? You're a Christian man, you say."

"That's just why I can't lie about this money. I'll have to tell 'em I'm lending it."

"You will be lending it."

"How's that, miss?"

"For your trouble in the matter I'll let you collect the interest for yourself at six per cent. Oh, Deacon Rowley, all you need to do is hand over the money, and say you prefer not to talk about it. You're a smart business man; you'll know what to say without speaking a falsehood.

You'll break my heart if you refuse. Think! You're only helping me to help my own father. He has foolish notions about this. You can say you'll let them have it for a year, and you'll get three hundred dollars interest for your trouble."

"I don't believe they'll ever make enough to pay the interest--much less the princ.i.p.al."

"Give them five thousand dollars and draw a year's interest for yourself out of my interest that has accrued."

"Say, how old be you?"

"I'll be twenty-two in June."

Deacon Rowley looked at her calculatingly, fingering his nose.

"Being of age, you ought to know better, but being of age, you can do what you want to with your own. Do you promise never to let on to anybody about this?"

"I do promise, solemnly."

"Then you sign some papers when I get 'em drawn up, and I'll hand 'em the money; but look-a-here, if I go chasing 'em with five thousand dollars, I'll have 'em suspecting that I'm crazy, or something worse. It ain't like Rufus Rowley to do a thing of this sort with his money."

"I know it," she confessed, softening her frank agreement with an ingenuous smile. "But Captain Mayo is coming to you to-morrow morning on business about the schooner, and you can put the matter to him in some way. Oh, I know you're so keen and smart you can do it without his suspecting a thing."

"I don't know whether you're complimenting me or sa.s.sing me, miss. But I'll see it through, somehow."

She signed the papers giving him power of attorney, left her bank-book with him, and went away into the night, her face radiant.

She threw a happy kiss at the dim anchor light which marked the location of the _Ethel and May_ in the harbor.

"I am helping you get the girl you love," she said, aloud.