Wrayford held her to him reassuringly. “But the boatman sleeps down at the village; and who else should come here at this hour?”

“Cobham might. He thinks of nothing but the launch.’”

“He won’t to-night. I told him I’d seen the skipper put her shipshape, and that satisfied him.”

“Ah—he did think of coming, then?”

“Only for a minute, when the sky looked so black half an hour ago, and he was afraid of a squall. It’s clearing now, and there’s no danger.”

He drew her down on the bench, and they sat a moment or two in silence, her hands in his. Then she said: “You’d better tell me.”

Wrayford gave a faint laugh. “Yes, I suppose I had. In fact, he asked me to.”

“He asked you to?”

“Yes.”

She uttered an exclamation of contempt. “He’s afraid!”