"Say! You just set the day—so it won't conflict with your work—and
I'll take you out," he declared eagerly,
"But won't it conflict with your duties?"
"Humph!" he returned. "I thought your idea was that I didn't have any duties. However," and he smiled again, "you need not worry about that. When you want to go I will arrange everything so that I'll have a free day."
"But not alone, Mr. Tapp?"
"No," he agreed gravely. "I suppose that wouldn't do. But we can rake up a chaperon somewhere."
"Oh, yes!" and Louise dimpled again. "We'll take Betty Gallup along.
She's an able seaman, too."
"I bet she is!" ejaculated Lawford with emphasis.
He handled the boat with excellent judgment, and his confidence caused Louise to see no peril when they ran almost on the edge of the maelstrom over Gull Rocks. "I know this coast by heart," he said. "I believe there's not one of them sailing out of the Haven who is a better pilot than I am. At least, I've learned that outside of textbooks," and he smiled at her.
Louise wondered how good an education this scion of a Cape Cod family really had secured. The longer she was in his company the more she was amazed by his language and manners. She noted, too, that he was much better dressed to-day. His flannels were not new; indeed they were rather shabby. But the garments' original cost must have been prohibitive for a young man in his supposed position. Very likely, however, they had been given him, second-hand, by some member of the family for which he worked.
The more she saw of him, and the more she thought about it, the greater was Louise's disappointment in Lawford Tapp. She was not exactly sorry she had come out with him in the motor boat; but her feeling toward him was distinctly different when she landed, from that which had been roused in her first acquaintance.