E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan,
and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
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The Swindler
The Swindler's Handicap
The Nonentity
Her Hero
The Example
The Friend who Stood By
The Right Man
The Knight Errant
A Question of Trust
Where the Heart Is
Ethel M. Dell's Novels
"When you come to reflect that there are only a few planks between youand the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, it makes you feel sort ofpensive."
"I beg your pardon?"
The stranger, smoking his cigarette in the lee of the deck-cabins,turned his head sharply in the direction of the voice. He encounteredthe wide, unembarrassed gaze of a girl's grey eyes. She had evidentlyjust come up on deck.
"I beg yours," she rejoined composedly. "I thought at first you weresome one else."
He shrugged his shoulders, and turned away. Quite obviously he was notdisposed to be sociable upon so slender an introduction.
The girl, however, made no move to retreat. She stood thoughtfullytapping on the boards with the point of her shoe.
"Were you playing cards last night down in the saloon?" she askedpresently.
"I was looking on."
He threw the words over his shoulder, not troubling to turn.
The girl shivered. The morning air was damp and chill.
"You do a good deal of that, Mr.—Mr.—" She paused suggestively.
But the man would not fill in the blank. He smoked on in silence.
The vessel was rolling somewhat heavily, and the splash of the driftingfoam reached them occasionally where they stood. There were no otherladies in sight. Suddenly the clear, American voice broke through theman's barrier of silence.
"I know quite well what you are, you know. You may just as well tell meyour name as leave me to find it out for myself."
He looked at her then for the first time, keenly, even critically. Hisclean-shaven mouth wore a very curious expression.
"My name is West," he said, after a moment.
She nodded briskly.
"Your professional name, I suppose. You are a professional, of course?"
His eyes continued to watch her narrowly. They were