Corris mumbled apologetically, and snatching his treasured paper from Charlie's palsied hands, retired hastily from the smoking-room, leaving

Corris rose and placed his finger on the paragraph, and Charlie's eyes attempted to follow its guidance.

"We all know that. What about it?" he demanded. "They can't prove it, though, can they?" he added, with the cunning of an idiot.

"No; but look, man! It's Oxterham, the jewel-thief. He's being taken home under arrest. That practically clears you, don't you see? It's any odds he's guilty. It's just the sort of thing he's famous for."

Charlie looked up with a crazy rage in his bloodshot eyes. He had crossed the border-line of sanity, and his own guilt had become a fixed idea.

the bell push to call call the steward.

Jocelyn Upton happened to be alone. Her mother was not yet on deck, and Honiton had just left her side on some excuse. There were moments when he could bear the agony of her unconscious home-thrusts no longer, when the strain of meeting smile with smile became too great.

Corris took the chair that he had left empty. In the early days of the voyage he had made some effort to engage Jocelyn Upton in a flirtation, but finding his overtures meeting with little response, had quickly given up the attempt.

"I say, Miss Upton," he began at once, "here's some startling news for you! Look at this!"

He thrust the fatal paper into her hands, and, leaning over, pointed out the paragraph.

Jocelyn read it through, a puzzled expression growing upon her face as she neared the end.

"There must be some mistake," she said as she finished. "How lucky for us. It would have been horrid to have a man like that on the ship."

"But we have. It's as plain as a pikestaff," replied Corris. "Can't you guess, Miss Upton ! "

"I can't think what you mean," said Jocelyn, surprised at his eagerness. "There is no Oxterham on board."

"That's nothing to go by. He wouldn't be using that name when he was caught, and the detective would probably prefer to travel with him incognito. It would be a jolly sight more pleasant for both of them."

"Of course, that might be so," agreed the girl, for the first time thinking of the matter seriously. "But there is nobody on board who could be this Oxterham."

"What about Lady Pilth's diamonds" retorted the Honourable Stephen. "There is some one amongst us with very similar tastes."

"I hadn't thought of that," said Jocelyn, taken aback by the apparent plausibility of it. "But-who could it possibly be?"

"There's only one pair that meet the case," began Corris, working up to his climax. "They came aboard together; they share a cabin; they are seldom out of each other's

sight. When you come to think of it"

Jocelyn laughed heartily. "Oh, Mr Corris," she cried. "It is too ridiculous! I can't imagine either of those two old things being a jewel-thief, and as for being a detective, it's impossible. Think of it-with an accent like theirs!"

"I don't mean Murray and Scrymgeour. Of course not. But what about Brown and Honiton ?"

"But-but-" stammered Jocelyn, gratifying the Honourable Stephen with a display of consternation far beyond his hopes.

"But-oh, it can't be so," she went on. "Frank-Mr Honiton couldn't be-and yet but even if that were true, I can't believe that poor Mr Brown is a thief. I like him. He's a dear old thing."

"All the same, they are the only pair that meet the case,' Corris insisted.

"Let me see the paper again," demanded Jocelyn, taking it from his hands and reading the paragraph intently.

She disliked Corris, and, as a rule, had little to say to him; but she was so startled out of herself by the novelty of this discovery, that she hardly thought of him as a personality, and had talked to him as freely as she would have done to a friend.

Having completed her second reading of the paragraph, however, she began to think.

Could it be true that Frank was a detective? The idea did

not shock her so much as one might expect, for she had formed her ideas of the profession from entrancing tales in which the sleuth is a man of exceptional culture and ability, and a power in the world. No, that side of the affair hardly touched her. She was concerned at the possibility of one whom she had known and liked turning out to be a a notorious criminal.

She thought, too, of her present companion spreading his story over the ship, and perhaps-nay, almost certainly -doing an innocent man a terrible injustice. The matter must be settled, once for all. That would be easy. There was Frank to clear it up.

"I can't believe that you are right," she said at last, raising her eyes from the paper, which she had used as a cloak for her thoughts.

"I've very little doubt I'm right," insisted Corris. "It must be them. There's nobody else."

He did not dare to suggest -though it was quite an open question in his mind-that she might have taken the matter up wrongly. Brown or Honiton -it was all one to him, provided some one was saddled with the odium of the affair; but he had an instinctive feeling that it was better to keep the suggestion of Honiton's guilt to himself. He had seen the two together, and his prying eyes had given him some idea of the relation that existed between them.

"It seems a shame to suggest that of Mr Brown with nothing more to go on than this," said Jocelyn. "You don't mean to show it to any one else, do you?

"Why not?" demanded the Honourable Stephen, genuinely surprised. "They'll all be frightfully interested."

"No doubt; and every one will jump to the worst conclusion," retorted Jocelyn, with rising anger. "Listen. Give me time to find out if it is true. Promise me you won't spread this story until I have confirmed it."

Corris looked at her doubtfully. He hated to have his pleasure even postponed, yetconfirmed the story would be even more sensational. Perhaps it was worth the delay.

"You'll find out soon?" he asked anxiously. "And you'll let me know at once what you discover?"

"You

"That is a bargain," agreed Jocelyn coldly, disgusted with the petty scandal-mongering nature of the man. will say nothing about this to any one until I can confirm or deny it. I promise to let you know ав soon as I have discovered the truth."

She made the promise with that whole-hearted belief in her own judgment which, as has been said, was one of the characteristics of her youth. She liked Peter Brown, and it was only right that she should nip this silly idea in the bud.

reaffirmed his

agreement, and hastily took

As Honiton approached, Jocelyn met him with a happy mischievous smile. This morning, the first after her betrothal, she was as gaily happy as the previous evening she had been seriously and intensely so. Everything in her world was right her lover was by her side, and her wits sparkled freely, intoxicated by pure joy in her existence.

Corris's revelation did not affect her spirits, for she simply refused to believe it. Peter Brown could not be such a man. Still, the subject was as suitable as any other with which to tease Frank fondly.

"Frank, you are discovered," she began, with mock solemnity, as Honiton seated himself by her side. "I know all about Oxterham the jewel-thief!"

All trace of colour left Honiton's face. His eyes stared horror-struck. The exposure was so unexpected.

At the instant Jocelyn realised that the Honourable Stephen Corris had deduced aright.

"Oh!" she gasped, her heart filled with disappointment and pain, "so it is true after all! I couldn't believe it. I liked him so much that I didn't dream it could be true. Are you really sure he is guilty, Frank May it not be all a

mistake? I can't think I am wrong about him!"

Reluctance to believe her judgment amiss was mingled with genuine sorrow that one towards whom she had felt so sincerely drawn should turn out a rogue.

Honiton, meanwhile, had recovered from the first shock of her bald announcement, and had quickly drawn the right conclusion from her words. His heart beat more steadily as he realised that she thought he was the detective. Even a moment's respite from the truth was something. On the other hand, if she was so shocked at the discovery of the guilt of a casual acquaintance, what would be the effectwould not bear thinking of. He closed his mind to everything except the instinctive effort to postpone the catastrophe.

It

"How did you know? How did the news get aboard?" he asked unsteadily.

Jocelyn looked at him in surprise at the harshness of his voice, and she recollected the wild expression with which he had greeted the fact that she knew.

"Frank! You don't think I mind you being a detective? " she asked, with a faint sweet smile at the absurdity of the