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Everybody in Freekirk Head knew that Code Schofield went up to

Elsa Mallaby's to dinner occasionally. So did other people in the

village, but not so often as he. There had been a little gossip

concerning the two of them, but, while Code was an excellent

enough fellow, it was hardly probable that a rich widow like Elsa

would throw herself away on a poor fisherman. They forgot that

she had done so the first time she married, and that she had the

sea in her blood.

These shreds of gossip returned to Nellie now with accrued

interest, and she began to believe in the theory of fire being

behind smoke.