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Like all the people in Freekirk Head, Nellie had heard some of

the rumors concerning Code's possible part in the sinking of the

_May Schofield_. Nat, for reasons of his own, had carefully

refrained from enlarging on these to her, and in the absorption

of her wooing by him she had let them go by unnoticed. Now, for

the first time, the consequences they might have in Code's life

were made clear to her.

"I--I don't know," she faltered, unable to reply to his direct

question. "But I know this, that all his life Code has been an

honest man and one of my best friends. I grew up with him just as

I did with you, and I resent such talk about him as much as I

would if it were about you."