author:C. N. Williamson

“ CHAPTER VIII. “There was no body in the coffin,” Roger said.
“Empty?” I gasped.
“Not empty. No. There was something there. Will you come to my cabin and see what it was? Don't look terrified. There's nothing to frighten you. And, princess, the rest of the plan you gave me has been carried out. Thanks to your woman's wit, I believe that my future and Shelagh's is clear. And, before Heaven, my conscience is clear, too.”
“Oh, Roger, it's thanks to your own courage more than to me. Is—is all safe?”
“The coffin isn't empty now. It is fastened up just as it was. ”

“ I believed that, equally, nothing could rob him of Shelagh! But I wasn't quite sure. And the difference between just “believing” and being “quite sure” is the difference between mental peace and mental storm. I had gone through so much with Roger, and for him, that by this time I loved the man as I might love a brother, a very dear and somewhat trying brother. As for Shelagh, I would have given one of my favorite fingers or toes to buy her happiness. ”

“ Heliers, after a quick voyage through blue, untroubled waters; and there we came in for all the red tape that Roger had foreseen, if not more. But how inoffensive, even pleasing, is red tape to a man saved from handcuffs and a prison cell!
The body of an unknown woman in a coffin picked up at sea gave the chance for a dramatic story flashed from Jersey to London; and the evident fact that death had been caused by poison added an extra thrill. Every soul on board the Naiad was questioned, down to the chef's assistant ”