their staterooms or to the warm stuffiness of thelibrary. It was the fifth evening of the voyage. For five daysand four nights the ship had been ra

llen black. Thewhite crests of the rollers gleamed

k a deck that heaved and dipped and shudderedbeneath his feet; but he had not expected to have Ann's companyon such an evening. But she had

y after breakfast on the very first day, a creature witha small black moustache and shining teeth had descended upon Annand, vocal with surprise and pleasure at meeting her again--heclaimed, damn him!, to have met her before at Palm Beach, BarHarbor, and a dozen other places--had carried her off to play anidiotic game known as shuffle-board. Nor was this an isolatedcase. It began to be borne in upon Jimmy that Ann, whom he hadlooked upon purely in the light of an Eve playing opposite hisAdam in an exclusive Garden of Eden, was an extremely well-knownand popular character. The clerk at the shipping-office had liedabsurdly when he had sai

a chronically sea-sick aunt, referred to inconversation as "poor aunt Nesta". Sometimes Jimmy saw the littleman--presumably her uncle--in the smoking-room, and once he cameupon the stout boy rec

clean wind and the bracing scud. Rollo,Clarence, Dwight, and Twombley, not to mention E

er," said Ann, liftin

onthe only girl on earth. "Poor aunt Nesta doesn't. She was bad

ascinating, Ann seemed tohim at her best in the role of ministering angel. He longed totell

we sailed," she said. Shespoke almost repr

ing for it as quickly as shehad made it. In face of her direct demand for information hecould not hark back to it now. After all, what d

moaning

fortune, I ho

of her diagnosis. She haddeduced this f

's affairs caused him to pause fora moment to sort out his fathers, but an i

?""I hope so.""You must do tremendously well in America, so as not todisa

d any experience?""A little."Ann seemed to grow a

islike him very much, so I suppose that has prejudicedme.""Who was that?""You wouldn't have met him. He was on an American paper. A man

n had met him before made himdumb. Thi

hey were under shelter ofone of the boa

they should not recognise each other now. He stirredup his memory. Nothing came to the surface. Not a gleam ofrecollection of that early meeting rewarded him. And yetsomethin

idAnn. "I always think the splendid part about America is that i

ous soul, Mr. Bayliss?"No man lightly submits to a charge, even

ship towards this young man deepened. Sheloved adventure and based her estimate of any member of theopposite sex largely on his capac

everything."He paused. "Or a

ver since he had mether. Often and often in the watches of the night, smoking endlesspipes and thinking of her, he had conjured up just such a visionas this--they two walking the deserted deck alo

t of an inky sky; also on the presentoccasion anything in the nature of a low-voiced speech wasabsolutely out of the question owing to the uproar of theelements. Still, taking these drawbacks into consideration, the

iggest thing in

is?" shr

" bellow

omyjutted out and formed a kind of nook where it was possible tohear the ordinary tones of the human voice. He halted here, andAnn did the same, though unwillingly. She was conscious of a

unpleasantly scornful. "I shouldn't have thought that youwould have been

f it were somethingwonderful that was wo

acy to persuade themselves that there's a wonderfulsomething just round the corner which they can get if they tryhard enough. And t

e of acidity had crept into Ann's voice. "It isperfectly original.""I'm certain I've heard it before somewher

the grouch?

tain now that she did not like this young mannearly as well as she had supposed. It is t

perstition. The wholeworld has united in making itself imagine that there is somethingcalled love which

all now. Naturally a girl who had associated all her life withthe Rollos, Clarences, Dwig

d. She had, of course, butonly recently:

ing that there is a type of man in existencewho is capable of inspiring what is call

there are no thrills,no romances, and then to pick out some one who is nice and kindand amusing and full of life and willing to do things to make youhappy.""Ah!" said Jimmy, straightening his tie, "Well, that'ssomething.""How do you

of humour reasserted itself. It was not often t

It's getting onfor dinner-time, and you've got that wan, sinking feeling thatmakes you look upon the world and find it a hollow fraud. Thebugle will be blowing in a few

he said. "There's a

iest girlin the known world--""I never said that.""Your modesty prevented you. But it's a fact, nevertheless. I'mglad, I

bad end by this time. If bearswere sent to attend to the children who criticised Elijah, yourlittle friends were in line for a troupe of tigers. But therewere some of a finer fibre? There were a few who didn't call youCarrots?""One or

like America

.""I am. It is a wonderful count

as wary, but amused. Proposals of marriage--and Jimmy seemedto be moving swiftly towards one--were no novelty in her life. Inthe course of several seasons at Bar Harbor, Tuxedo, P

oung men who had had to pick up the heart he had flung at Ann'sfeet and carry it away for repairs had once confided to anintimate friend, after the sting had to some extent passed, thatthe feelings of a man who made love to Ann might be likened tothe emotions which hot chocolate might be supposed to entertain

es all the time. Then something happened which mademe see what a little fool I was. It wasn't pleasant at the time,but it had a very bracing effect. I have been quite differentever since. It was a

ould meet him

nameis Crocker. Jimmy Crocker. I spoke about him just now."T

to the salo

on board ship!"She stopped. "Aren't you coming dow