"
"Yes, that's so."
"Then you, too, have felt as I feel?"
"No, I never thought of it in that way."
She was silent a moment, but she regarded him searchingly. His face
was upturned, gazing at the flapping sail on the mainmast. She caught
the strong, classic profile in the starlight, and over her flooded the
deep sense of her utter dependence upon him, upon his skill, his
strength, his resource, and the deeper sense of her implicit trust in
him as the embodiment of all these qualities.
She yearned now to express to him her emotions; she almost felt she
must. And yet she hardly knew how. She had tried to do so, but how
inadequate her words had seemed! Bearing in upon her mood, Dan's cool,
even voice sounded miles away.
"Miss Howland, had you thought--"
She interrupted him.
"See here, Daniel Merrithew, I said before that ceremony had no part on
this boat. Hereafter, if you won't call me by my first name you must
address me by my last. It must be either one or the other."
Dan made no comment. He hesitated just a moment, then he said:
"I was going to ask you, Virginia, if you had thought of going to your
cabin yet."
She smiled and blushed.
"I--I wanted to speak to you about that," she said, speaking rapidly.
"I saw you this evening taking things from the Captain's room into the
mate's cabin.
Pages:
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199