"That would depend upon what I said," she answered with a non-committal
shrug. "Now I am going. I've a lot to do in my cabin, and a luncheon
menu to make out. _Au revoir_!" She paused at the entrance to the
cabins, smiled brightly at Dan, and then disappeared.
Long he sat, gazing out over the serene waters, filled with a great
inward thrill. The wonder of all the fast-crowding events of the past
fortnight was asserting itself potently in his mind, and it was
difficult to realize he was not now living some wild, improbable dream.
But, after all, he found the sense of responsibility dominant. To his
care was committed a beautiful life,--a life that must be saved,
cherished, and ultimately restored to its proper environment. Of late,
it seemed, an evil star had pursued him; everything he had commanded or
had anything to do with had either sunk or burned--an extraordinary
train of misfortune not lacking in the lives of many able masters of
craft. What next? He passed over that thought with a frown. He was
living in a beautiful present; the future would be met as the past had
been, bravely and with no cry for quarter.
The present! He was immediately to learn how dearly he prized it; for
as he gazed seaward, the smoke of a steamship, below the horizon,
appeared.
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