eeting between Hortense and John. But there
was nothing to see. Hortense waited until her lover had made his
apologies to Charley for being late, and, from the way they met,
she might have been no more to him than Kitty was. Whatever might be
thought, whatever might be known, by these onlookers, Hortense set the
pace of how the open secret was to be taken. She made it, for all of us,
as smooth and smiling as the waters of Kings Port were this fine day.
How much did they each know? I asked myself how much they had shared
in common. To these Replacers Kings Port had opened no doors; they and
their automobile had skirted around the outside of all things. And if
Charley knew about the wedding, he also knew that it had been already
twice postponed. He, too, could have said, as Miss Eliza had once said
to me, "The cake is not baked yet." The General's talk to me (I felt as
I took in how his health had been the centred point) was probably the
result of previous arrangements with Hortense herself; and she quite as
certainly inspired whatever she allowed him to say to Charley.

As for Kitty, she knew that her brother was "set"; she always came back
to that.

If Hortense found this Sunday morning a passage of particularly delicate
steering, she showed it in no way, unless by that heightened radiance
and triumph of beauty which I had seen in her before. No; the splendor
of the day, the luxuries of the Hermana, the conviviality of the
Replacers--all melted the occasion down to an ease and enjoyment in
which even John Mayrant, with his grave face, was not perceptible,
unless, like myself, one watched him.

It was my full expectation that we should now get under way and proceed
among the various historic sights of Kings Port harbor, but of this I
saw no signs anywhere on board the Hermana. Abeam of the foremast her
boat booms remained rigged out on port and starboard, her boats riding
to painters, while her crew wore a look as generally lounging as that of
her passengers. Beverly Rodgers told me the reason: we had no pilot; the
negro Waterman engaged for this excursion in the upper waters had failed
of appearance, and when Charley was for looking up another, Kitty, Bohm,
and Gazza had dissuaded him.

"Kitty," said Beverly, "told me she didn't care about the musty old
forts and things, anyhow."

I looked at Kitty, and heard her tongue ticking away, like the little
clock she was; she had her Bohm, she had her nautical costume and