ng.

The wonder would have been if he had not fallen in love with her, for
a more fascinating girl I never saw. She had only just returned from
school at Compiegne, and was not yet out; her charming freshness
was unsullied; she had all the simplicity and straightforwardness of
unspoilt, unsophisticated girlhood. I well remember our first sight
of her. We had been invited for a fortnight's yachting by Calverley of
Exeter. His father, Sir John Calverley, had a sailing yacht, and some
guests having disappointed him at the last minute, he gave his son carte
blanche as to who he should bring to fill the vacant berths.

So we three travelled down to Southampton together one hot summer day,
and were rowed out to the Aurora, an uncommonly neat little schooner
which lay in that over-rated and frequently odoriferous roadstead,
Southampton Water. However, I admit that on that evening--the tide being
high--the place looked remarkably pretty; the level rays of the setting
sun turned the water to gold; a soft luminous haze hung over the town
and the shipping, and by a stretch of imagination one might have thought
the view almost Venetian. Derrick's perfect content was only marred
by his shyness. I knew that he dreaded reaching the Aurora; and sure
enough, as we stepped on to the exquisitely white deck and caught sight
of the little group of guests, I saw him retreat into his crab-shell of
silent reserve. Sir John, who made a very pleasant host, introduced us
to the other visitors--Lord Probyn and his wife and their niece, Miss
Freda Merrifield. Lady Probyn was Sir John's sister, and also the sister
of Miss Merrifield's mother; so that it was almost a family party,
and by no means a formidable gathering. Lady Probyn played the part of
hostess and chaperoned her pretty niece; but she was not in the least
like the aunt of fiction--on the contrary, she was comparatively young
in years and almost comically young in mind; her niece was devoted to
her, and the moment I saw her I knew that our cruise could not possibly
be dull.

As to Miss Freda, when we first caught sight of her she was standing
near the companion, dressed in a daintily made yachting costume of blue
serge and white braid, and round her white sailor hat she wore the
name of the yacht stamped on a white ribbon; in her waist-band she
had fastened two deep crimson roses, and she looked at us with frank,
girlish curiosity, no doubt wondering whether we should add to or
detrac