ere was an agonising pause. If only
he dared peep around the side. Then Corinna came plump into view.

At sight of him a sharp exclamation escaped her. She hung motionless
for a moment, her face fixed in a comical mask of surprise and
indignation, like a child's, then she turned to run.

"Wait!" cried Evan peremptorily.

She saw that he could seize her before she gained the door. She had
learned the folly of running from him. So she stood still. Drawing
herself up she said:

"I have nothing to say to you. I only wished to make sure that you had
not done anything foolish."

Evan glanced at the shores. Staten Island was the nearer--less than
half a mile. "It is not too late," he said.

"Overboard I go," said Evan, "unless you stop here and talk to me as if
I were a Christian."

She smiled scornfully.

"I shall not be fooled a second time," she said.

"You were not fooled the first time," he said quietly. He bent down
and started to unlace his shoes.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Can't swim with my shoes on," Evan said without looking up.

He heard her catch her breath, but her voice was still inflexible. "Do
you think me so simple!"

"I don't think at all," said Evan with his hand on the rail. "I give
you your choice. Will you stop and talk to me like a reasonable being
for five minutes."

Their hard eyes battled furiously, and neither pair would down. "No!"
she said, though her lips were white.

He glanced down at the water boiling from under the _Ernestina's_
counter, and gathered himself for the spring.

The glance was too much for Corinna. "Evan! Evan!" she cried sharply,
and put her hands out.

In a trice he had her in his arms.

"Ah, don't kiss me!" she begged, even while her lips surrendered to his.

"Ah, you nearly let me go!" murmured Evan.

"I would have gone too!"

"Then we'd both have drowned. I couldn't carry you all that way."

"I wouldn't have cared."

"I'd rather live with you, you beautiful thing! Why do you want to
kill us both?"

She tore herself from his arms. "I can't help myself. This is only
torment."

"But why? why? I'm of age. I have a right to know, to judge for
myself. What comes between us?"

"I cannot tell you."

"And do you expect me to let you go on your mere say-so? No, by God!
Not while I live!"

"You must let me go!"

"Is it a sin for you to love me?"

"It is impossible."

"That's not answering my question. Have