ion. He extracted a rare and subtle pleasure from the
fragrant ambiguity of her smile. After all, though it may be doubted if
he had ever entertained the thought, he was fortunate in his
circumstances. He had no need to be jealous or watchful. She lay there
quietly, thinking of course of him, while he was on his affairs in the
port.

He paused now and saw that she was asleep, and he set the little
night-light on the table and sat down near her, watching her with an
expression of grave enthusiasm on his damaged features. He was not
familiar with the stock witticisms concerning the hollowness of marriage
and the inevitable disgust which follows possession. Indeed, for all his
rascality and guile in business he was a rather unsophisticated fellow.
He possessed that infinite patience which is sometimes more effective in
retaining love than even courage or folly. Another factor in his favour
was his lack of facility for friendship. This worked both ways, for
friendship is the secret antagonist of both business and love. He sat
there, shading his eyes with his curved palm, watching his wife,
thinking of past, present, and future in that confused and gentle
abstraction which we call happiness, when she suddenly opened her eyes
and looked at him for one brief instant with a blank and vacant gaze.
Then she smiled and he bent over her.

"Back, Boris?" she murmured chidingly.

"My business, darling. I had to see a man."

"Always business. I thought you'd never come."

"First I had to take that gentleman to the French Pier, for a boat. And
then I went to the Olympos Hotel. I think very good business."

"Don't talk about business now."

"But, my sweetheart, it is all for you. By-and-by you will see."

"See what, silly?" she asked, rumpling his hair.

"See what? You ask a funny question. I cannot tell you, not yet. But in
my mind, I see it."

And he did, too. He saw, in his mind, a superb and curving shore of
yellow sand encircling a sea of flawless azure. He saw a long line of
white villas, white with biscuit-coloured balconies and green jalousies,
rising amid gardens of laurel and palm; he saw white yachts rocking at
anchor, and illuminated houseboats in the shadow of a great breakwater.
He saw the spangled lights of a fairy city, a city filled with fabrics
and jewels which he would buy for her. He saw all this, and in his mind
the world had fought itself to a standstill and the cautious investor
had come into his own.