r.

Came then the destroying ogre, in the form of the captain, and passed
on; came then the wicked fairy, in the person of Mrs. Charlton Denyse,
and passed on, not without some gnashing of metaphorical teeth (her own,
I regret to state, she had left in her berth); came also the god from
the machine, in the shape of Judge Willis Enderby, with his friend Dr.
Alderson, and paused near the group.

"Love," observed the jurist softly, "is nine tenths opportunity and the
rest importunity. I hope our young protege doesn't forget that odd
tenth. It's important."

"It seems to me," observed his companion suspiciously, "that you boast
considerable wisdom about the tender passion."

The ablest honest lawyer in New York sighed. "I am old who once was
young, but _ego in Arcadia fui_ and I have not forgotten." Then the two
old friends passed on.

[Illustration: HER KNIGHT KEEPING WATCH OVER HER]

VII

Seventh day out.

This sea-life is too darned changeable for me.
You never know what next.
It's bad for the nerves--

Smith's Log.

Thus the Tyro, in much perturbation of spirit, at the end of a lonely
day. "_Varium et mutabile semper_," was written, however, not of the sea
but of woman. And it was of woman and woman's incomprehensibility that
the keeper of the private log was petulantly thinking when he made that
entry.

For, far from harrying him about the decks, Little Miss Grouch had now
withdrawn entirely from his ken. He had written her once, he had written
her twice; he had surreptitiously thrust a third note beneath her door.
No answer came to any of his communications. Being comparatively
innocent of the way of a maid with a man, the Tyro was discouraged. He
considered that he was not being fairly used. And he gloomed and moped
and was an object of private mirth to Judge Enderby.

Two perfectly sound reasons accounted for the Joyous Vision's remaining
temporarily invisible. The first was that she needed sleep, and
Stateroom 129 D, which she had once so despitefully characterized,
seemed a very haven of restfulness when, after breakfast, it was
reported habitably dried out; the other was a queer and exasperating
reluctance to meet the Tyro--yes, even to see him. As the lifting of the
embargo on speech was not known to him, she knew herself to be insured
against direct address. But the mere thought of meeting him face to
face, of having those clear, quiet gray eyes look into hers agai