a little?"

"Yes. A little."

"A lot! Say you love me a lot! And you're glad you came ..."

Jenny held his face to hers, and kissed him passionately.

"Dear!" she fiercely whispered.

Keith slowly released her, and they both laughed breathlessly, with
brimming, glowing eyes. He took her hand, still smiling and watching her
face.

"Old silly," Keith murmured. "Aren't you an old silly! Eh?"

"So you say. You ought to know.... I suppose I am ..."

"But a nice old silly.... And a good old girl to come to-night."

"But then you _knew_ I should come," urged Jenny, drily, frowningly
regarding him.

"You can't forgive that, can you! You think I ought to have come
grovelling to you. It's not proper to ask you to come to me ... to
believe you might come ... to have everything ready in _case_ you might
come. Prude, Jenny! That's what you are."

"A prude wouldn't have come."

"That's all you know," said Keith, teasingly. "She'd have come--out of
curiosity; but she'd have made a fuss. That's what prudes are. That's
what they do."

"Well, I expect you know," Jenny admitted, sarcastically. The words
wounded her more than they wounded him. Where Keith laughed, Jenny
quivered. "You don't know what it means to me--" she began again, and
checked her too unguarded tongue.

"To come?" He bent towards her. "Of course, it's marvellous to me! Was
that what you meant?"

"No. To think ... other girls ..." She could not speak distinctly.

"Other girls?" Keith appeared astonished. "Do you really believe ..." He
too paused. "No other girls come on this yacht to see me. I've known
other girls. I've made love to other girls--what man hasn't? You don't
get to my age without ..."

"Without what?" Jenny asked coolly.

"I'm not pretending anything to you. I'm thirty and a bit over. A man
doesn't get to my age...No man does, without having been made a fool
of."

"Oh, I don't mind that," Jenny said sharply. "It's the girls you've
fooled."

"Don't you believe it, Jenny. They've always been wiser than me. Say
they've known a bit more. You're different ..." Jenny shook her head,
sighing.

"I bet they've all been that," she slowly said. "Till the next one." The
old unhappiness had returned, gripping her heart. She no longer looked
at him, but stared away, straight in front of her.

"Well, what if they had all been different?" Keith persisted. "Supposing
I were to tell you about them, each one.... There's no time for it,
Jenny. Y