back to the requisite
degree. Even for the woman he loved.... Or did he?... Through the
wraith-like mists of fading illusions he caught disturbing
glimpses--dark shapes of lurking doubts.

Disquieted, he found distasteful the thought of returning to the lower
deck, and so strolled idly aft with a half-formed notion of looking up
Iff.

From a deck-chair a woman's voice hailed him: "Oh, Mr. Staff...."

"Miss Searle?" He turned in to her side, experiencing an odd sensation
of pleasure in the encounter; which, wisely or not, he didn't attempt to
analyse--at least further than the thought that he had seen little of
the young woman during the last two days and that she was rather
likeable.

"You're not dancing?" he asked in surprise; for she, too, had dressed
for this celebration of the last night of the voyage.

Smiling, she shook her head slightly. "Neither are you, apparently.
Won't you sit down?"

He wasn't at all reluctant to take the chair by her side. "Why not?" he
asked.

"Oh, I did dance once or twice and then I began to feel a bit tired and
bored and stole away to think."

"Long, long thoughts?" he asked lightly.

"Rather," said she with becoming gravity. "You see, it seems pretty
serious to one, this coming home to face new and unknown conditions
after three years' absence.... And then, after six days at sea, out of
touch with the world, practically, there's always the feeling of
suspense about what will happen when you get solid earth under your
feet. You know what I mean."

"I do. You live in New York?"

"I mean to try to," she said quietly. "I haven't any home, really--no
parents and only distant family connections. In fact, all I do possess
is a little income and an immense desire to work."

"You're meaning to look for an engagement, then?"

"I must."

"Perhaps," he said thoughtfully, "I might help you a bit; I know some
of the managers pretty well ..."

"Thank you. I meant to ask you, but hoped you'd offer." She laughed a
trifle shyly. "I presume that's a bold, forward confession to make, but
I've been so long abroad I don't know my way round at home, anymore."

"That's all right," said Staff, liking her candour. "Where shall you be?
Where can I find you?"

"I hardly know--for a day or two at some hotel, and as soon as possible
in a small studio, if I can find one to sublet."

"Tell you what you do," he suggested: "drop me a line at the Players,
letting me know when and where you settl