ill tell you frankly, I should very much like to see
you again."

With that all the blood in my body seemed to rush to my head. Could I be
dreaming? Or had she really said she would like to see me again? I would
try my luck now whatever came of it.

"You cannot think how pleasant our intercourse has been to me," I said.
"And now I have to go back to my lonely, miserable existence again."

"But you should not say that; you have your work in life!"

"Yes, but what is that to me when I have no one to work for? Can you
conceive anything more awful than my loneliness? Remember, as far as I
know I am absolutely without kith and kin. There is not a single soul to
care for me in the whole world--not one to whom my death would be a
matter of the least concern."

"Oh, don't--don't say that!" Her voice faltered so that I turned from
the sea and contemplated her.

"It is true, Miss Wetherell, bitterly true."

"It is not true. It cannot be true!"

"If only I could think it would be some little matter of concern to you
I should go back to my work with a happier heart."

Again she turned her face from me. My arm lay beside hers upon the
bulwarks, and I could feel that she was trembling. Brutal though it may
seem to say so, this gave me fresh courage. I said slowly, bending my
face a little towards her:

"Would it affect you, Phyllis?"

One little hand fell from the bulwarks to her side, and I took
possession of it. She did not appear to have heard my question, so I
repeated it. Then her head went down upon the bulwarks, but not before I
had caught the whispered "yes" that escaped her lips.

Before she could guess what was going to happen, I had taken her in my
arms and smothered her face with kisses. Nor did she offer any
resistance. I knew the whole truth now. She was mine, she loved
me--me--me--me! The whole world seemed to re-echo the news, the very sea
to ring with it, and just as I learned from her own dear lips the story
of her love, the great moon rose as if to listen. Can you imagine my
happiness, my delight? She was mine, this lovely girl, my very own!
bound to me by all the bonds of love. Oh, happy hour! Oh, sweet delight!
I pressed her to my heart again and again. She looked into my face and
then away from me, her sweet eyes suffused with tears, then suddenly her
expression changed. I turned to see what ailed her, and to my
discomfiture discovered her father stalking along the silent deck
towards us.

Whisp