ant rolled out of his berth,
dressed hastily, and went on deck, eager to see her in her beauty,
robed for the morning and the wind. There she was, so near now that
he could almost have tipped a rope-end down her skylight from the
skylight of the _Torch_, every line of her exquisite body new-washed
in gold and shivering under the touches of the dawn. She was awake,
alive; the life that had still beaten through her dreams in the
night, stirred by the drowsy fingering of the harbor tide, was
throbbing and thrilling with many pulses as she shook out her
streamers to the wind. And now her mainsail went slowly up, and she
leapt and shuddered through all her being, passionate as though the
will of the wind was her will.

Durant stared at her with undisguised admiration. She was a fair
size for her kind, and from the sounds that came up through her
cabin skylight he judged that she had a party on board. Standing
on the deck of the _Torch_ in his light flannels, Durant looked
much too long for his own ridiculously tiny cutter. He was so
deeply absorbed in spelling out the letters on the yacht's
life-belts--_Windward_--that he was quite unaware that he himself
was an object of considerable interest to a lady who had just come
on deck. Literally flying as he was from the sound of his own
name, he was unprepared to hear it sung out in cheerful greeting.

"Mr. Durant!"

He started and blinked, unable to recognize the lady of the voice.
Assuming that he had once known, and since forgotten her, he had
raised his cap on the chance.

She was trying to say something to him now, but the noise of the
struggling sail cut off her words. She turned, and seemed to be
calling to somebody else. Another lady, whom the sail had hidden
from his sight till now, came forward and leaned eagerly over the
rail, steadying herself by the shrouds. This lady did not shout his
name; but, as her eyes met his across the narrow channel, she
smiled--a smile he could not place or recognize or understand; he
could only raise his cap to it blindly as before.

She was smiling still, while the first lady laughed, if possible in
a more bewildering manner than before. "Don't you know us?" She
seemed to be whispering across the gulf.

He shook his head in desperation, whereupon the second lady gave
orders to the men to stop hoisting the mainsail.

"If you _are_ Mr. Durant, come on board!"

This time the voice was distinct in the silence that followed the
hoi