e was very excited. He had done a great deal of rushing about. The
upraising of the Cotterill family from the social Hades of the steerage
to the respectability of the second cabin had demanded all his energy,
and a lot of Ruth's.

Ruth kissed Mrs Cotterill and then Nellie. And Mrs Cotterill and Nellie
acquired rank and importance for the whole voyage by reason of being
kissed in public by a woman so elegant and aristocratic as Ruth
Capron-Smith.

And Denry shook hands. He looked brightly at the parents, but he could
not look at Nellie; nor could she look at him; their handshaking was
perfunctory. For months their playful intimacy had been in abeyance.

"Good-bye."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. Good-bye."

"Good-bye."

The horrible bell continued to insist.

"All non-passengers ashore! All ashore!"

The numerous gangways were thronged with people obeying the call, and
handkerchiefs began to wave. And there was a regular vibrating tremor
through the ship.

Mr and Mrs Cotterill turned away.

Ruth and Denry approached the nearest gangway, and Denry stood aside,
and made a place for her to pass. And, as always, a number of women
pushed into the gangways immediately after her, and Denry had to wait,
being a perfect gentleman.

His eye caught Nellie's. She had not moved.

He felt then as he had never felt in his life. No, absolutely never. Her
sad, her tragic glance rendered him so uncomfortable, and yet so
deliciously uncomfortable, that the symptoms startled him. He wondered
what would happen to his legs. He was not sure that he had legs.

However, he demonstrated the existence of his legs by running up to
Nellie. Ruth was by this time swallowed in the crowd on the
landing-stage. He looked at Nellie. Nellie looked at him. Her lips
twitched.

"What am I doing here?" he asked of his soul.

She was not at all well dressed. She was indeed shabby--in a steerage
style. Her hat was awry; her gloves miserable. No girlish pride in her
distraught face. No determination to overcome Fate. No consciousness of
ability to meet a bad situation. Just those sad eyes and those twitching
lips.

"Look here," Denry whispered, "you must come ashore for a second. I've
something I want to give you, and I've left it in the cab."

"But there's no time. The bell's..."

"Bosh!" he exclaimed gruffly, extinguishing her timid, childish voice.
"You won't go for at least a quarter of an hour. All that's only a dodge
to get people off in