Did I? Oh, suppose you really should one of these days!"

"And suppose I never came back?"

"Nonsense! Of course you would come back. They all do nowadays."

"De Long didn't."

"But you are not De Long."

And for the rest of the day Lloyd noted with a sinking heart that
Bennett was unusually thoughtful and preoccupied. She said nothing, and
was studious to avoid breaking in upon his reflections, whatever they
might be. She kept out of his way as much as possible, but left upon his
desk, as if by accident, a copy of a pamphlet issued by a geographical
society, open at an article upon the future of exploration within the
arctic circle. At supper that night Bennett suddenly broke in upon a
rather prolonged silence with:

"It's all in the ship. Build a ship strong enough to withstand lateral
pressure of the ice and the whole thing becomes easy."

Lloyd yawned and stirred her tea indifferently as she answered:

"Yes, but you know that can't be done."

Bennett frowned thoughtfully, drumming upon the table.

"I'll wager _I_ could build one."

"But it's not the ship alone. It's the man. Whom would you get to
command your ship?"

Bennett stared.

"Why, I would take her, of course."

"You? You have had your share--your chance. Now you can afford to stay
home and finish your book--and--well, you might deliver lectures."

"What rot, Lloyd! Can you see me posing on a lecture platform?"

"I would rather see you doing that than trying to beat Duane, than
getting into the ice again. I would rather see you doing that than to
know that you were away up there--in the north, in the ice, at your work
again, fighting your way toward the Pole, leading your men and
overcoming every obstacle that stood in your way, never giving up, never
losing heart, trying to do the great, splendid, impossible thing;
risking your life to reach merely a point on a chart. Yes, I would
rather see you on a lecture platform than on the deck of an arctic
steamship. You know that, Ward."

He shot a glance at her.

"I would like to know what you mean," he muttered.

The winter went by, then the spring, and by June all the country around
Medford was royal with summer. During the last days of May, Bennett
practically had completed the body of his book and now occupied himself
with its appendix. There was little variation in their daily life. Adler
became more and more of a fixture about the place. In the first week of
June, Lloyd and Bennett had