said, 'don't bother. There is a fisherman and a boy
to help me in. It is quite easy.'

'Oh but it is no bother----'

'I will not take you away from your supper.'

'Are you not going to have supper here?'

'I lunched here to-day. So I will not sup.'

'Is the reason a good one?'

'You will see. Good-bye.'

I went away down the path to the beach. The path is steep, and the corn
on either side stands thick and high, and a few steps took me out of
sight of the house, the chestnuts, and the young man. The smack was
lying some distance out, and the dinghy was tied to her stern. The
fisherman's son's head was visible in a peaceful position on a heap of
ropes. It is difficult as well as embarrassing to shout, as I well knew,
but somebody would have to, and as nobody was there but myself I was
plainly the one to do it, I put my hands to my mouth, and not knowing
the fisherman's name called out _Sie_. It sounded not only feeble but
rude. When I remembered the appearance of the golden-bearded Viking, his
majestic presence and dreamy dignity, I was ashamed to find myself
standing on a rock and calling him as loud as I could _Sie_.

The head on the ropes did not stir. I waved my handkerchief. The boy's
eyes were shut. Again I called out _Sie_, and thought it the most
offensive of pronouns. The boy was asleep, and my plaintive cry went
past him over the golden ripples towards Lauterbach.

Then the Englishman appeared against the sky, up on the ridge of the
cornfield. He saw my dilemma, and taking his hands out of his pockets
ran down. '_Gnaediges Fraeulein_ is in a fix,' he observed in his
admirably correct and yet so painful German.

'She is,' I said.

'Shall I shout?'

'Please.'

He shouted. The boy started up in alarm. The fisherman's huge body
reared up from the depths of the boat. In two minutes the dinghy was at
the little plank jetty, and I was in it.

'It was a very good idea to charter one of those romantic smacks to come
over in,' said the young man on the jetty wistfully.

'They're rather fishy,' I replied, smiling, as we pushed off.

'But so very romantic.'

'Have you not observed that the German Fraeulein is a romantic
creature,'--the dinghy began to move--'a beautiful mixture of
intelligence, independence, and romance?'

'Are you staying at Putbus?'

'No. Good-bye. Thanks for coming down and shouting. You know your food
will be quite cold and uneatable.'

'I gathered from what you said before t