Not close and darken above me
Before I am quite quite sure
That there is one to love me...."

This was absolutely topping. It was like diving off a spring-board. He
could see the girl sitting with a soft smile on her face, her eyes, big
and dreamy, gazing out over the sunlit sea. He laid down the book and
took her hand.

"There is something," he began in a low voice, "which I have been trying
to say ever since we met, something which I think you must have read in
my eyes."

Her head was bent. She did not withdraw her hand.

"Until this voyage began," he went on, "I did not know what life meant.
And then I saw you! It was like the gate of heaven opening. You're the
dearest girl I ever met, and you can bet I'll never forget...." He
stopped. "I'm not trying to make it rhyme," he said apologetically.
"Billie, don't think me silly ... I mean ... if you had the merest
notion, dearest ... I don't know what's the matter with me ... Billie,
darling, you are the only girl in the world! I have been looking for you
for years and years and I have found you at last, my soul-mate. Surely
this does not come as a surprise to you? That is, I mean, you must have
seen that I've been keen.... There's that damned Walt Mason stuff
again!" His eyes fell on the volume beside him and he uttered an
exclamation of enlightenment. "It's those poems!" he cried. "I've been
boning them up to such an extent that they've got me doing it too. What
I'm trying to say is, Will you marry me?"

She was drooping towards him. Her face was very sweet and tender, her
eyes misty. He slid an arm about her waist. She raised her lips to his.

Sec. 3

Suddenly she drew herself away, a cloud on her face.

"Darling," she said, "I've a confession to make."

"A confession? You? Nonsense!"

"I can't get rid of a horrible thought. I was wondering if this will
last."

"Our love? Don't be afraid that it will fade ... I mean ... why, it's so
vast, it's bound to last ... that is to say, of course it will."

She traced a pattern on the deck with her shoe.

"I'm afraid of myself. You see, once before--and it was not so very long
ago,--I thought I had met my ideal, but...."

Sam laughed heartily.

"Are you worrying about that absurd business of poor old Eustace
Hignett?"

She started violently.

"You know!"

"Of course! He told me himself."

"Do you know him? Where did you meet him?"

"I've known him all my life. He's my cousin. As