e. A light glimmered from the galley door, where the
decrepit watchman slumbered at his ease. There was nothing to detain
him. The great yards, upon which he had fought down the sodden and
frozen canvas in gales off the Horn, spread over him. She was fine,
she was potent, with a claim upon a man's heart; and she was
notorious for a floating, hell upon the seas. It was her character;
she was famous for brutality to seamen, so that they deserted at the
first opportunity and forfeited their wages. And Noble would have him
loyal to her!

He swore at her shortly, and forced himself to cross the deck and
climb over the rail to the wharf. The conduct of Noble was sore in
his mind. But, as the earth of the shore gritted under his boots,
that trouble departed from him. The world, after all, was wider than
the decks of the Etna; and in it, an item in its wonder and
complexity, there lived and smiled the girl.

Miss James, who smiled so indescribably and asked so many questions
about seafaring in the way of civil conversation, would probably have
shown small interest in the adventures of a seaman in search of a
lodging ashore. She would have smiled, of course, with her own little
lift and fall of shy eyes, and been as intangible and desirable as
ever; but one could never tell her of carrying a small bundle of
underclothes from one obdurate door to another, unable to show money
in any convincing amount because one's capital was in a belt under
one's shirt. Othello told Desdemona of "antres vast and deserts
idle," not of skeptical landladies. Goodwin felt all this intensely
when, in the evening of the following day, having finally established
himself in a room, he beheld her again in the mission. He beheld her
first, indeed, as she entered the hall, he watching from the opposite
side of the street. He had no intention of going in if she were not
present. As it was, a swoop across the street and a little brisk
maneuvering secured him a place next to her.

He had been a little at a loss all day; it was years since he had
lived altogether apart from sailors and he had found himself lonely
and depressed; but the sight of her sufficed to restore him. She gave
him the welcome of a look, and a slow flush mounted on her face. The
missioner was already preparing to open the service, and conversation
was impossible. Nevertheless, as she turned over the pages of her
hymn-book, Goodwin bent toward her.

"Didn't I say I'd be along?" he whis