e boat seemed to tilt her toward him.
Then arose in her the impulse to lean against him, to rest herself
against his strength--a vague, half-formed impulse, which, even as she
considered it, mastered her and made her lean toward him. Or was it the
heeling of the boat? She did not know. She never knew. She knew only
that she was leaning against him and that the easement and soothing rest
were very good. Perhaps it had been the boat's fault, but she made no
effort to retrieve it. She leaned lightly against his shoulder, but she
leaned, and she continued to lean when he shifted his position to make it
more comfortable for her.

It was a madness, but she refused to consider the madness. She was no
longer herself but a woman, with a woman's clinging need; and though she
leaned ever so lightly, the need seemed satisfied. She was no longer
tired. Martin did not speak. Had he, the spell would have been broken.
But his reticence of love prolonged it. He was dazed and dizzy. He
could not understand what was happening. It was too wonderful to be
anything but a delirium. He conquered a mad desire to let go sheet and
tiller and to clasp her in his arms. His intuition told him it was the
wrong thing to do, and he was glad that sheet and tiller kept his hands
occupied and fended off temptation. But he luffed the boat less
delicately, spilling the wind shamelessly from the sail so as to prolong
the tack to the north shore. The shore would compel him to go about, and
the contact would be broken. He sailed with skill, stopping way on the
boat without exciting the notice of the wranglers, and mentally forgiving
his hardest voyages in that they had made this marvellous night possible,
giving him mastery over sea and boat and wind so that he could sail with
her beside him, her dear weight against him on his shoulder.

When the first light of the rising moon touched the sail, illuminating
the boat with pearly radiance, Ruth moved away from him. And, even as
she moved, she felt him move away. The impulse to avoid detection was
mutual. The episode was tacitly and secretly intimate. She sat apart
from him with burning cheeks, while the full force of it came home to
her. She had been guilty of something she would not have her brothers
see, nor Olney see. Why had she done it? She had never done anything
like it in her life, and yet she had been moonlight-sailing with young
men before. She had never desired to do anything