It was a girl's voice.

Gradually and cautiously I drew the sheet about my chin, feeling no
little confused to have a girl five feet away whispering pet names at me
through a thin partition.

"Aren't you?" she repeated, more sweetly imperious.

"You bet," I stammered.

"Then do hurry! It's almost ten, and I've been waiting such a long
time!"

Whereupon I heard her moving off, pressing her hands against the panels
for steadiness, and there struck me as having been an endearing pathos
in the way she said: "such a long time!"

This was, no doubt, some of Tommy's doing. He had invited friends aboard
for luncheon, and was now daring one of them to play this joke. But my
glance turned to the room, to its equipment and toilette articles which
were large and curiously shaped, and the numbing truth crept into my
brain that the stupid boatman had put me on the wrong yacht.

I had known some tight places in France, but this one simply squeezed me
all over. There was nothing for it, of course, but go out and
explain--yet how could a chap appear at noon draped in a sheet! The
situation confused me, but I decided to search the wardrobe, of my
unknown host, to borrow his razor, appropriate a new toothbrush that
should be found in a box somewhere, and select flannels and linens in
keeping with the hour. Still balanced between confusion and panic I must
have done these things because, fittingly attired though with no very
good fit, I opened my door, stepped softly along the passageway, and
entered the cabin.

On a wide couch built in at one side a girl lay reading. Her head was
toward me, but as I advanced she arose with a low cry of gladness,
saying:

"So you're here at last----!" then with a little gasp drew back, facing
me in the most entrancing attitude of bewilderment.

It was the girl who had left that ball of paper!

The sea, always my friend, at this moment did a rather decent thing; it
gave the yacht a firm but gentle lurch and sent us into each other's
arms. Perhaps nothing else in all the world of chances could so
effectively have broken the ice between us, for we were laughing as I
helped her back to the couch; and, as our eyes met, again we laughed.

"I didn't know," she said, "that Father brought a guest aboard last
night!"

"Awkward of him, wasn't it?" I stammered, sparring for time.

"One is apt to be awkward in weather like this," she graciously
admitted.

"You don't know how profoundly aware I a