he next morning I saw
her come up only a little while after I had finished my breakfast, a
ceremony over which I contrived not to dawdle. She was alone and Jasper
Nettlepoint, by a rare accident, was not on deck to help her. I went to
meet her (she was encumbered as usual with her shawl, her sun-umbrella
and a book) and laid my hands on her chair, placing it near the stern of
the ship, where she liked best to be. But I proposed to her to walk a
little before she sat down and she took my arm after I had put her
accessories into the chair. The deck was clear at that hour and the
morning light was gay; one got a sort of exhilarated impression of fair
conditions and an absence of hindrance. I forget what we spoke of first,
but it was because I felt these things pleasantly, and not to torment my
companion nor to test her, that I could not help exclaiming cheerfully,
after a moment, as I have mentioned having done the first day, 'Well, we
are getting on, we are getting on!'

'Oh yes, I count every hour.'

'The last days always go quicker,' I said, 'and the last hours----'

'Well, the last hours?' she asked; for I had instinctively checked
myself.

'Oh, one is so glad then that it is almost the same as if one had
arrived. But we ought to be grateful when the elements have been so kind
to us,' I added. 'I hope you will have enjoyed the voyage.'

She hesitated a moment, then she said, 'Yes, much more than I expected.'

'Did you think it would be very bad?'

'Horrible, horrible!'

The tone of these words was strange but I had not much time to reflect
upon it, for turning round at that moment I saw Jasper Nettlepoint come
towards us. He was separated from us by the expanse of the white deck
and I could not help looking at him from head to foot as he drew nearer.
I know not what rendered me on this occasion particularly sensitive to
the impression, but it seemed to me that I saw him as I had never seen
him before--saw him inside and out, in the intense sea-light, in his
personal, his moral totality. It was a quick, vivid revelation; if it
only lasted a moment it had a simplifying, certifying effect. He was
intrinsically a pleasing apparition, with his handsome young face and a
certain absence of compromise in his personal arrangements which, more
than any one I have ever seen, he managed to exhibit on shipboard. He
had none of the appearance of wearing out old clothes that usually
prevails there, but dressed straight, as I