and sped
down along towards Chiswick. In its wake, spreading out in
ever-broadening lines, it left a row of curling waves that came
lapping to the steps below them. These sounds and the occasional
noise of voices across on the Kew side, were the only interruptions
to the silence. For some moments they stood there, leaning on the
railing, saying nothing, watching some dull, dark figures of men who
were moving about on the little island that belongs to the Thames
Conservancy.

"I--I've got something I want to tell you, Miss Bishop," Mr. Arthur
said at length with sudden resolve.

Sally caught her breath. If it were only somebody she could love!
What a moment it would be then--what a moment! Her lips felt suddenly
dry. She sucked them into her mouth and moistened them.

"What is it?" she asked.

Mr. Arthur coughed, pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose
loudly. The sound, intensified there in that still place, jarred
through Sally's senses. She roughly told herself that she was a fool.

"You know I'm in a bank?" he began.

"Yes; of course."

"It's a private bank."

"Really?"

"Yes; what I mean is, they pay better than most banks usually do."

"Really?"

"And they're going to make me a cashier."

"Oh, is that good?"

"Well, there's hardly a fellow of my age in any bank that's got to
a responsible position like that, in the time I have. I bet you a
shilling there isn't."

"Well, I can't afford to bet a shilling on it."

"No, of course not; I didn't mean that. What I mean--"

"I understand what you mean," said Sally. A sense of humour might
have gone far to save him at that moment. She accredited it against
him that he had none. "You might just as well have bet ten pounds,"
she added with a smile, "and I should have known what you meant. Ten
pounds always sounds better than a shilling--even in that sort
of--of--transaction."

"Ah, you're only joking," said he.

"No, I'm not," she replied. "I'm quite serious. I like the sound of
ten pounds better. There's a nice ring of bravado about it. A shilling
seems so mean."

For a few moments he was silenced by the weight of her
incomprehensibleness. Such a moment comes at all times to every man,
whatever his dealings with a woman may be. Mr. Arthur stood leaning
on the railing, looking out at the black water and thinking how little
she understood of the seriousness of his position, or the meaning
that such an uplifting of his financial status conveyed t