was laughing. He stood bareheaded, his dark face alight. Toby's
eyes went to him in a single flashing glance and remained fixed. Bunny,
looking at her, was for the moment curiously moved. It was as if he
looked from afar upon some sacred fire that had suddenly sprung into
ardent flame before a distant shrine. Then came Maud's voice, sweet and
clear, speaking the name of the yacht, and like a golden flame the bottle
curved through the pearl-like ether and crashed upon the bows.

A murmur went up and then a shout. The bottle had broken and the wine
rushed in a sparkling cascade to the water.

Something impelled Bunny. He gripped Toby by the elbow. He almost shook
her. "Hooray!" he yelled. "It's done! She's off!"

Toby looked at him with the eyes of a dreamer--eyes in which a latent
fear underlay the reverence. Then, meeting his eyes, she seemed to awake.
Her features contracted for a moment, but she controlled them swiftly,
and laughed. Laughing, she drew him away.

The yacht had throbbed into movement. The ropes were being flung aboard.
They were steaming away, and a great blast went up from the siren as they
drew from the quay.

Everywhere was tumult, rejoicing. People were shouting, talking,
laughing, waving hats and handkerchiefs. The whole world seemed a buzz of
merriment, and out of the very thick of it, Toby's voice, small and
tense, spoke into Bunny's ear.

"Let's get away! Let's go to Lord Saltash, and--and--and congratulate."

Her hand was on his arm. She pulled at it urgently, insistently. And
Bunny went with her, moved again--he knew not wherefore--by that feeling
that something had frightened her.

He grasped her hand and made a way for her through the crowd. They went
to the laughing group in the bows. Saltash was standing close to Maud. He
was making some careless jest to her, when suddenly he turned and found
the boy and girl hand in hand behind him.

His swift look flashed over them, and then in his sudden way he put a
hand on the shoulder of each. It was a lightning touch, and he laughed
oddly as he did it, as a man laughs who covers some hidden hurt.

"We came to congratulate," said Bunny. "Good luck to her!"

And Saltash, with his royal air of graciousness, made light reply.

"I thank you for your congratulations, my children; but may the luck be
yours! I see it coming."

And with that lightly he moved away among his guests, leaving a trail of
merriment wherever he went, save where the bo