h steamer _Elsinore_.

And now, although he had meant nothing at all to her except an episode
already forgotten, to meet him again had instantly meant something to
her.

For this man now represented to her a link with the exciting
past--this young soldier who had been fresh from the furnace when she
had met him on deck as the _Elsinore_ passed in between the forts in
the grey of early morning.

The encounter was exciting her a little, too, over-emphasising its
importance.

"Fancy!" she repeated, "my encountering you here and in civilian
dress! Were you dreadfully disappointed by the armistice?"

"I'm ashamed to say I took it hard," he admitted.

"So did I. I had hoped so to go to France. And you--oh, I _am_ sorry
for you. You were so disgusted at being detailed from the fighting
line to Camp Upton! And now the war is over. What a void!"

"You're very frank," he said. "We're supposed to rejoice, you know."

"Oh, of course. I really do rejoice----"

They both laughed.

"I mean it," she insisted. "In my sober senses I am glad the war is
over. I'd be a monster if I were not glad. But--_what_ is going to
take its place? Because we must have something, you know. One can't
endure a perfect void, can one?"

Again they laughed.

"It was such a tremendous thing," she explained. "I did want to be
part of it before it ended. But of course peace is a tremendous thing,
too----"

And they both laughed once more.

"Anybody overhearing us," she confided to him, "would think us mere
beasts. Of course you are glad the war is ended: that's why you
fought. And I'm glad, too. And I'm going to rent a house in New York
and find something to occupy this void I speak of. But isn't it nice
that I should come to you about it?"

"Jolly," he said. "And now at last I'm going to learn your name."

"Oh. Don't you know it?"

"I wanted to ask you, but there seemed to be no proper opportunity----"

"Of course. I remember. There seemed to be no reason."

"I was sorry afterward," he ventured.

That amused her. "You weren't really sorry, were you?"

"I really was. I thought of you----"

"Do you mean to say you remembered me after the ship docked?"

"Yes. But I'm very sure you instantly forgot me."

"I certainly did!" she admitted, still much amused at the idea. "One
doesn't remember everybody one sees, you know," she went on
frankly,"--particularly after a horrid voyage and when one's head is
full of exciting plans. Alas! thos