he second time, instead of venturing
into the cabin, she called across it in a whisper,

"Launce!"

Launce appeared at his door. He was peremptorily checked before he could
cross the threshold.

"Don't stir a step! Richard has been down in the cabin! Richard suspects
us!"

"Nonsense! Come out."

"Nothing will induce me, unless you can find some other place than the
cabin."

Some other place? How easy to find it on land! How apparently impossible
at sea! There was the forecastle (full of men) at one end of the vessel.
There was the sail room (full of sails) at the other. There was the
ladies' cabin (used as the ladies' dressing-room; inaccessible, in that
capacity, to every male human being on board). Was there any disposable
inclosed space to be found amidships? On one side there were the
sleeping berths of the sailing-master and his mate (impossible to
borrow _them_). On the other side was the steward's store-room. Launce
considered for a moment. The steward's store-room was just the thing!

"Where are you going?" asked Natalie, as her lover made straight for a
closed door at the lower extremity of the main cabin.

"To speak to the steward, darling. Wait one moment, and you will see me
again."

Launce opened the store-room door, and discovered, not the steward, but
his wife, who occupied the situation of stewardess on board the vessel.
The accident was, in this case, a lucky one. Having stolen several
kisses at sea, and having been discovered (in every case) either by the
steward or his wife, Launce felt no difficulty in prefacing his request
to be allowed the use of the room by the plainest allusion to
his relations with Natalie. He could count on the silence of the
sympathizing authorities in this region of the vessel, having wisely
secured them as accomplices by the usual persuasion of the pecuniary
sort. Of the two, however, the stewardess, as a woman, was the more
likely to lend a ready ear to Launce's entreaties in his present
emergency. After a faint show of resistance, she consented, not only to
leave the room, but to keep her husband out of it, on the understanding
that it was not to be occupied for more than ten minutes. Launce made
the signal to Natalie at one door, while the stewardess went out by the
other. In a moment more the lovers were united in a private room. Is it
necessary to say in what language the proceedings were opened? Surely
not! There is an inarticulate language of the lips in u