legant. It was as
if nature had taken two forms from the same mold, and had finished but
one of them. His voice was not unpleasant, but there were little sharp
points of harshness in it, due quite possibly to the dust.

"I am much interested in that little parrot of yours. I have heard
about him."

"Oh! I suppose you've heard what they call us?" His eyes looked
straight into hers, smilingly.

"Parrot & Co.? Yes. Will you show him off to-morrow?"

"I shall be very happy to."

But all the while he was puzzling over the purser's unaccountable
action in deliberately introducing him to this brown-eyed,
golden-skinned young woman. Never before had such a thing occurred
upon these boats. True, he had occasionally been spoken to; an idle
question flung at him, like a bare bone to a dog. If flung by an
Englishman, he answered it courteously, and subsided. He had been
snubbed too many times not to have learned this lesson. It never
entered his head that the introduction might have been brought about by
the girl's interest. He was too mortally shy of women to conceive of
such a possibility. So his gratitude was extended to the purser, who,
on his side, regretted his good-natured recommendations of the previous
hour.

When Elsa learned that the man at her side was to proceed to Rangoon,
she ceased to ask him any more questions. She preferred to read her
books slowly. Once, while he was engaging the purser, her glance ran
over his clothes. She instantly berated her impulsive criticism as a
bit of downright caddishness. The lapels of the coat were shiny, the
sleeves were short, there was a pucker across the shoulders; the
winged-collar gave evidence of having gone to the native laundry once
too often; the studs in the shirt-bosom were of the cheapest
mother-of-pearl, and the cuff-buttons, ordinary rupee silver. The
ensemble suggested that since the purchase of these habiliments of
civilization the man had grown, expanded.

Immediately after dinner she retired to her state-room, conscious that
her balance needed readjusting. She had heard and read much lore
concerning reincarnation, skeptically; yet here, within call of her
voice, was Arthur, not the shadow of a substance, but Arthur, shorn of
his elegance, his soft lazy voice, his half-dreaming eyes, his charming
indolence. Why should this man's path cross hers, out of all the
millions that ran parallel?

She opened her window and looked up at the star