Her eyes grew bright and baffling.  She drew away from him, but in a moment with a boyish gesture, she held out her hand to him.  “Thank you, Jake.  You’re a brick.  Whatever I do, I’ll do it—­straight, and you’ll stand by?”

“Sure!” said Jake, and gave her a close grip.

CHAPTER VI

THE SACRED FIRE

The party that gathered on the quay at Fairharbour on the hot July day when Saltash’s new yacht, The Blue Moon lay awaiting her christening was of a very gay description.  The yacht herself was decked with flags, and the hotel facing the quay, The Anchor, was also decorated with bunting.  All the visitors in the town were congregated about the shore, or were rowing in pleasure boats near the centre of attraction.

The yacht lay moored to the quay on which by Saltash’s orders a long strip of red carpet had been laid leading to the gangway which was decorated with trails of flowers.  The day was glorious and cloudless, the sea of that intense blue that melts to the horizon without any dividing line—­like the blue of a smoked pearl.

Saltash’s idea was to take his guests for a cruise across the bay after the ceremony, and he planned to complete the celebrations with a fete on the water at night.  Everything was in readiness, and by two o’clock he was already receiving his guests.

Maud and Jake stood with him, and little Eileen, very intent and serious, held Toby’s hand and looked on from the background.  Captain Larpent was on the bridge, looking very forbidding, even contemptuous.  He had never had any liking for the gay crowds with which it was Saltash’s pleasure to surround himself.  He had the air of a magnificent Viking, above the frivolities with which he was surrounded.  There was nothing of the ornamental about his rugged exterior, but his very aloofness made him imposing.  He looked straight over the heads of the buzzing throng that poured on to the deck.

General Melrose and his daughter were among the last to arrive, and with them came Bunny, very merry and handsome, his dark eyes singling out Toby in a flash as she stood with her small charge.  She had just lifted the child to stand on a ledge where she might overlook the proceedings when he joined them.

“Hullo!” he said eagerly.  “I’m later than I meant to be.  I’ve been lunching with General Melrose.  Ye gods, what a crush!  Where do they all come from?  Well, sweetheart!” He bent to the child.  “Enjoying your precious little self?”

The soft violet eyes met his with a deep contentment as she lifted her face for his kiss.  “I think it’s lovely,” she said earnestly.

He stood up and looked again with swift appreciation at Toby.  The girl was dressed very simply in white, her vivid face shadowed by a broad straw hat.  She met his look with a grimace of boyish dissatisfaction.

“Bunny!  What a ghastly gathering!  For goodness’ sake, don’t look at me like that!  I feel like a painted marionette!”