She said: 

“I still don’t see why this change of view should make you unhappy.  I should have thought it would have just the opposite effect.”

“It has altered all my desires,” he replied.  “Do you know, I’m not really interested in this new yacht now!  And that’s the truth.”

“Mr. Gilman!” she checked him.  “How can you say such a thing?”

It now appeared that she was not a nice girl.  If she had been a nice girl she would not have comprehended what Mr. Gilman was ultimately driving at.  The word “marriage” would never have sounded in her brain.  And she would have been startled and shocked had Mr. Gilman even hinted that there was such a word in the dictionary.  But not being, after all, a nice girl, she actually dwelt on the notion of marriage with somebody exactly like Mr. Gilman.  She imagined how fine and comfortable and final it would be.  She admitted that despite her riches and her independence she would be and could be simply naught until she possessed a man and could show him to the world as her own.  Strange attitude for a wealthy feminist, but she had the attitude!  And, moreover, she enjoyed having it; she revelled in it.  She desired, impatiently, that Mr. Gilman should proceed further.  She thirsted for his next remark.  And her extremely deceptive features displayed only a blend of simplicity and soft pity.  Those features did not actually lie, for she was ingenuous without being aware of it and her pity for the fellow-creature whose lot she could assuage with a glance was real enough.  But they did suppress about nine-tenths of the truth.

“I tell you,” said Mr. Gilman, “there is nothing I could not say to you.  And—­and—­of course, you’ll say I scarcely know you—­yet——­”

Clearly he was proceeding further.  She waited as in a theatre one waits for a gun to go off on the stage.  And then the gun did go off, but not the gun she was expecting.

Skipper Wyatt’s head popped up like a cannon shot out of a hole in the forward deck, and it gazed sharply and apprehensively around the calm, moonlit sea.  Mr. Gilman was, beyond question, perturbed by the movements of that head, though he could not see the expression of the eyes.  This was the first phenomenon.  The second phenomenon was a swirling of water round the after part of the ship, and this swirling went on until the water was white with a thin foam.

“Reverse those d——­d engines!” shouted Captain Wyatt, quite regardless of the proximity of refined women.  He had now sprung clear of the hole and was running aft.  The whole world of the yacht could not but see that he was coatless and that his white shirtsleeves, being rather long, were kept in position by red elastic rings round his arms.  “Is that blithering engineer asleep?” continued Captain Wyatt, ignoring the whole system of yacht etiquette.  “She’s getting harder on every second!”

“Ay, ay, skipper!” came a muffled voice from the engine-room.