I think you know the rest.'
'Was the yacht all ready for sea?'
'The yacht was all ready for sea. The captain fellow was on the
bridge, and steam was up.'
'Then they expected me! How could that be?'
'They expected some one. I do not think they expected you.'
'Did the second man go on board?'
'He helped to carry you along the gangway, but he came back again
to the carriage. He was the driver.'
'And no one else saw the business?'
'The quay was deserted. You see, the last steamer had arrived for
the night.'
There was a brief silence, and then Nella ejaculated, under her
breath.
'Truly, it is a wonderful world!'
And it was a wonderful world for them, though scarcely perhaps,
in the sense which Nella Racksole had intended. They had just
emerged from a highly disconcerting experience. Among other
minor inconveniences, they had had no breakfast. They were out in
the sea in a tiny boat. Neither of them knew what the day might
bring forth. The man, at least, had the most serious anxieties for
the safety of his Royal nephew. And yet - and yet - neither of them
wished that that voyage of the little boat on the summer tide
should come to an end. Each, perhaps unconsciously, had a vague
desire that it might last for ever, he lazily pulling, she directing his
course at intervals by a movement of her distractingly pretty head.
How was this condition of affairs to be explained? Well, they were
both young; they both had superb health, and all the ardour of
youth; and - they were together.
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