I'm going to offer myself to the daughter of the redwoods at once."
Shirley and Armitage talked--as people will on ship-board--of everything
under the sun. Shirley's enthusiasms were in themselves interesting; but
she was informed in the world's larger affairs, as became the daughter of
a man who was an authority in such matters, and found it pleasant to
discuss them with Armitage. He felt the poetic quality in her; it was
that which had first appealed to him; but he did not know that something
of the same sort in himself touched her; it was enough for those days
that he was courteous and amusing, and gained a trifle in her eyes from
the fact that he had no tangible background.
Then came the evening of the fifth day. They were taking a turn after
dinner on the lighted deck. The spring stars hung faint and far through
thin clouds and the wind was keen from the sea. A few passengers were
out; the deck stewards went about gathering up rugs and chairs for the
night.
"Time oughtn't to be reckoned at all at sea, so that people who feel
themselves getting old might sail forth into the deep and defy the old
man with the hour-glass.
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