If he had invited her to enter the big touring car he had driven that morning, to go for a "joy ride," Louise Grayling would certainly have refused. To go on a pleasure trip at the invitation of a chauffeur in his employer's car was quite out of consideration. But this was somehow different, or so it seemed. She hesitated not because of who or what he was (or what she believed him to be), but because she had seen something in his manner and expression of countenance that warned her he was a young man not to be lightly encouraged. In that moment of reflection Louise Grayling, asked herself if she felt that he possessed a more interesting personality than almost any man she had ever met socially before. She did so consider him, she told herself, and so--she stepped aboard the launch. She did not need his hand to help her to the seat beside him. She was boatwise. He pushed off, starting his engine; and they were soon chug-chugging out upon the limitless sea. CHAPTER XI THE LEADING MAN "I saw you with Cap'n Amazon going to church this morning," Lawford said. "To the First Church, I presume?" "And you?" "Oh, I drove the folks over to Paulmouth. There is an Episcopal Church there and the girls think it's more fashionable. You don't see many soft-collared shirts among the Paulmouth Episcopalians." There spoke the "native," Louise thought; and she smiled. "It scarcely matters, I fancy, which denomination one attends. It is the spirit in which we worship that counts." He gazed upon her seriously. "You're a thoughtful girl, I guess. I should not have looked for that--in your business." "In my business? Oh!" "We outsiders have an idea that people in the theatrical line are a peculiar class unto themselves," Lawford went on. "But I----" On the point of telling him of his mistake she hesitated. He was unobservant of her amusement and went on with seriousness: "I guess I'm pretty green after all. I don't know much about the world--your world, at least. I love the sea, and sailing, and all the seashore has to offer. Sometimes I'm out here alone all day long." "But what is it doing for you?" she asked him rather sharply. "Surely there can be very little in it, when all's said and done. A man with your intelligence--you have evidently had a good education." "I suppose I don't properly appreciate that," he admitted. "And to really waste your time like this--loafing longshore, and sailing boats, and--and driving an automobile. Why! you are a regular beach comber, Mr. Tapp. It's not much of an outlook for a man I should think." She suddenly stopped, realizing that she was showing more interest than the occasion called for. Lawford was watching her with smoldering eyes.