I nodded. "It would be most inconsiderate of you to get drowned," I said, "just when you've become absolutely necessary to me." I saw the corners of her mouth begin to quiver into a smile. "I am afraid I hadn't thought about it from that point of view," she replied. "In any case, you can make your mind quite easy, Mr. Dryden. I have swum over twenty miles in the sea before now, so I don't suppose I am likely to get into trouble bathing off a beach." She glanced at the slim gold watch which she was wearing on her wrist. "Why, it's past four o'clock," she exclaimed, with sudden consternation. "I had no idea it was as late as that." She rose quickly to her feet, and I at once followed her example. "Christine," I said, "you're not going like this? Last time you rushed away before we could make any arrangements, and I can't leave things in the same impossible state again." She stood hesitating, the very picture of troubled indecision. "I don't know what to say," she answered. "I have done wrong in seeing you to-day. I only came because--well, because you didn't give me much choice in the matter, did you?" Once more I took her two hands in mine. "I hadn't any choice myself," I said. "It's all very well for me to make promises, but how can you expect me to keep them? I love you so much that----" "Oh, don't, don't," she broke in pitifully. "You mustn't say that sort of thing. I am trying to help you; I want to be your friend if I can; but----" "Forgive me, Christine," I pleaded. "It just slipped out before I could stop it." I paused for a moment to gaze hungrily into her wide-open, tear-stained eyes. "Only for God's sake let me see you again before long. I don't know what I shall do unless I can look forward to that." "Very well," she said, almost inaudibly. "If it's possible I will write to you or send you a message." "Do you know a boy called Jimmy who is always hanging round the quay?" I asked her. "A little curly-haired kid of about eleven, with blue eyes and a dirty face?" She nodded. "Well, he's by way of being rather a particular friend of mine. If you just scribble a line and give it to him, he'll bring it over to the island immediately." She nodded again, and made a movement as if to release her hands. "You must say good-bye--please, Mr. Dryden. I oughtn't to have stayed as long as this." I had intended to play the game to the end, but there are times when all the good resolutions in the world are perfectly useless. A sudden feeling that I was about to lose her swept over me with overwhelming force, and then, almost before I knew what was happening, I had drawn her close into my arms, and was pressing a passionate kiss upon her soft and slightly parted lips. "Christine, Christine," I whispered hoarsely. "I've loved you from the first moment that you came on board the _Neptune_."