Sometimes, and this was when they were with Madeline again, Ellery would have his experience to tell, redolent of printer's ink, and full of the interest of that profession which is never two days the same--stories of how business toils and spins and is not arrayed like Solomon. Norris, too, was beginning to run up against human nature both in gross and in detail, and to know the world, from the fight last night in Fish Alley up to the doings of statesmen and kings. Madeline had little to tell, for she was living quietly at home, taking the housekeeping off her mother's hands and driving her father to the morning train. She had few episodes more exciting than an afternoon call or a moonlight sail. But the young men brought her their lives, and when she had made her gay little bombardment of comment, they felt as though some new light had fallen upon familiar facts. The very simplicity of her thought put things in the right relation and gave the effect of a view from a higher plane. There were many times when they did not discuss, but gave themselves to the joy of young things. They sailed, and Madeline held the tiller; and, when evening came on, they curled down with cushions in the bottom of the boat and sang and chattered the twilight out. They played golf and tennis, and the blood leaped in their veins, for whatever they did, they did it with heart and soul. As for their relations with one another, these were taken for granted, and what they meant, not one of the three stopped to question. It was enough that they were sweet and satisfying in silence. Late in the season there came a Sunday, memorable to Ellery, when Dick had gone away for some purpose, and, after a little self-questioning, Norris ventured alone for his afternoon with Madeline. She welcomed him with such serene unconsciousness that he wondered why he had hesitated. "I'm not so good a sailor as Dick, Miss Elton," he said. "Will you trust yourself with me?" "Being an independent young woman, I'm willing to depend on you." "A truly feminine position." "It means that I am quite capable of seizing the helm myself if you should fail me," she laughed. "And I am masculine enough to determine that you shall get it only by favor, not by necessity," he retorted. "That suits me quite well," Madeline answered gravely. "And you are not apprehensive of storms in the vague far-away?" "Don't. I'm so contented with things as they are that I do not want to think of far-aways or of anything that means change." "You are satisfied with to-day?" he persisted. "Perfectly."