It was a little thing, but Evelyn was pleased. The girls had not been greatly considered at the Dene, and it was flattering to recognise that the man had thought it worth while to decorate his craft in her honour. She did not ask herself if he had wished to please her; he had invited her for a sail some days ago, and he was thorough in everything he did. He handed her and Mrs. Nairn on board and when they sat down in the well, he and Carroll proceeded to hoist the mainsail. It looked exceedingly large as it thrashed and fluttered above their heads, and there seemed to be a bewildering quantity of ropes, but Evelyn was chiefly interested in watching Vane. He was wonderfully quick, but no movement was wasted. His face was intent, his glances sharp, and she liked the crisp, curt way in which he spoke to Carroll. The man's task was, in one sense, not important, but he was absorbed in it. Then, while Carroll slipped the moorings, he ran up the headsails, and springing aft, seized the tiller as the boat, slanting over, began to forge through the water. It was the first time Evelyn had ever travelled under sail and, receptive as she was of all new impressions, she sat silent a few minutes rejoicing in the sense of swift and easy motion. The inlet was crisped by small white ripples, and the boat with her boom broad off on her quarter drove through them; a sparkling wedge of foam on her lee bow and a stream of froth sluicing past her sides. Overhead, the great inclined sail cut, sharply white, against the dazzling blue, and close by her Vane sat gripping the tiller. They swept out through the gate of the Narrows, and Vane luffed the boat up to a moderately fresh breeze. "It's off the land, and we'll have fairly smooth water," he explained, and added: "How do you like sailing?" "It's glorious on a day like this," she declared and looked back towards the distant snow. "If anything more were wanted, there are the mountains, too." Vane smiled, but there was a suggestive sparkle in his eyes. "Yes," he said; "we have them both, and that's something to be thankful for. The sea and the mountains: the two grandest things in this world." "If you think that, how did you reconcile yourself to the city?" "I'm not sure I've done so." He indicated the gleaming heights. "I'm going back up yonder very soon." Mrs. Nairn glanced at Carroll, who affected to be busy with a rope; then she turned to Vane. "It will no be possible with winter coming on." "It's not really so bad then," Vane declared. "Besides, I expect to get my work done before the hardest weather's due." "But ye cannot leave Vancouver until ye have settled about the mine." "I don't want to," Vane admitted. "That's not quite the same thing." "It is with a good many people," Carroll interposed with a smile.