It was not till they were by the borders of the town that he asked some of those simple questions that change lives. He was going slowly along the bank looking for a good place to land her.
“What have you to do to-morrow afternoon, dear?”
“Nothing, unless something very unexpected turns up in the morning.”
“Good. Will you come out with me again?”
“Of course I will.”
“And would you come to my house and play to me and have dinner with me?”
“Oh, I’d love to.”
II
The minute they set eyes on each other the next afternoon they knew that each had prepared for a real party.
Valerie wore a charming dress that she had recently had made and sent up to her from Auckland by a dressmaker who knew her tastes. It was of a heavy blue silk crêpe, a shade between navy and indigo that deepened the colour of her eyes, and it was fetchingly decorated with small dull red buttons. It was of the simplest lines imaginable and under it her limbs moved freely. She wore a little straw hat in the same tones of blue and red. It was by no means a boating costume, but caught on the dilemma of the river and dinner she had compromised as best she could.
Dane gave her a long intent look as she stepped forward to the bow of the Diana hidden in the rushes.
And she looked at him in much the same manner. He was wearing white flannels with a navy double-breasted coat and a yachting cap, and more glamorous than any captain who ever before sailed a ship he held out his hand
