remembered listening as he sang them over and over under the hau
tree at Waikiki. Had it been prophecy? And she had admired his
singing, had told him that he sang with such expression. She
laughed aloud, hysterically, at the recollection. With such
expression!--when he had been pouring his heart out in his voice.
She knew now, and it was too late. Why had he not spoken? Then she
realized that girls of her age did not marry. But girls of her age
did marry--in Hawaii--was her instant thought. Hawaii had ripened
her--Hawaii, where flesh is golden and where all women are ripe and
sun-kissed.

Vainly she scanned the packed multitude on the dock. What had
become of him? She felt she could pay any price for one more
glimpse of him, and she almost hoped that some mortal sickness would
strike the lonely captain on the bridge and delay departure. For
the first time in her life she looked at her father with a
calculating eye, and as she did she noted with newborn fear the
lines of will and determination. It would be terrible to oppose
him. And what chance would she have in such a struggle? But why
had Steve not spoken? Now it was too late. Why had he not spoken
under the hau tree at Waikiki?

And then, with a great sinking of the heart, it came to her that she
knew why. What was it she had heard one day? Oh, yes, it was at
Mrs. Stanton's tea, that afternoon when the ladies of the
"Missionary Crowd" had entertained the ladies of the Senatorial
party. It was Mrs. Hodgkins, the tall blonde woman, who had asked
the question. The scene came back to her vividly--the broad lanai,
the tropic flowers, the noiseless Asiatic attendants, the hum of the
voices of the many women and the question Mrs. Hodgkins had asked in