Steve was looking up at her with eager eyes, and he saw in her face
what he had not seen before. By the rush of gladness into his own
face she knew that he knew. The air was throbbing with the song -


My love to you.
My love be with you till we meet again.


There was no need for speech to tell their story. About her,
passengers were flinging their garlands to their friends on the
dock. Steve held up his hands and his eyes pleaded. She slipped
her own garland over her head, but it had become entangled in the
string of Oriental pearls that Mervin, an elderly sugar king, had
placed around her neck when he drove her and her father down to the
steamer.

She fought with the pearls that clung to the flowers. The transport
was moving steadily on. Steve was already beneath her. This was
the moment. The next moment and he would be past. She sobbed, and
Jeremy Sambrooke glanced at her inquiringly.

"Dorothy!" he cried sharply.

She deliberately snapped the string, and, amid a shower of pearls,
the flowers fell to the waiting lover. She gazed at him until the
tears blinded her and she buried her face on the shoulder of Jeremy
Sambrooke, who forgot his beloved statistics in wonderment at girl
babies that insisted on growing up. The crowd sang on, the song