and the flicker of her ensign at the stern were dazzling. Blue figures ran
busily about on her, and a white-and-blue person in a peaked cap stood
importantly at the wheel.

"She was on the mud last night," said Audrey eagerly, "opposite the Flank
buoy, and she came up this morning at half-flood. I think they made fast at
Lousey Hard, because they couldn't get any farther without waiting. They
have a motor, and it must be their first trip this season. I was on the
dyke. I wasn't even looking at them, but they called me, so I had to go.
They only wanted to know if Lousey Hard was private. Of course I told them
it wasn't. It was a very middle-aged man spoke to me. He must be the owner.
As soon as they were tied up he wanted to jump ashore. It was rather
awkward, and I just held out my hand to help him. Father saw me from here.
I might have known he would."

"Why! It's going off!" exclaimed Miss Ingate.

The yacht swung slowly round, held by her stern to the Hard. Then the last
hawser was cast off, and she floated away on the first of the ebb; and as
she moved, her main-sail, unbrailed, spread itself out and became a vast
pinion. Like a dream of happiness she lessened and faded, and Lousey Hard
was as lonely and forlorn as ever.

"But didn't you explain to your father?" Miss Ingate demanded of Audrey.

"Of course I did. But he wouldn't listen. He never does. I might just as
well have explained to the hall-clock. He raged. I think he enjoys losing
his temper. He said I oughtn't to have been there at all, and it was just
like me, and he couldn't understand it in a daughter of his, and it would
be a great shock to my poor mother, and he'd talked enough--he should now