The seaman started to repudiate vigorously, but looked into her
brimming eyes a moment, choked, and was silent.

"Yes, sir, you're what I call noble, not to pay any attention to the
boasts my brother is making of how he has backed you down."

"He is, is he?" The Cap'n rolled up his lip and growled.

"But I know just how brave you are, to put down all your anger at
the word of a poor woman. And a true gentleman, too. There are only
a few real gentlemen in the world, after all."

The Cap'n slid his thumb into the armhole of his waistcoat and swelled
his chest out a little.

"There was no man ever come it over me, and some good ones have tried
it, ma'am. So fur as women goes, I ain't never been married, but I
reckon I know what politeness to a lady means."

She smiled at him brightly, and with such earnest admiration that
he felt a flush crawling up from under his collar. He blinked at her
and looked away. Starboard, with an embarrassing aptness that is
sometimes displayed by children, whistled a few bars of "A Sailor's
Wife a Sailor's Star Should Be."

"I don't mind owning up to you that my brother has imposed upon me
in a great many ways," said the little lady, her eyes flashing. "I
have endured a good deal from him because he is my brother. I know
just how you feel about him, Cap'n, and that's why it makes me feel
that we have a--a sort of what you might call common interest. I don't