"But mayn't I open it?"

"No." West's eyes held hers for a second. "Not till to-morrow. And, in
case we don't meet again, I'll say good-bye."

"But we shall meet in New York?" she urged, with a sudden sense of loss.
"Or perhaps in Boston? My father would really like to meet you."

"Much obliged," said West, with his grim smile. "But I'm not much of a
society man. And I don't think I shall find myself in Boston at
present."

"Then--then--I sha'n't see you again--ever?" Cynthia's tone was
unconsciously tragic. Till that moment she had scarcely realised how
curiously strong an attraction this man held for her.

West's expression changed. His emotionless blue eyes became suddenly
more blue, and intense with a vital fire. He leaned towards her as one
on the verge of vehement speech.

Then abruptly his look went beyond her, and he checked himself.

"Who knows?" he said carelessly. "Good-bye for the present, anyway! It's
been a pleasant voyage."

He straightened himself with the words, nodded, and turned aside without
so much as touching her hand.

And Cynthia, glancing round with an instinctive feeling of discomfiture,
saw Rudd with another man, standing watching them at the end of the