She dropped the ropes decisively, feeling the slightest twinge of
vexation at the answer.

'Why do you let go?'

'I do it so badly.'

'O no; you turned about for shore in a masterly way. Do you wish to
return?'

'Yes, if you please.'

'Of course, then, I will at once.'

'I fear what the people will think of us--going in such absurd
directions, and all through my wretched steering.'

'Never mind what the people think.' A pause. 'You surely are not
so weak as to mind what the people think on such a matter as that?'

Those words might almost be called too firm and hard to be given by
him to her; but never mind. For almost the first time in her life
she felt the charming sensation, although on such an insignificant
subject, of being compelled into an opinion by a man she loved.
Owen, though less yielding physically, and more practical, would not
have had the intellectual independence to answer a woman thus. She
replied quietly and honestly--as honestly as when she had stated the
contrary fact a minute earlier--

'I don't mind.'