I intended without a certain amount of compulsion, which would never
have worked out well. She'd have been miserable with Osborne for a
husband anyhow, even if he did succeed in outwitting Balderstone."

Then Harley went into a trance for a moment. From this he emerged
almost immediately with a laugh. The travellers on the sea had come
to his mind.

"Poor Mrs. Corwin," he said, "she's awfully upset. I shall have to
give her some diversion. Let's see, what shall it be? She's a
widow, young and fascinating. H'm--not a bad foundation for a
romance. There must be a man on the ship who'd like her; but, hang
it all! there are those twins. Not much romance for her with those
twins along, unless the man's a fool; and she's too fine a woman for
a fool. Men don't fall in love with whole families that way. Now if
they had only been left on the pier with Miss Andrews, it would have
worked up well. Mrs. Corwin could have fascinated some fellow-
traveller, won his heart, accepted him at Southampton, and told him
about the twins afterwards. As a test of his affection that would be
a strong situation; but with the twins along, making the remarks they
are likely to make, and all that--no, there is no hope for Mrs.
Corwin, except in a juvenile story--something like 'Two Twins in a
Boat, not to Mention the Widow,' or something of that sort. Poor
woman! I'll let her rest in peace, for the present. She'll enjoy
her trip, anyhow; and as for Osborne and Balderstone, I'll let them
fight it out for that dark-eyed little woman from Chicago I saw on
board, and when the best man wins I'll put the whole thing into a
short story."

Then began a new quest for characters to go with Marguerite Andrews.