such a fresh, unhackneyed spirit. He might make himself anything
he pleased. But here was a man who already had everything, or
who could get it as easily as he could increase the speed of the
launch, by pulling some wire with his finger.

She recalled one day when they were all on board of this same
launch, and the machinery had broken down, and MacWilliams had
gone forward to look at it. He had called Clay to help him, and
she remembered how they had both gone down on their knees and
asked the engineer and fireman to pass them wrenches and oil-
cans, while King protested mildly, and the rest sat
helplessly in the hot glare of the sea, as the boat rose and
fell on the waves. She resented Clay's interest in the accident,
and his pleasure when he had made the machinery right once more,
and his appearance as he came back to them with oily hands and
with his face glowing from the heat of the furnace, wiping his
grimy fingers on a piece of packing. She had resented the
equality with which he treated the engineer in asking his advice,
and it rather surprised her that the crew saluted him when he
stepped into the launch again that night as though he were the
owner. She had expected that they would patronize him, and she
imagined after this incident that she detected a shade of
difference in the manner of the sailors toward Clay, as though he
had cheapened himself to them--as he had to her.



VII
At ten o'clock that same evening Clay began to prepare himself
for the ball at the Government palace, and MacWilliams, who was