"Tired, pet?"

"No," she murmured, "oh, no!"

"What, then?"

"Only happy--PERFECTLY happy."

"Same here," he said, careless how he tempted Fate--"only more so."

Their lips met, and were holding that sweetest kiss of lovers that are
man and wife, when a wave, driven by the wind, flung a shower of spray
at them, giving each a playful slap of the face as a hint not to be too
confident.

"Hadn't you better get inside?" he urged, as he wiped her cheek.

"It'll be rougher still directly." "Oh, no, it's splendid! The rougher
the better. I'm so glad it's rough. I can't take any harm, so well
wrapped up, and with you, my husband."

"Ah, Lil!" The hug he gave her in acknowledgment of the word made her
gasp for breath. He was so carried away that he had to use both arms,
whereby a lurch of the boat nearly unseated him. "Never," he declared,
in an intense whisper--"never shall you come to harm, my precious one,
while you've got me to protect you; I can promise you that."

"Dear," she returned, in the same kind of tone, "I know I never shall."