deck-house, realizing that she was approaching. But when they had
met and passed he went his way vaguely disappointed. Instead of a
girl, as the first sight of her youthful figure had led him to
expect, he had seen a woman of perhaps forty. There was little in
her countenance to reveal her age except a certain settled look
that does not go with girlhood, and, while no one could have
thought her plain, she was certainly not so handsome as he had
imagined from a distance. Yet the face was attractive. The eyes
were wide-set, gray, and very clear, the mouth large enough to be
expressive. Her hair shone in the morning sun with a delicate
bronze lustre like that of a turkey's wing. It did not add to the
young man's comfort to realize that her one straight, casual
glance in passing had taken him in from his soiled collar to his
somewhat extreme patent leathers with the tan tops and pearl
buttons.

Being very young himself and of limited social experience, he
classed all women as either young or old--there was no middle
ground. So he dismissed her from his thoughts and continued his
search for a number seventeen shirt, and collar to match. But he
did not fare well. He found Mr. Stein in the smoking-room, but
discovered that his size was fifteen and a half; and there was no
one else to whom he could apply.

For a second time Stein importuned him to buy a chance on the
ship's run, and, failing in this, suggested that they have a drink
together. Had not Kirk realized in time his inability to
reciprocate he would have accepted eagerly, for his recent
dissipation had left him curiously weak and nervous. At the cost
of an effort, however, he refused. It was a rare experience for