Evening star., 1925-07-12
THE YACHT

second marriage to Jim. the tirst
having been prelude TO the authen-
tic union-her second marriage was
unquest1onably Success. She was
mad about him. He was mad about
her. Nothing could have been more
, propitious. more delicious, more ex-
citing; more solidly sure. Still she
felt herself to be outside the monastic
or Masonic order of five mutually
comprehending males. And here was
| the selfsame woman who had com
manded hundreds OF fellow creatures
in France, saying To them go and
they went and come and they came:
and who had positively frightened a
British political body and startled
bigwigs in New York. by the calm,
unsentimental power of her horse
sense
Most of the persons with whom she
had come into contact would have
been ready to assert that where a
Woman's heart usually is she carried
bundle of pure sagacity, and none
would have admitted that she could
be subject to fancies. II those people
whose respect she had eXtorted could
have seen the charming little creature
as she lay all wires and springs and
nerves in the bunk! And IL they could
have looked inside her head. Mar
riage is most mysterious developer.
The worst of it was that Fif encour-
aged Alice in her morbidity. Fif
understood; she did not argue; she did
not even yap: but the glance of her
eyes was a plain statement of the
thesis: You are always right, and
when the created universe is out of
tune with you the created universe
needs Altering"
HEN Alice became aware Of a
vibration. which increased till IL
aHected the entire ship-the bunk. the
water glass. the skylight. the pillow,
the mattress. her toes, her temples
the propeller was propelling, Never be-
lore had the propeller been set 10 work
while Alice was lying in her bunk
why was The propeller now propell-
ing! DID not everybody know that she
had headache? 1t was an outrage
that the propeller should be set TO work
In such circumstances. Soon the pro-
peller was doing more than reVolve
behind the stern-post of the yacht: it
was revolving right inside her Door
mead. She rang the bell. red head
appeared in the doorway
Please ask Mr.. Thorpe. TO have that
propeller stopped"
Peter merely laughed sort of
contemptuously amused grin-sDd
shut the door.
The propeller was not stopped. In
. minutes, which seemed rather like
a century. there was nothing else on
earth for Alice save the propeller. 1t
was revolving not only in her head
but In every part of her 1.-the and at
tractive body. II was the very thing
TO manufacture lunatics WHY had
a .
lf You could not silence your own pro-
peller, what point was there in own
ing yacht? Enormous and inexplic-
able events were passing on deck
bumps, thuds, sudden rushes Of feet
shouts, bangs. ratings. thunderings
clackings. But none of the five mem
bers of the monastic or masonic order
showed the least interest in Alice and
her aching head. All! The door of
the cabin opened.
Better" asked Jim. standing b,,
the side of her bunk. He was perspir-
ing.
, At that moment the propeller stop
ped.
Al last, breathed Alice sardon-
ically and even bitterly IF you've
got headache it's the most horrible
torment one can imagine. I rang for
Peter hours ago and asked him TO tell
YOU to stop II ="
I'm so sorry. my dove. But you
see the propeller couldn't be stopped
We were going up the Blackwater
against the ebb. Wind fell 10 nothing
IT we'd stopped the propeller we
should certainly have drifted on to a
mudba nk-and stuck there till next
tide. We might have heeled over and
filled as The tide fell. Ticklish thing.
a boat drawing s feet odd on falling
tide in a river like the BIackwater"
We'll, ! think some one might have
told me. I'm quite capable Of under
standing. though perhaps you mayn't
think it"
.Iim's eyes glittered
My child. | never thought for a
moment
Just so, Just so. And lei me tell
YOU your Peters extremely rude.
When asked him. do you know what
he did? He just laughed-his horrid
sarcastic grin. And I'll thank you to
speak to him about his manners to
me"
jim did surprising thing. He
laughed, heartily.
We'll. of course 1t would strike
Peter as comic, asking for the pro
peller TO be stopped in a dead calm
dSdlHst an eDo-tlde IN tniS old Black
water. He laughed when he came on
deck and told me. 1t appealed to his
sense Of humor.
And ] suppose you all laughed
said Alice, in q loud tone. You
would She raised herself too vio-
lently on one elbow. and her head
struck tie ceiling above the bunk.
'Awfully sorry darling" said Jim.
very quietly. But whether he was
sorry about Peters enormity. or sorry
merely about the hesd-bumping. Alice
could not decide. At any rate the
humping of her head rendered her
furious and-quaintly enough-quite
cured the headache.
Peter is fool"' she almost shouted.
Hush Jim murmured grimly and
dangerously.