"That's my secret. Let's go on deck."
"It's raining hard, and there'll be a good deal of pitching shortly.
Better turn in. You've been through enough to send the average woman into
hysterics."
"It won't be possible to sleep."
"I grant that, but I'd rather you would go at once to your cabin."
"I wonder if you will understand. I'm not really afraid. I know I ought to
be, but I'm not. All my life has been a series of humdrum--and here is
adventure, stupendous adventure!" She rose abruptly, holding out her arms
dramatically toward space. "All my life I have lived in a shell, and
chance has cracked it. If only you knew how wonderfully free I feel at
this moment! I want to go on deck, to feel the wind and the rain in my
face!"
"Go to bed," he said, prosaically.
Though never had she appeared so poignantly desirable. He wanted to seize
her in his arms, smother her with kisses, bury his face in her hair. And
swiftly upon this desire came the thought that if she appealed to him so
strongly, might she not appeal quite as strongly to the rogue? He laid the
spoon on the rim of the cup again and teetered it.
"Go to bed," he repeated.
"An order?"
"An order. I'll go along with you to the cabin. Come!" He got up.
"Can you tell me you're not excited?"
"I am honestly terrified. I'd give ten years of my life if you were safely
out of this. For seven long years I have been knocking about this world,
and among other things I have learned that plans like Cunningham's never
get through per order. I don't know what the game is, but it's bound to
fail. So I'm going to ask you, in God's name, not to let any romantical
ideas get into your head. This is bad business for all of us."
There was something in his voice, aside from the genuine seriousness, that
subdued her.
"I'll go to bed. Shall we have breakfast together?"
"Better that way."
To reach the port passage they had to come out into the main salon. Cleigh
was in his corner reading.
"Good-night," she called. All her bitterness toward him was gone. "And
don't worry about me."
"Good-night," replied Cleigh over the top of the book. "Be sure of your
door. If you hear any untoward sounds in the night call to the captain
whose cabin adjoins yours."