“I am glad you think so, Harvey,” she whispered. “You used to tell father that Carmela and Librada were the most beautiful women you had ever seen.”
“So they were. But you are quite as beautiful. And, Tessa----”
“Yes, Harvey”--this in the faintest whisper.
“Could you care for me at all, Tessa? I do not mean as a friend. I am only a poor trader, but if I thought you could love-me, I----”
She took a quick glance around the deck, and bent towards him. “I have always loved you, Harvey; always, always.” Then she pressed her lips to his, and in another moment was gone.
Harvey, with a sense of elation in his heart, walked for'ard to where Morrison was standing in the waist.
“Why, man, ye look as if ye could take the best man aboard on for four rounds,” said the engineer, with a smile.
“I do feel pretty fit, Morrison,” laughed the trader; “have you anything to drink in your cabin?”
“Some real Loch Dhu, _not_ made in Sydney. Man, your eye is as bright as a boy's.”
Just before eight bells were struck Chard came on deck. He was carefully dressed in shining, well-starched white duck, and his dark, coarsely-handsome face was aglow with satisfaction; he meant to “rub it in” to Carr, and was only awaiting till Tessa Remington and Captain Hendry were present to hear him do it. He knew she would be on deck in a minute or so, and Hendry he could see was sitting at his cabin table with his chart before him. Harvey was strolling about on the main deck, smoking his first pipe for many weeks.
Presently Tessa appeared with her woman attendant. She, too, had dressed in white, and for the time had discarded the wide Panama hat she usually wore. Her face was radiant with happiness as she took the deck-chair which Chard brought, and disposed herself comfortably, book in hand. She had seen Harvey on the main deck, and knew she would at least have him with her for a few minutes before dinner.
“Ha, Miss Remington. You give an atmosphere of coolness to the whole ship. Mr. Chard, big as he is, is only a minor reflection of your dazzling whiteness.”
“Thank you, Captain Hendry. I am quite sure that my father will be astonished to learn that I have been paid so many compliments on board the _Motutapu_. Had he known that you and Mr. Chard were such flatterers he would not have let me come away.”