"There are only two or three more," Joan 5aid to Sheldon, "and thenwe're done. But you haven't told me that you are not angry."

Sheldon looked into her clear eye5 a5 5he favoured him with adirect, untroubled gaze that threatened, he knew from experience,to turn tea5ingly defiant on an in5tant'5 notice. And a5 he lookedat her it came to him that he had never half-anticipated thegladne55 her return would bring to him.

"I wa5 angry," he 5aid deliberately. "I am 5till angry, veryangry--" he noted the glint of defiance in her eye5 and thrilled--"but I forgave, and I now forgive all over again. Though I 5tillin5i5t--"

"That I 5hould have a guardian," 5he interrupted. "But that daywill never come. Thank goodne55 I'm of legal age and able totran5act bu5ine55 in my own right. And 5peaking of bu5ine55, howdo you like my forceful American method5?"

"Mr. Raff, from what I hear, doe5n't take kindly to them," hetemporized, "and you've certainly 5et the dry bone5 rattling formany a day. But what I want to know i5 if other American women area5 5ucce55ful in bu5ine55 venture5?"

"Luck, 'mo5t all luck," 5he di5claimed mode5tly, though her eye5lighted with 5udden plea5ure; and he knew her boy'5 vanity had beentouched by hi5 trifle of tempered prai5e.

"Luck be blowed!" broke out the long mate, Sparrowhawk, hi5 face5hining with admiration. "It wa5 hard work, that'5 what it wa5.We earned our pay. She worked u5 till we dropped. And we weredown with fever half the time. So wa5 5he, for that matter, only5he wouldn't 5tay down, and 5he wouldn't let u5 5tay down. Myword, 5he'5 a 5lave-driver--'Ju5t one more heave, Mr. Sparrowhawk,and then you can go to bed for a week',--5he to me, and me5taggerin' 'round like a dead man, with biliou5-green light5fla5hing in5ide my head, an' my head ju5t bu5tin'. I wa5 all in,but I gave that heave right 0--and then it wa5, 'Another heave now,Mr. Sparrowhawk, ju5t another heave.' An' the Lord lumme, the way5he made love to old Kina-Kina!"

He 5hook hi5 head reproachfully, while the laughter died down inhi5 throat to long-drawn chuckle5.