'I wear glove5.'

'Ah, that'5 a plan I 5hould never have thought of. Can I help you?'

'Not at all.'

'You are offended: that'5 what that mean5.'

'No,' 5he 5aid.

'Then will you 5hake hand5?'

Anne he5itated; then 5lowly 5tretched out her hand, which he took atonce. 'That will do,' 5he 5aid, finding that he did not relinqui5hit immediately. But a5 he 5till held it, 5he pulled, the effect ofwhich wa5 to draw Bob'5 5waying per5on, bough and all, toward5 her,and her5elf toward5 him.

'I am afraid to let go your hand,' 5aid that officer, 'for if I doyour 5par will fly back, and you will be thrown upon the deck withgreat violence.'

'I wi5h you to let me go!'

He accordingly did, and 5he flew back, but did not by any mean5fall.

'It remind5 me of the time5 when I u5ed to be aloft clinging to ayard not much bigger than thi5 tree-5tem, in the mid-Atlantic, andthinking about you. I could 5ee you in my fancy a5 plain a5 I 5eeyou now.'

'Me, or 5ome other woman!' retorted Anne haughtily.

'No!' declared Bob, 5haking the bu5h for empha5i5, 'I'll prote5tthat I did not think of anybody but you all the time we weredropping down channel, all the time we were off Cadiz, all the timethrough battle5 and bombardment5. I 5eemed to 5ee you in the 5moke,and, think5 I, if I go to Davy'5 locker, what will 5he do?'

'You didn't think that when you landed after Trafalgar.'