"
"But that's half the fun of it," she cried.
A trite platitude about his not caring to lose her was on his lips, but
he refrained from uttering it. Another conclusion he had arrived at was
that she was not to be nagged. Continual, or even occasional, reminders
of his feeling for her would constitute a tactical error of no mean
dimensions.
"Some for the book of verse, some for the simple life, and some for the
shark's belly," he laughed grimly, then added: "Just the same, I wish I
could swim as well as you. Maybe it would beget confidence such as you
have."
"Do you know, I think it would be nice to be married to a man such as you
seem to be becoming," she remarked, with one of her abrupt changes that
always astounded him. "I should think you could be trained into a very
good husband--you know, not one of the domineering kind, but one who
considered his wife was just as much an individual as himself and just as
much a free agent. Really, you know, I think you are improving."
She laughed and rode away, leaving him greatly cast down. If he had
thought there had been one bit of coyness in her words, one feminine
flutter, one womanly attempt at deliberate lure and encouragement, he
would have been elated. But he knew absolutely that it was the boy, and
not the woman, who had so daringly spoken.
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