'--when you ask yourself timidly, 'Is it? Can it really be?' and
answer shyly, 'No. Yes. I believe it is!' I've been through it
dozens of times; it is a recognized early symptom. Unless prompt
measures are taken, it will develop into something acute. In these
matters, stand on your Uncle Arthur. He knows.'
'You make me sick,' Jimmy retorted.
'You have our ear,' said Mifflin, kindly. 'Tell me all.'
'There's nothing to tell.'
'Don't lie, James.'
'Well, practically nothing.'
'That's better.'
'It was like this.'
'Good.'
Jimmy wriggled himself into a more comfortable position, and took a
sip from his glass.
'I didn't see her until the second day out.'
'I know that second day out. Well?'
'We didn't really meet at all.'
'Just happened to be going to the same spot, eh?'
'As a matter of fact, it was like this. Like a fool, I'd bought a
second-class ticket.'
'What? Our young Rockerbilt Astergould, the boy millionaire,
traveling second-class! Why?'
'I had an idea it would be better fun. Everybody's so much more
cheery in the second cabin. You get to know people so much quicker.
Nine trips out of ten, I'd much rather go second.'
'And this was the tenth?'
'She was in the first-cabin,' said Jimmy.
Mifflin clutched his forehead.
'Wait!' he cried. 'This reminds me of something--something in
Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet? No. I've got it--Pyramus and Thisbe.'
'I don't see the slightest resemblance.'
'Read your 'Midsummer Night's Dream.' 'Pyramus and Thisbe,' says the
story, 'did talk through the chink of a wall,'' quoted Mifflin.
'We didn't.'
'Don't be so literal. You talked across a railing.'
'We didn't.'
'Do you mean to say you didn't talk at all?'
'We didn't say a single word.'
Mifflin shook his head sadly.
'I give you up,' he said. 'I thought you were a man of enterprise.
What did you do?'
Jimmy sighed softly.
'I used to stand and smoke against the railing opposite the barber's
shop, and she used to walk round the deck.'
'And you used to stare at her?'
'I would look in her direction sometimes,' corrected Jimmy, with
dignity.
'Don't quibble! You stared at her. You behaved like a common rubber-
