“And he told you about that?” asked Gladwin, numbed for the moment.
“No, he didn’t. He’s much too modest. I knew of it the day it happened, and he has been my ideal ever since. But would you believe it, when I first spoke to him about it he could hardly remember it. Imagine doing such a brave thing, and then forgetting all about it.”
“Oh, I’ve forgotten lots of such things,” said the unrecognized hero.
Helen’s lips curled with scorn.
“Yes,” the young man was stung to go on, “and what Travers Gladwin did wasn’t brave at all.”
“What!” Helen gasped.
“She was so fat she couldn’t sink,” derided Gladwin, “so I swam out to her.”
“Yes,” bubbled over the young man, overjoyed at the opportunity of discounting his own heroism, “I swam out to her. I told her to lie on her back and float. Well, she did, and I”–––
“You!”