Mrs. Sinclair laughed.
"You'll have to work for once," she said. "I'm so sorry, but I cannot row at all, and I'm not going to trust myself, and my frock, and my luncheon to that canoe. We'll have the boat, please."
"Can you steer?" Melville asked.
"Not a little bit," she answered cheerfully; "it doesn't matter, does it?"
"There'll be a rare pack higher up," the boatman said to Melville, "but perhaps you'll not be going so far as Longbridge? If you do, and get into the crush, unship your rudder altogether. That'll be better than running any risks of being run into by any launches."
So the luncheon basket was transferred to the boat, and with easy strokes Melville sculled slowly up the stream.
"Better not try to steer at all," he remarked, as they zigzagged from one bank to the other. "Keep the lines by you in case I want your help, but while we have the river to ourselves I can manage better alone. Just tell me if there's anything coming down. So:" he fastened the rudder lines loosely on to the arms of Mrs. Sinclair's seat, and she, with a sigh of satisfaction, opened her parasol and resigned herself to the delicious spirit of idleness which makes a day up the river so enjoyable.
Nor could Melville fail to be glad that they had come; he possessed the faculty of getting the last ounce of pleasure out of whatever he had in hand, and a tête-à-tête with a charming and sympathetic woman in a boat on a summer's day was peculiarly to his taste. He resolutely put out of his mind all idea of possible complications if she should chance to be seen by Sir Geoffrey, and determined only to enjoy himself.
So he pulled indolently along, keeping under the shady bank, and lingering sometimes to pull a few wild flowers or to let his companion snatch at the round heads of the yellow lilies that seemed to evade her grasp with such intelligent skill; she insisted upon exploring every creek, however narrow, and the morning passed in laughing idleness.
In one of these little creeks, about a mile below Fairbridge, they found an ideal spot for luncheon, and, making the boat secure to the gnarled roots of a willow, Melville unstrapped the basket and carried it ashore. Mrs. Sinclair laid the cloth upon a level space of turf, while Melville spread the cushions from the boat to form easy couches for them. He surveyed the preparations with much satisfaction.