"Yaffti?"
"My sailboat."
"Oh, I haven't encountered Yaffti as yet."
He presently realized that she had never been down to the beach since she came. Instinctively he avoided suggesting it again. He would go off for a sail sometimes himself with his man, Sam Cornish, an old sailor who had been with him years before on his yacht. But Val was ingenious in inventing inland outings. Yaffti for the most part was tethered fast in the little cove, and Sam smoked endless pipes on the pier.
But Val made the old sailor's acquaintance nevertheless, and delighted in him. One day, in an encounter down at the stables, Sam made bold to remonstrate with her upon her "fear o' the sea."
"'Tain't wot I expected by the look o' yer, mum."
She laughed a little nervously, and went up the drive to meet Ethan.
"What's Sam being saying?" he said, conscious of the faint trace of agitation in her face.
"Sam? Oh, nothing! Sam and I are great friends." Restless under her husband's continued scrutiny, she asked: "How long have you known Sam?"