"Good-evening," he stammered, amazed by her unexpected greeting. "Have--have you fully recovered from your fall?"
"I was quite over it in a moment or two. I wanted to ask you if you were hurt by the force with which I fell against you." She stood with one hand upon the rail, quite close to him, the moonlight playing upon her upturned face. He never had seen a more perfect picture of airy grace and beauty in his life.
"Why mention an impossibility? You could not have hurt me in a fall ten times as great."
His tall figure straightened and his eyes gleamed chivalrously. The young woman's dark, mysterious eyes swept over him for a second, resting at last upon those which looked admiringly into them from above. She made a movement as if to pass on, gravely smiling a farewell.
"I beg your pardon," he said hastily. "You called me Mr. Veath a moment ago. It may be of no consequence to you, yet I should like to tell you that my name is Ridge--Hugh Ridge."
"It is my place to beg forgiveness. But I understood your name was Veath, and that you were--were"--here she smiled tantalizingly--"in love with the beautiful American, Miss Ridge."
"The dev--dick--I mean, the mischief you did! Well, of all the fool conclusions I've ever heard, that is the worst. In love with my sister! Ho, ho!" He laughed rather too boisterously.
"But there is a Mr. Veath on board, is there not?--a friend?"
"A Mr. Henry Veath going into the American Revenue Service at Manila."
"How stupid of me! However, I am positive that I was told it was Mr. Veath who was in love with Miss Ridge."