“Yes, we’ve got to go to sea. I’m like Dave Warner in that I’m going to sea too.”
“But nobody’s driving you away.” She had her eyes on Clancy’s face then.
He didn’t look up––only stared into his glass.
She was silent for a full minute. Clancy said 296 nothing. “Nobody’s driving you away,” she said again.
At that Clancy looked at her. “There’s no telling,” he said at first, and then hastily, “Oh, no––of course nobody’s driving me to sea.”
“Then what’s your hurry?”
I got up and went to the door then. I heard the sound of a scraping chair and then of Clancy standing up. A moment’s quiet and then it was: “No, dear, I can’t stay––nobody’s driving me away, I know that. I’m sure you wouldn’t––not with your heart. And you’ve a good heart if you’d only give it a chance. But I can’t stay.”
“And why not? You won’t, you mean. Well, I never thought you were that kind of a man.”
“No? Well, don’t go to giving me any moral rating. Don’t go to over-rating me––or maybe you’d call it under-rating. But you see, it’s my friend that’s calling.”
“And you’re going out in this gale?”