The men resumed their chairs. They looked after her strong young body as, the wind blowing her skirt about her, she walked away.
"At all events," said Stainton heartily, "there goes the best American wife."
Von Klausen had grown accustomed to the open domesticity of Americans. He did not smile.
"She is a charming lady," he agreed. He looked out to sea. "And a beautiful." After a moment he added: "Do you object, sir, if I say that it is delightful, the manner in which the black hair gathers over her forehead and that in which she carries her gracious head?"
"Object, Captain? I say you're quite right. I'm a lucky man. Have you ever seen more lovely eyes?"
Von Klausen was still looking out to sea.
"In all the world I have seen but one pair that was their equal," he answered.
Stainton pulled at his cigar.
"You were saying,"—he returned to their previous subject—"that the American birth-rate declined as divorce grew. Do you think the increase of the one causes the decrease of the other?"
"I admit that the rate falls in times of commercial depression."