And then, becoming aware of the heights of exquisite sensibility he attained, he decided that this was love and that love was the greatest thing in the world.

And in review would pass along the corridors of memory all previous thrills and burnings he had known,--the drunkenness of wine, the caresses of women, the rough play and give and take of physical contests,--and they seemed trivial and mean compared with this sublime ardor he now enjoyed.
The situation was obscured to Ruth.

She had never had any experiences of the heart.

Her only experiences in such matters were of the books, where the facts of ordinary day were translated by fancy into a fairy realm of unreality; and she little knew that this rough sailor was creeping into her heart and storing there pent forces that would some day burst forth and surge through her in waves of fire.

She did not know the actual fire of love.