Hold tight, _preux chevalier_! One--two--three!" She came up to him out of the sea like a bird rising from the waves.

A moment he had her slim young body between his hands.

Then she stepped lightly upon the thwart, and he let her go.
And in that instant something happened: something that was like the kindling of spirit into flame ran between them--a transforming magic that only one knew for the Divine Miracle that changes the face of the whole earth.
To the girl, with her wet hair all around her and her face of baby-like innocence, it only meant that the sun shone more brightly and the sea was more blue for the coming of her _preux chevalier_.

And she sang, without knowing why.
To the man it meant the sudden, primal tumult of all the deepest forces of his nature; it meant the awakening of his soul, the birth of his manhood.
He was young, barely twenty-two.

Very early Ambition had called to him, and he had followed with a single heart.