There was music in her voice, but this time it did not awaken a responsive chord in the young man.

Extricating his oar violently, he silently resumed his work.
"Do you like crabs, Mr.Seymour ?" she said with apparent irrelevance.
"I don't like catching them, Miss Wilton," he admitted ruefully.
"Oh, I mean eating them! We were talking about your appetite, were we not?
Well, Dinah devils them deliciously.

I 'll have some done for you," she continued with suspicious innocence.
Seymour groaned in spirit at her perversity, and for the first time in his life felt an intense sympathy with devilled crabs; but he continued his labor in silence and with great dignity.
"What am I to infer from your silence on this important subject, sir?
The subject of edibles, which everybody says is of the first importance--to men--does not appear to interest you at all!" He made no further reply.
The young girl gazed at his pale face at first in much amusement; but the laughter gradually died away, and finally her glance fell to the water by her side.

A few strong strokes, strong enough, in spite of a wounded shoulder, to indicate wrathful purpose and sudden determination to the astute maiden, and the little boat swung in beside the wharf.
Throwing the oars inboard with easy skill, Seymour sat motionless while the boat glided swiftly down toward the landing-steps, and the silence was broken only by the soft, delicious lip, lip, lip of the water, which seemed to cling to and caress the bow of the skiff until it finally came to rest.

The man waited until the girl looked up at him.
She saw in his resolute mien the outward and visible sign of his inward determination, and she realized that the game so bravely and piquantly played since she met him was lost.