Full Tide by Celine Conway

marry me might not also have an eye to the bank book. However,” she shrugged , “there must be something useful I can do somewhere. Perhaps when I settle back in, England I’ll take up social work.”
    That was the most Lisa ever got out of Mrs. Basson during the voyage, but it did help her to a slight understanding of the woman. It was odd the way the two of them had gravitated together, and stuck. There were several other girls around Lisa’s age, but she did not feel drawn to them, and they seemed more inclined to dally with the male passengers, or with the purser or the “Sparks,” than to deepen acquaintance with other women . After dinner that night there was dancing, and Lisa glided round with various young men who weren’t so different from Jeremy except that he was decidedly better looking. Tonight, the Captain stayed away from the lounge and promenade deck, and Lisa, in the arms of a perspiring business man, thought yearningly of the comfortable den in which Mark was no doubt taking his ease with a book and a pipe after his day’s work.
    It must have been nearly eleven when Jeremy swayed out to the floodlit promenade deck and claimed Lisa for the last dance. He did not say much beyond, “A free day tomorrow, thank the Lord ! ” And then, after his hold had closed about her more firmly, “Bear with me, Lee. I’m too muddled to talk it out tonight, and tomorrow’s a holiday. ” They danced the final encore and at the end of it he guided her out of the range of bright lights, and kept her hand in his. It was so late that all except a few confirmed dancers had gone to bed. But the air was so grand after the sticky heat of the day that Lisa felt revitalized. Jeremy, too, must have gained stamina after his arduous spell in Astra’s state room, for he slipped an arm about Lisa and put his lips to her temple.
    “That’s the first time we’ve danced, my sweet. You do it beautifully.”
    “I think you’re just a wee bit tight.”
    “I don’t have to be tight to long to kiss you.”
    “I hope not.” She moved, so that he could only have kept h er nearby being rough, and Jeremy had, perforce, to drop his arm. “I don’t care for casual kisses, Jeremy.”
    “Nor do I,” he said, abruptly for him, “but I hoped you’d regard them differently—certainly not casually. Maybe we’d better turn in. Will you promise to go ashore with me tomorrow?”
    “Do you mean take the tour?”
    “If you like, though I’d rather we wandered about without the crowd—without Nancy, too.”
    “I can’t leave Nancy. She won’t be in the way.”
    “But why can’t I have you to myself for once?” He sounded pettish and fatigued. “Do your best to park her with someone.”
    “No. If I go with you, Nancy goes, too. Goodnight, Jeremy.”
    “Goodnight,” he said with a light but weary smile. “Goodnight, darling.”
    The morning dawned flawless and sparkling. The sea glittered and the wind had just enough strength to flap the scalloped edges of the awning. Lisa and Jeremy had a swim while Nancy, to her disgust, was roped into a children’s competition in which, blindfolded, she had to chalk a tail on to the outline of a pig. Ices had taken the place of mid-morning beef-tea, and today they were coffee-flavored and topped with whipped cream which must have come from tins but was nevertheless delicious.
    Li sa and Jeremy won the first round in deck tennis and afterwards joined others at the rail to watch the island which rose, gentle and green, from the sea. Gran Canaria was already in sight when the lunch-gong chimed, and most of the passengers hurried through the meal and proceeded to load up, with cameras, binoculars, and pesetas bought from the purser.
    Anchor was cast in the Puerto de la Buz, and a suave warning boomed from the loudspeakers. “Attention, please. Passengers are requested to re-embark before seven-thirty this evening. Seven-thirty, ladies and gentlemen. I will repeat that.”
    From the deck,