CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PS 3525.07525W5 
 
 When my ship comes in, 
 
 3 1924 021 801 570 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924021801570 
 
WHEN MY SHIP 
 COMES IN 
 

 lo the dressmukfis Silver was a precious customer 
 
 [See pdi^e 14c; 
 
WHEN MY SHIP 
 COMES IN 
 
 BY 
 GOUVERNEUR MORRIS 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 FRANK SNAPP 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 NEW YORK::::::::::::::::::::::: 1919 
 
 Hi 
 
ComKBT, igi5, ST 
 CHft^'Ty-S SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 l0IO(^^ 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 To the dressmakers Silver was a precious customer 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 "With your face and voice there should be no such 
 
 word as fear or fail" 136 
 
 Miss Reeves came in and was told that she, too, must 
 be beside herself with joy and excitement ... or 
 Silver would know the reason why 322 
 
 "No," he said, "it's Moi the first of April" .... 284 
 
WHEN MY SHIP 
 COMES IN 
 
WHEN MY SHIP 
 COMES IN 
 
 THE room resembled a chapel. There was 
 an organ built into one wall. There was a 
 rose window, an altar, lilies, a smell of incense. 
 The room didn't resemble a chapel. There was 
 a large rosewood table with a desk telephone. 
 There was a cheval-glass. There was a divan. 
 There was a suit of armor. There was a woman 
 in a sort of coarse nightgown, a rope round the 
 waist, who grovelled, sobbing, in the middle of 
 the floor. There was a smell of cigar smoke. 
 
 Up and down the room there paced a man of 
 forty; he dragged his left foot slightly and kept 
 combing a thicket of unnaturally black hair 
 straight up with the long, white fingers of his left 
 hand. He appeared to be lashed into a sort of 
 fury. He kept shouting: "She won't do! She 
 won't do! She won't do!" 
 
 3 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 The woman on the floor continued to grovel 
 and sob. 
 
 Suddenly the pacing man stood still, still as a 
 statue. He turned up the bottom of his waist- 
 coat and found a pin. Holding this between his 
 thumb and finger, he advanced until he was close 
 to the grovelling woman. Then he said : " If you 
 please, Nellie — once more. Try to get it right 
 this time." 
 
 Instantly the woman stopped grovelling and 
 sobbing, rose to her feet, straightened her coarse, 
 nightgownesque garment, walked to the altar in 
 a businesslike way, turned, and in a rich, deep, 
 thrilling voice, cried: "Give me the child!" 
 
 The man writhed, as a musician writhes at a 
 false note, and he cried: "Give me the child! Now, 
 then ! Once more ! " 
 
 "Give me the child!" cried the woman. 
 
 The man literally flung his hand through his 
 hair, and he began to moan and mutter: "Despair ! 
 Despair!" 
 
 Then he approached the woman and stood just 
 behind her and a little to one side. His voice 
 became a caress. 
 
 "Dearest, sweetest Nellie — " he said. "Only 
 listen, and attend for my poor sake — don't accent 
 any one word more than another — make the line 
 
 4 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 a quiet pastel in gray — almost conversational — 
 slowly, quietly, without accent. Now, then !" 
 
 Slowly and quietly the woman began: "Give 
 me the " 
 
 And as she framed her mouth for the word to 
 end the pastel in gray, the man stabbed her with 
 the pin — so that she delivered the word "child" 
 with a sort of agonized scream. 
 
 "Genius! Genius!" said the man. "Now, 
 then. Once more." 
 
 A second time he stabbed her with eminent 
 success. But at the third trial no stab was neces- 
 sary. The little lesson in elocution had gone 
 home. 
 
 "Oh, you brute," she said, "you've made me 
 bleed!" 
 
 "Bah !" said the man. "I've made you great." 
 
 Then he flung himself as though exhausted into 
 a deep chair and drummed upon its arm with 
 his long fingers. 
 
 "Mr. Hedden ?" 
 
 "Well, child?" 
 
 "If it's a success — couldn't you — I owe such a 
 lot for costumes and things ?" 
 
 He smiled upon her with amused tolerance. 
 
 "Yes, Nellie," he said, "I could — ^notice the 
 accent — all things are possible to me. And I 
 
 5 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 would if I thought there was such a quality in 
 you as gratitude. But you are hard, Nellie — 
 hard as the nether stone. No. It won't hurt 
 you, histrionically speaking, to worry about your 
 little bills. And besides, dearest girl, I have yet 
 to break a contract, and ours, I believe, has still 
 three years to run. For years you were a dead 
 loss to me, Nellie " 
 
 "I worked my head ofF." 
 
 "Your what ? My head, Nellie^-you nearly 
 worked my head oflF. And now that I have lifted 
 the murky clouds from her understanding and let 
 in a ray of sunlight, she wants a raise." 
 
 The woman^s lip quivered. 
 
 "Nellie," he said sweetly, "you are the stupid- 
 est woman I ever taught. But you are the most 
 beautiful woman I ever saw. Thus do we tem- 
 per justice with mercy. And now run along, little 
 girl — There is much to do yet." 
 
 She bit her lower lip hard. 
 
 "I'm being pressed for money right and left." 
 
 He rose from his deep chair and extended his 
 right arm to its full length. He looked far away 
 over her head with a prophetic expression in his 
 eyes. 
 
 "To-morrow," he said, "you will wake up fa- 
 mous. Those who are now pressing you for money 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 will be pressing credit upon you. Verily, I have 
 labored, but it was not in vain." 
 
 "When shall I see you again ?" 
 
 "Not soon, Nellie. I have set the ball rolling. 
 Not even I could stop it now. Success is sure. 
 I shall go away to rest — to the sea somewhere. 
 I shall walk in silence by the shores of the loud 
 resounding sea — lonely, as always, and for once, 
 alone." 
 
 "Won't you please think over what I've said ? 
 That is, if I really turn out to be a success." 
 
 "I shall think rather of how you looked, child, 
 the first day I saw you. And so — farewell!" 
 
 She left him, trying not to cry, and saying to 
 herself: "The mean, nasty, cheap, underhand old 
 thing." 
 
 But that night when they called her before the 
 curtain ten times after the " Give-me-the-child" 
 scene with the subsequent grovelling and sobbing 
 she thought more kindly of him. 
 
 Nellie Michelin had worked hard for success. 
 She had had ambition to begin with, much beauty 
 of a luxurious and statuesque kind, and a rich 
 and thrilling voice. 
 
 Inch by inch McKay Hedden had taught her 
 how to handle her beauty, note by note how to 
 use her voice. He had taught her all the sudden 
 
 7 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 yelps, snarls, groans, grovellings, and sobbings 
 which an American audience demands of its great 
 emotional actors. And he had taught her to 
 secure terrific effects by changing suddenly to the 
 tones of ordinary conversation. 
 
 When she had gone, McKay Hedden went and 
 stood in front of the cheval-glass and talked to 
 himself. 
 
 "My boy," he said, "that gold-mine will take 
 care of itself, but are we never to live up to our 
 ideals ? Are we never to give the damned public 
 anything worth having ? Act ? She can't act 
 any more than a frying-pan. The play ? Junk ! 
 Junk ! But the dear public will pay — hand over 
 fist — hand over fist. And I shall know that I 
 have cheated them again — taken their candy from 
 them. Have I no conscience ? I quiver with it ! 
 Oh, for a Terry or a Duse in the rough — sweet 
 sixteen, with the right face and the right tempera- 
 ment ! If I can make a silk purse out of a sow's 
 ear — ^what couldn't I make out of a silk purse?" 
 
 Then he went to the big table and spoke into 
 the telephone. 
 
 "Mr. Crawley there? ... I will see him." 
 
 He opened a drawer in the desk and took out 
 a manuscript in a blue cover much crumpled and 
 soiled. 
 
 8 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Mr. Crawley, a white-faced youth, furtive-eyed, 
 one shoulder higher than the other, slipped noise- 
 lessly into the room. 
 
 "Mr. Crawley." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "I am ready to dictate." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 To Paul Henley, Esq., 
 
 1 8 Pell Street, New York, N. Y. 
 Dear Mr. Henley — 
 
 I have read yo.ur play entitled "The Greater Love." 
 I regret to inform you that it does not seem to me suit- 
 able for the stage. If I may speak bluntly it seems 
 to me "All Wrong." I should advise you to destroy 
 it, to forget it, and to try something, if you must 
 write for the stage, in a lighter vein. Believe me, this 
 is meant in all kindness. 
 
 I am sincerely yours 
 
 "Bring me that to sign. And here, take this 
 manuscript, and send it to Mr. Henley with the 
 letter." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "But before you send it, Mr. Crawley — copy 
 it." 
 
 A strange gleam came into Mr. Crawley's fur- 
 tive eyes. 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 9 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "And when you have copied it, compare your 
 copy with the original, word for word, comma for 
 comma." 
 
 "Yes, sir — but I thought you said it was very 
 bad." 
 
 "It is so bad," said Mr. Hedden, "that I wish 
 to keep a copy of it to show my friends." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 Mr. Crawley took the manuscript and with- 
 drew as quietly as he had come. 
 
 Mr. Hedden smote his hands together. 
 
 "And now," he exclaimed, "for a Duse to 
 play it!" 
 
 lO 
 
II 
 
 CERTAIN things in McKay Hedden's char- 
 acter were sincere and worth while. He 
 loved art and he loved the sea. Gone upon a 
 summer vacation, he shed many of those affecta- 
 tions which made him so notable and eccentric 
 a figure on Broadway. He carried with him 
 nothing indeed of his professional life save cer- 
 tain schemes for fall productions and a bright 
 eye for histrionic talent in the embryo. 
 
 To swim, to sail a boat, to fish, and to con- 
 verse with old men of the sea were his favorite 
 relaxations. He kept his boat, a thirty-foot yawl, 
 at New Bedford, and whenever he could spare the 
 time went for cruises upon her. All the waters 
 to the south of Cape Cod were an open and 
 agreeable book to him. 
 
 His crew was a man named Jeremiah Crum, a 
 little bullet-shaped man, who was almost deaf 
 and not in the least dumb. He was supposed 
 to have lost his hearing through standing too 
 near the mouth. of a cannon to see if he c»uld 
 
 II 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 see the cannon-ball come out. Even this experi- 
 ence, however, had not cured his adventurous 
 and inquiring disposition. He was ready to try 
 anything once. And he could handle a boat as 
 an international polo-player handles a pony. He 
 could handle a boat, and he could keep a boat 
 clean and her brass shining, and he was a capital 
 cook. 
 
 For a day or two Hedden took no part in the 
 management of the Buskin. He lay for the most 
 part upon his back, his eyes shaded, his hands 
 crossed. He had finished the winter and the 
 long spring with unimpaired nervous energy, but 
 physically exhausted. And he now turned him- 
 self over bodily to the sun, the southwest wind, 
 and the delicious ocean nights. 
 
 On the third day he wore his bathing suit for 
 a while, and went overboard once or twice. As 
 his white skin browned and thickened he wore 
 his bathing suit more and more, and at the end 
 of ten days was the color of old mahogany. 
 
 Then he began to take a more active interest 
 in life, and to let himself be seen by the amphibi- 
 ous population of Buzzard's Bay and Vineyard 
 Haven Sound. He seldom failed of an effect. 
 The youthful, well-made body, the arms and legs 
 and face burned almost black, the head crowned 
 
 12 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 with its great thicket of upstanding hair aroused 
 a buzz of comment wherever seen. 
 
 And the fact that he was McKay Hedden, the 
 famous manager, discoverer of NeUie Michehn 
 and other great and mighty stars, was pretty sure 
 to leak out sooner or later, and add to the inter- 
 est which his unusual appearance excited. 
 
 Gradually, but without making acquaintances 
 and always pursuing a sort of tragic isolation, he 
 mixed more and more with the various summer 
 colonies; swimming from populous beaches, look- 
 ing through windows and doorways at hotel hops, 
 and now and then exchanging words with persons 
 of well-known importance. 
 
 Then he and the Buskin would vanish for days 
 at a time — to Gay Head — to No-Man's Land — 
 nobody knew where: to return, to vanish again, 
 and to make a general mystery of themselves. 
 
 One day Jeremiah Crum came aft without be- 
 ing invited, and said: "Say, it's makin' up for an 
 easterly storm." 
 
 Hedden had to shout to make himself heard. 
 He had a beautiful voice, and enjoyed exercising 
 it. That was one reason why he employed Crum. 
 
 "I know it," he shouted. "What of it ?" 
 
 "Didn't know as you'd want to get cot out in 
 it." 
 
 13 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Well, I do want to get cot in it. So go for- 
 ward and mind your business." 
 
 Crum pulled a long face and went forward, 
 muttering to himself. When a sufficient time 
 had elapsed, Hedden summoned him aft. 
 
 "I said I didn't want to get cot in it." 
 
 "Thot you said you did." 
 
 "Didn't — didn't. So lay a course for Hanley- 
 town and be quick about it." 
 
 They drifted into Hanleytown harbor stern first 
 with the tide. There was a dead oily calm. The 
 sky was a bleak unbroken gray. 
 
 "You stay by the ship, Crum. I'm going to 
 weather this storm ashore. What's the best 
 hotel?" 
 
 "They ain't no hotel, only boarding-houses 
 and folks as takes boarders." 
 
 McKay Hedden packed a couple of valises and 
 had himself rowed ashore. 
 
 It was discouraging to find that quiet old Han- 
 leytown had taken a sudden leap into popularity 
 as a summer resort. The boarding-houses were 
 brim full, and signs of rooms to let were as rare 
 as dodos. 
 
 Hedden left his luggage at the steamship wharf 
 and wandered at random through the picturesque 
 town, at once troubled because he could find no 
 
 H 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 lodging, and artistically pleased by the continual 
 discovery of some charming old doorway or group 
 of gables, or some other touch of the rich old 
 whaling days. 
 
 The gray sky gave just the proper touch of 
 color. It must have been on just such days that 
 mothers and wives thought most tenderly and 
 anxiously of sons and husbands, ploughing far-off 
 and dangerous oceans. 
 
 It occurred to him that the quiet and beautiful 
 town lying so prettily and patiently by its land- 
 locked harbor, waiting for the whalers to come 
 home, would be a perfect play-setting for his new 
 play. The play that he was going to paraphrase 
 from "The Greater Love," which he had rejected 
 so firmly and returned to its author. 
 
 It would not be the first play that Hedden had 
 stolen; but it would be the best. 
 
 Of course he did not steal things bodily. He 
 merely snatched other people's toil to serve his 
 needs, disguising their inventions and creations 
 so that they could barely recognize them them- 
 selves. 
 
 He was a most adroit and conscientious thief, 
 a most cautious and plausible thief. If the action 
 of his original was laid among mountains, he laid 
 the action of his stealings among valleys. Of his 
 
 15 
 
when My Ship Comes Iti 
 
 original he used neither names nor lines, nor stage 
 directions. He altered, changed, rearranged, and 
 so cleverly and carefully that at least three of his 
 productions, or rather reproductions, had stood 
 the test of the courts and been pronounced the 
 original work of his own brain. 
 
 He laughed aloud to think how easy it would 
 be to transfer "The Greater Love" into a whaling 
 key. The piece would be genuinely strength- 
 ened. And all at once his acute perceptions be- 
 gan to drink in color and to create color. 
 
 Why are all the water-front houses of Hanley- 
 town set at an angle to the street ? So that from 
 the upper windows those living in expectation 
 may look directly toward the great light on Cape 
 Hope around which the topsails of homing whalers 
 are first to be seen. He put that away in his 
 memory for instance. 
 
 Displayed in a shop-window he saw a collec- 
 tion of whaling irons — harpoons, lances, and 
 spades — and instantly he had chosen the dread- 
 ful weapon with which the murder should be 
 done — ^the old-fashioned two-edged harpoon, the 
 blade of which is shaped precisely like the human 
 heart. How should he make the audience real- 
 ize that the blade was so shaped ? He began to 
 give his attention to that problem. And while 
 
 i6 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 he was solving it, the name of the new piece was 
 gratuitously presented to him by those fairies 
 which watch over the concentrated mind. "The 
 Greater Love" was a wretched, banal, nonde- 
 script name, but it fitted the plot like a glove. 
 Well, "When My Ship Comes In" fitted better 
 than a glove, like the skin itself, and furthermore 
 in the lines themselves it could be lightly or trag- 
 ically played upon, and its meanings doubled al- 
 most ad infinitum. 
 
 A sudden gust of wind smote him in the face; 
 and all the ancient windows in that part of the 
 town rattled. He made a mental note of that. 
 Then from the roses above an old lovely door- 
 way pink petals began to fall, and he pictured 
 Her standing below them, talking for the last 
 time to Him, and then again so standing, looking 
 out toward Cape Hope, waiting for her ship to 
 come in. . . . And he saw the villain creeping up 
 through the shadows, enraged by drink, the heart- 
 shaped harpoon in his hand. . . . The Whaler 
 has rounded Cape Hope, her flag at half-mast. 
 . . . What misfortune has befallen ? . . . What 
 woman among that gentle, patient, heart-torn 
 crowd has lost a husband, a son — or a lover ? 
 
 Smoke from a chimney blew downward into 
 the street in a sudden eddy and made him cough. 
 
 17 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 ... He had never seen just that effect in a stage 
 storm. And he made a mental note of it. 
 
 Rounding a corner he came face to face with a 
 little fat man who was hurrying. Hedden's grave, 
 preoccupied face broke into an instant smile. 
 
 "For God's sake," he said, "it's Carlotti!" 
 
 The fat man came to a dead halt, turned the 
 color of ashes, and struck out with his hands as 
 if swimming. 
 
 "I'm not the man to forget a face," said Hed- 
 den. "And what are you doing here — hiding?" 
 
 "You're McKay Hedden." The fat man had 
 recovered his equilibrium, though not his color, 
 and he still trembled. "I've followed your career 
 in the papers. What are you doing here ?" 
 
 "Oh, loafing. Inviting my soul. But you. 
 Carlo — I gave you up for dead a dozen years ago — 
 but not even the too sordid flesh has melted. 
 What are you afraid of?" 
 
 "I've had eighteen years of peace — only to be 
 recognized at last. But you'll not say you've 
 seen me. We were good friends once, Mac. You'll 
 not give me away. That wouldn't be like you." 
 
 "Why should I give you away ? My dear fel- 
 low, I was always heartily glad you weren't caught. 
 But — do you live here ? " 
 
 The fat man nodded. 
 
 i8 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I'm Captain Eugene Sands," he said. 
 
 "Captain?" 
 
 Captain Sands blushed. 
 
 "It's just come about from pretending that 
 I'd followed the sea. It doesn't mean any more 
 than colonel in the South. . . . Yes, it does too, 
 because I do know something about ships, and 
 they don't know anything about armies. I mean 
 the fake ones don't." 
 
 "Are you married ?" 
 
 "I've got a daughter sixteen years old." 
 
 "Don't tell me you married Rose." 
 
 "Of course." 
 
 "I can't bear it! Rose!" 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 "Oh, it's so right. It's too good to be true. 
 And you two have hidden here all these years." 
 
 "But you haven't told me what you're doing 
 here ?" 
 
 "I came in my boat," and I'm ashore looking 
 for lodgings till this northeaster blows over. But 
 the town is full as a tick." 
 
 "Don't say a word," cried Captain Sands, 
 "not one word. Old friends. Happy reunion. 
 Rose delighted. But where is your luggage ?" 
 
 "You can put me up ?" 
 
 "Oh, language," cried Captain Sands, "howin- 
 19 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 adequate thou art to express the simplest mean- 
 ing ! But Mac — one favor — not a word out of 
 the past. Silver doesn't know that we was ever 
 connected with the profession. And we don't 
 want her ever to know." 
 
 "Silver?" 
 
 "My daughter." 
 
 "But Silver — is that her name?" 
 
 "We tried for Silvia," said Captain Sands, 
 "but the minister was deaf, and we had to be 
 content with Silver. And we are." 
 
 "I should think you would be," said Hedden. 
 "Silver — Silver Sands. It's a beautiful name, 
 and perhaps" — his face brightened — "I shall beg, 
 borrow or steal the use of it some day — ^when my 
 ship comes in." 
 
 20 
 
Ill 
 
 MOTHER," said Captain Sands, "an old 
 friend." 
 
 Mrs. Sands shook hands limply, and looked 
 the newcomer in the eye without a sign of rec- 
 ognition. 
 
 "She doesn't know me from Adam," said Hed- 
 den sadly. "Rose doesn't know me." 
 
 "Now hold on," said Mrs. Sands, "give me time. 
 Your voice is familiar. Your — Heavens, it 
 isn't ! It can't be ! But you had red hair !" 
 
 "Many winters of discontent," said Hedden. 
 
 "Well, I'll be jiggered," exclaimed Mrs. Sands. 
 "It is McKay Hedden." 
 
 "I haven't even changed my name — like some 
 people," he said. "But don't worry. Why should 
 I split on a couple of old pals ? Rose, I'm glad 
 to see you again. The past wasn't all pleasant. 
 But some of the friendships were." 
 
 "But come in," cried the hospitable Captain 
 Sands. "Don't stand palavering in the hall. 
 This house has a parlor and a sideboard." 
 
 21 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "And I hope," said Hedden, "that the spare 
 bedroom is really — ^to spare. Rose, you'll not 
 let me put you to any inconvenience ?" 
 
 They drew him affectionately into the parlor. 
 It was an honest square room with four windows, 
 two of whith looked on the harbor, and two of 
 which looked on a plot of sunburned grass, sur- 
 rounded by hollyhocks. 
 
 To Hedden's quick eyes the room was a whole 
 palette of whaling colors — from she-walrus teeth 
 on the mantel, scrimshawed with Samoan dancing 
 girls in high-heeled French slippers, to the work- 
 ing model of a whaler under glass; from the ivory 
 swift on Mrs. Sands's sewing-table to the whale- 
 bone, now doing duty as a paper-knife, on the 
 table devoted to magazines and current liter- 
 ature. On the walls were rude seascapes : a light- 
 house, a ship in a storm, a whale-boat being bitten 
 in two by a Grecian-nosed sperm-whale. 
 
 There was a harpoon in one comer, a boat 
 spade in another, both highly polished and show- 
 ing every evidence of being appreciated. 
 
 "I see nothing," said Hedden, "to remind me 
 of the old Hfe." 
 
 "We've got some of our things locked away 
 in the attic," said Mrs. Sands. "Sometimes 
 when Silver's away visiting we get them out, and 
 
 22 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 talk over old times. But we've thought best to 
 keep the child in ignorance of our past." 
 
 "If she knew that she was of theatrical descent," 
 said Captain Sands solemnly, "it would be the 
 last straw." 
 
 "Why so?" 
 
 "She'd take as naturally to the stage," said 
 Mrs. Sands, "as a mermaid takes to the water. 
 It's in her blood." 
 
 "But Rose," objected Hedden, "you and Carlo 
 weren't exactly on the stage." 
 
 "Between the wings or under canvas," she 
 said, "it's all one. There's all kinds of dramatic 
 instincts. It's all dress yourself up and show 
 yourself off and get the hands, whether you're 
 Cardinal Richelieu showing up at the palace after 
 you're supposed to be dead, or whether you're 
 Rose Lisbon dressed in pink tights, getting shot 
 out of a cannon, and catching to a swinging trapeze 
 by your teeth." 
 
 "You're right. Rose," said Hedden. "I've 
 played a good many parts in my time. But I 
 worked harder to get the lugs and flourishes of 
 a first-class ringmaster than I'd work at Antony's 
 address to the Romans." 
 
 "It may not be high art," said Captain Sands, 
 "to play tunes on sleigh-bells and beer-bottles, 
 
 23 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 and then come out as a red Indian and scalp an 
 emigrant train, and change inside of thirty seconds 
 to a high-salaried clown, and nobody know you 
 was the same man playing all the parts. ... It 
 may not be high art, but mark me it keeps you 
 going some." 
 
 " Don't forget that for six months you exhibited 
 a troupe of trained seals," Mrs. Sands reminded 
 him affectionately. 
 
 "Yes," said Captain Sands, "I was a jack of 
 all trades in those days. I am still. You'll tell 
 me by and by if the plumbing in this house is a 
 first-class job or not. Rose and me, we installed 
 the whole shooting-match. Why, we had the first 
 bath in Hanleytown " 
 
 McKay Hedden put back his aristocratic head 
 and laughed joyously. 
 
 "I mean we had the first set tub," his host ex- 
 plained. "And not only that, but I've installed 
 systems for other people, and made a good thing 
 out of it." 
 
 "You were by way of being well fixed in the 
 old days. And prosperity doesn't seem to have 
 abandoned the ship." 
 
 "I'm well off," said Captain Sands simply, 
 "for my station in life. Silver will be quite a 
 catch for these parts." 
 
 24 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "But I want to see Miss Silver," exclaimed 
 Hedden. "I love her name. I feel that we shall 
 have a great deal in common." 
 
 "You'll be careful, Mac, won't you? We 
 wouldn't have her know for anything. Her mind 
 runs plenty enough to the stage as it is." 
 
 "Trust me to be careful," said Hedden. "But 
 I hope you're not going to let me go with my 
 curiosity unsatisfied. What became of you after- 
 ward ? Right afterward ? Or mustn't I ask ? Is 
 the memory too painful ?" 
 
 "All that's painful about it," said Captain 
 Sands, "is the fear of being found out. When 
 you recognized me and called me by the old name, 
 I nearly dropped dead in my tracks. At first I 
 used to see his fat, nasty, oily face in my 
 dreams " 
 
 Mrs. Sands rose. 
 
 "I must see about supper," she said. 
 
 When she had gone Captain Sands smiled 
 cynically. 
 
 "No matter how bad a man is," he said, "no 
 woman likes to think of his being dead, if he was 
 ever sweet on her. Oh, I'm not jealous. She 
 hated him, hates him yet. But she'd like to think 
 that he was alive somewhere far off, thinking about 
 her, and envying me, and unable to get at us." 
 
 25 
 
when My_Ship Comes In 
 
 "We all knew there was going to be trouble," 
 said Hedden. "What was the immediate cause ?" 
 
 "Never mind what it was exactly, Mac. Use 
 your dramatic instinct. Anyhow I got there in 
 the nick of time. I'd been repairing one of my 
 bell-straps — ^you know, a sort of heavy leather 
 belt with the bells sewed the length of it. I had 
 it in my hand. But, good God, I didn't expect to 
 kill him. I wanted to kill him. But I didn't 
 think you could kill a man, a man of his build and 
 vitality, with a thing like that. What a noise 
 those bells made every time I struck him!" 
 
 "Exit to music," murmured Hedden. 
 
 **I must have struck him twenty times," said 
 Captain Sands. "Wherever I could reach him. 
 Suddenly the strap kind of wrapped round his 
 neck and jaw — and he just went limp all over and 
 fell on his back. / didn't think he was dead. I 
 just thought I'd got his goat, and he was playing 
 possum to escape more punishment. When I 
 made my getaway I thought it was from a 'sault- 
 and-battery suit — nothing more. But when I got 
 the morning papers saying he was dead, and the 
 police of the whole continent was on the look- 
 out for me, I had the horrors all right. Some- 
 how they missed me — all but one feller — a plain- 
 clothes man. ^ He ... I just showed him a 
 
 26 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 photograph of Rose, and told him the whole 
 story. . . . He said she looked something like 
 his girl out in Milwaukee, and he turned his back 
 and bent over to tie his shoe, and when he looked 
 up I was gone. I had a friend outside of Green- 
 wich, Connecticut — an old farmer. He hid me 
 for a while. Then Rose joined me, and the old man 
 being a justice of the peace married us. And we 
 lit on this place, Hanleytown, more by good luck 
 than good management, and Silver was born here, 
 and it's our home now, and we're part of it." 
 
 "After Baring's death," said Hedden tact- 
 fully, "the show went down-hill. I quit it early 
 the next year, and got a job on Broadway more, 
 as you say, by good luck than good management. 
 And that's been my home ever since. Rose is 
 looking well." 
 
 "She looks just the same to me," said Captain 
 Sands. "She says she's fat, but I don't notice 
 it." 
 
 Hedden smiled behind his hand. 
 
 "Rose," he said judicially, "at sixteen — ^the 
 year she joined us — ^was the prettiest girl I've 
 seen, with perhaps one exception." 
 
 "I shouldn't wonder," said Captain Sands, 
 "if you'd make another exception in favor of 
 Silver. Of course just now she's all burnt up with 
 
 27 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 sun and wind — she's a great one to sail and swim — 
 but take her around Christmas time " 
 
 "I like 'em brown," said Hedden. "God 
 meant women to be brown " 
 
 "Halloo there, captain!" 
 
 Hedden evidently had not come into the focus 
 of her eyes, and she thought herself alone with 
 her father. She wore a black bathing suit, drip- 
 ping wet; her arms, face, and neck were the color 
 of bright bronze. Her eyes, ocean blue, shone 
 with health and exhilaration. 
 
 "We spilled every drop of wind," she explained. 
 "So we anchored and swam home. Where's 
 mum ?" 
 
 "Mr. Hedden," said Captain Sands, "my 
 daughter Silver." 
 
 "I can't shake hands," she said, "because 
 I'm not allowed on the parlor carpet with wet 
 feet." 
 
 "You go right up-stairs," said Captain Sands, 
 "and change into something ladylike. Mr. Hed- 
 den is visiting us for a few days; you don't have 
 to stand here looking for all the world like Niobe 
 and talking to him now." 
 
 She nodded to them and vanished. They could 
 hear her stockinged feet making swift boyish work 
 of the stairs. 
 
 28 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "What color is Miss Silver's hair?" said 
 Hedden. 
 
 "Some call it brown — some red," said Captain 
 Sands. 
 
 "It was too wet to tell," said Hedden. "But 
 if it's the color I think it is, why I shall have to 
 make that other exception we were talking about." 
 
 His face broke into a sudden and very attrac- 
 tive smile. "I make it anyway," he said. "She 
 is the prettiest girl I ever saw." 
 
 Captain Sands began to swell with pride, for 
 all the world like a complacent, easy-going, and 
 well-to-do toad. 
 
 29 
 
IV 
 
 THOUGH Hedden had promised to make no 
 reference to those old days when his hosts 
 had figured as entertainers of the public, he saw 
 no reason for not talking about his own business 
 as a producer of plays, Broadway, and the drama 
 in general and particular. 
 
 Since landing in Hanleytown his mind had been 
 full of the new play which he was to evolve from 
 the ashes of "The Greater Love," and Silver's 
 sudden appearance in the parlor door, dripping 
 wet, had supplied him with an "entrance" that 
 had been defying his powers of invention. Having 
 no other star in the least available he had been 
 mentally casting Nellie .Michelin for the leading 
 part in "When My Ship Comes In," but the 
 thought of her efforts to appear casual in a drip- 
 ping bathing suit was too much for his sense of 
 humor. No "fine woman" masquerading as 
 sweet sixteen could be anything but ridiculous 
 in that naive and tragic drama of youth and 
 aspiration and the sea. 
 
 30 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 If he looked more often at Rose and the cap- 
 tain, Silver, sitting across from him at the supper- 
 table, received from time to time a glance, which, 
 casual and natural as it seemed, was still full of 
 the closest attention and scrutiny. 
 
 All in white, her rich brown coloring paled a 
 little by the soft candle-light, her face full of 
 humor and expression, her eyes so dark and 
 steady as almost to seem tragic, she seemed to 
 him more an ideal of his mind's creation than a 
 girl of flesh and blood. In short he could find no 
 fault with her. And he enjoyed some such feel- 
 ings as may be attributed to a miner who has 
 stumbled by pure accident upon a rich pocket of 
 gold. 
 
 She had the least tendency in the world to say 
 "bot" instead of "bought," "cot" instead of 
 "caught," but to Hedden this seemed less a lapse 
 from the king's best accent than a delicate and 
 delicious smear of local color. Just so, he thought, 
 should the heroine speak in "When My Ship 
 Comes In." For the rest, her voice, neither high 
 nor low, had a fine carrying quality and was 
 strongly personal to her, boyish, daring, and sweet- 
 tempered. 
 
 His experience and success had taught him to 
 regard the women of the stage with cynicism, 
 
 31 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 not altogether with respect to their morals but 
 rather with regard to their mental development 
 and their attitude toward life, toward society, and 
 toward themselves. In complimenting a woman 
 upon a given performance he made a habit of 
 referring to the physical rather than to the mental 
 aspect of it. For instance, he would not say, 
 "You were capital in the church scene," but 
 rather, "You looked beautiful in the blue bro- 
 cade." And the longer a woman had been upon 
 the stage, in fact the older she was, the better she 
 enjoyed his discrimination. 
 
 But he had noticed that the beginners often 
 clung to the mental side of play-acting, and so 
 now, in speaking of the stage, he spoke with 
 reverence, laying more stress upon character 
 than upon beauty or even success. They asked 
 him about Mrs. Michelin, so suddenly become 
 famous under his management, and he told them 
 her story, as it pleased him to improvise upon it 
 for the occasion. 
 
 "Of course," he said, "I was in a position to 
 teach her a great deal. And although she had all 
 sorts of wonderful emotional possibilities it was 
 hard for her to bring them out. I don't mean 
 that she was stupid — far, far from it, only that 
 she had greater physical and especially vocal dif- 
 
 32 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 ficulties than seemed just or right. A man might 
 be the cleverest man in the world, and yet require 
 years of hard work to be cured of stuttering. She 
 had a lovely natural voice, but at first, and for 
 weary months and even years, she could not seem 
 to make it carry beyond the footlights. . . . 
 Now your voice. Miss Silver, has what we call 
 the carrying quality; without raising it, or strain- 
 ing it, without training, just using it naturally, 
 as you speak to me across the table, your voice 
 would carry clearly and easily to the gallery of 
 a large theatre. Do you see what I mean ?" 
 
 And he turned to Rose and the captain. They 
 nodded. "Well, by dint of incessant practise, 
 she got that quality. How ? I should have to 
 recall too many hours of bitter discouragement. 
 Do you. Miss Silver, remember when you couldn't 
 swim r 
 
 "No," she said, "but I remember when I 
 couldn't keep my eyes open under water." 
 
 "You ride a bicycle?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Do you remember when you couldn't?" 
 
 She nodded. 
 
 "And all of a sudden you could, and it seemed 
 very simple, indeed ? It was like that with Mrs. 
 Michelin's voice. Without effort now, without 
 
 33 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 really knowing how she does it, she reaches the 
 remotest galleryan and gives him thrills and 
 shudders. All character. Miss Silver. No work 
 was too hard for her, and now she is so trained, 
 so experienced, so sensitive to dramatic possibili- 
 ties, that the least hint to her is sufficient." 
 
 He smiled inwardly, recalling how, by prodding 
 her with a pin, he had at last induced her to ac- 
 cent a desired word. 
 
 "And now," he went on, "she is revered, not 
 as an actor, but as a woman, as the embodiment 
 of success achieved against great obstacles by 
 sheer force of character. It is no longer necessary 
 for her to be beautiful — her art is now the tran- 
 scendent part of her. And incidentally" — he 
 broke into a boyish laugh — " she is making so much 
 money she doesn't know what to do with it. I 
 tell you" — he looked directly at Silver — "it must 
 be a splendid feeUng — to feel that you can have 
 automobiles, houses, private cars, all because you 
 had the strength of character to attack a line of 
 great resistance and force yourself through. . . . 
 And she's by no means the only woman on Broad- 
 way to whom I take off my hat, in the spirit, 
 whenever I think of her." 
 
 Silver's eyes were shining brightly. He caught 
 the look, and he thought: "I could land you 
 
 34 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 with a turn of the wrist, Silver Sands, and I be- 
 lieve I could make something of you." Aloud 
 he said: "Lots of young women come to me and 
 beg for a chance. I used to encourage them, but 
 I don't any more. When all's said and done it's 
 a cruel life — if you fail. And to succeed requires 
 either natural genius for histrionics, a quality quite 
 alien to the Anglo-Saxon race, or such courage, 
 patience, and character as a man has no right to 
 expect from a woman." 
 
 "Just what I'm always saying," said Captain 
 Sands. "And if Mr. Hedden doesn't know what 
 he's talking about, nobody knows." 
 
 And both he and his wife were pleased with 
 Hedden for his phrases of discouragement. But 
 to Silver, and just so the subtle man had meant 
 them, they were not a discouragement but a chal- 
 lenge. 
 
 She had thought of going on the stage, never 
 seriously, but as so many have, in a vague, en- 
 chanted way. She had never encountered even 
 a remote opportunity till now. If she seriously 
 wished to make a beginning, if her parents could 
 be made to consent (which she doubted to ex- 
 tremes), surely her father's old friend could not 
 refuse to take her under his wing, and she thought 
 in her heart: "I'd Uke to do it, not because I want 
 
 35 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 to go on the stage, but just to show him that 
 more than one girl has got courage and patience 
 and character." 
 
 Hedden looked at her with that sudden boy- 
 ish smile which made you forget his unnaturally 
 black hair in favor of his white teeth. 
 
 "A penny for your thoughts!" he said. 
 
 And Silver, who had only just left the awk- 
 ward age, and was still delightfully easy to tease, 
 blushed to her eyes and looked charmingly sullen 
 and defiant. 
 
 The sudden rain smote the dining-room win- 
 dows like spent shot, and the wind, which had 
 been steadily rising, began to howl in the gables 
 of the house. 
 
 "Wolves!" said Hedden, his eyes very bril- 
 liant. "The honest backwoodsman, his sturdy 
 family — snow-bound — hunger — Ever see that 
 old melodrama. Rose? The bar of the door 
 breaks. Miss Silver, and the hero replaces it with 
 his brawny right arm." 
 
 "And then what happens ?" 
 
 "Well, when I played the part, the hero's 
 brawny right arm stuck, and there was the devil 
 to pay to get it out and let the rescuers in. We 
 had to bring on the stage carpenter with a saw. 
 It was the first real laugh I ever got." 
 
 36 
 
THE northeaster visited Hanleytown for three 
 days. On the morning of the fourth early 
 risers looking from water-side windows saw a fleet 
 of storm-bound schooners spreading their white 
 wings for the sea. The sky was without a cloud; 
 the harbor without a ripple; the tones of ordi- 
 nary conversation carried from the decks of the 
 schooners to the shore. And from the ocean beach 
 three miles to the southeastward came the low 
 rhythmic roaring of a heavy surf. 
 
 For a man without conscience or moral sense 
 McKay Hedden had had a bad night. Dawn 
 saw him, shaved and half dressed, cluttering a 
 table with notes for "When My Ship Comes 
 In." Working unseen, the manager-playwright 
 was without affectations. He rolled up his sleeves, 
 squared himself to a pad of paper, and waded in, 
 as the saying is. Concerning genius and sudden 
 inspiration he had no private illusions. He didn't 
 believe in God, but he believed in elimination. 
 "Put the thing down in all the ways you can 
 think of and keep the best one" was his uncon- 
 fessed principle of composition. 
 
 37 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 The storm had been an incentive to work; 
 also the ever-strengthening feeling that in Silver 
 Sands he had discovered just the heroine the new 
 piece would need. Mrs. Sands had supplied him 
 with a kitchen table; and to this he had thumb- 
 tacked a double foolscap of blue blotting-paper, 
 protesting that Shakespeare himself had never 
 owned so good a desk. 
 
 One morning, carrying to the post-office some 
 letters that he had written, and accompanied by 
 Silver, he stopped suddenly in front of a doorway, 
 which by reason of a fanlight, justice of propor- 
 tion, and two delicately fluted columns was com- 
 pletely charming, and his head a little on one side, 
 he said: "Will you do me a favor?" 
 
 "With pleasure." 
 
 "Then stand on that door-step, take the knocker 
 in your left hand, and then turn and look at me 
 over your shoulder as if — as if I had called out 
 some bad news to you just as you were going to 
 knock." 
 
 Silver looked swiftly up the street, then down. 
 The rain had kept it empty. Perceiving thig she 
 gave a quick, half-mischievous laugh, and mounted 
 the two stone steps to the door, took the knocker 
 in her left hand, lifted it, and turned to Hedden 
 a face at once frightened and brave. He had 
 
 38 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 asked for a pose only; she had given him the 
 very expression that according to his vision of 
 the scene in question went with it, and Silver, 
 seeing her success in his eyes, went further, and 
 said with a sharp metallic anxiety: "What is it ? 
 What is it?" 
 
 "What is it?" he exclaimed. "Change that 
 wet rubber coat for muslin sprinkled with roses, 
 change that umbrella in your right hand for the 
 blind captain's telescope, and you're it — Silver. 
 Come away. It's scandalous — such facility — it's 
 a crime. The first thing / know I'll be tempted 
 beyond my strength." 
 
 She joined him, and they walked swiftly on, 
 their sou'westered heads bent against the wind 
 and rain. 
 
 "How do you mean — tempted?" asked Silver. 
 
 "Silver," he said, "it's a pity your people are 
 so down on the stage. What after all can they 
 know of the show business ?" 
 
 "Nothing — of course," said Silver. 
 
 Hedden, remembering the old days and the 
 hells through which the girl's mother had passed 
 in her youth, smiled darkly. 
 
 "It's not based on knowledge," he said; "it's 
 based on New England prejudice. But times have 
 changed. A girl in one of my companies is as 
 
 39 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 sheltered as in her mother's parlor. And the 
 wages of success are so big now, and success itself 
 is so fine a thing — because audiences all over the 
 land have grown so sophisticated and discriminat- 
 ing. The old days are dead. What do I mean by 
 being 'tempted'? I mean: to say to you just 
 the sort of thing I've being saying. I'll go further. 
 You've got the face, the temperament, the grace, 
 the instinct, and if you haven't got the character, 
 I'm no judge of women." 
 
 She liked being called a woman. Girls do. 
 Women don't. 
 
 "But you'll marry one of these perfectly nice 
 young boys you're always sailing and swimming 
 and dancing with, and you'll go housekeeping 
 and baby-raising in a little square house, which 
 may or may not have a pretty front door, and 
 you'll be wasted. Silver. That's the kind of 
 thing," he laughed boyishly, "that I'm often 
 tempted to say to you." 
 
 "Oh!" said Silver. 
 
 And they came to the post-office, and he dropped 
 his letter into the slot marked "outgoing mail." 
 
 "And you'll spend a good deal of time in this 
 very post-office," he went on, "pretending you 
 are expecting letters, in reality to exchange gossip 
 with your neighbors, and gradually in the glass 
 
 40 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 fronts of the letter-boxes you'll see your face grow 
 old and disappointed. It isn't every girl that has 
 it in her to be a hit on Broadway — ^yes, and in 
 London. If you were my own daughter, I'd not 
 hesitate. ... It isn't as if you'd have to begin 
 at the bottom, Silver. You're the one girl in a 
 million. Sometimes I think you must have Latin 
 blood. You can't help being dramatic. That 
 first entrance of yours in the wet bathing suit! 
 The way you caught my exact shade of meaning 
 when you played the knocker scene just now !" 
 
 The breakfast-hour found him still working. 
 He stacked his papers, weighted them with the 
 soap-dish to keep them from scattering, finished 
 dressing, and went down-stairs. 
 
 Silver was alone in the dining-room. 
 
 "Good morning," he said, "where's the fam- 
 ily?" 
 
 "Mum's in the kitchen," said Silver, "and 
 father's at the boat-house looking the weather 
 over. Food, however, will materialize almost 
 at once " 
 
 "Good," said Hedden. "I've been working 
 since daybreak." 
 
 "Your new play?" 
 
 41 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Our new play. Silver. . . . Look here; I 
 don't like to interrupt a streak of work. It isn't 
 easy to stop — go somewhere else — and pick up 
 again. I wonder if I can't find rooms somewhere 
 in Hanleytown ? " 
 
 "Why not stay on with us ?" 
 
 "Your family has been very good," said Hed- 
 den. "They've pressed me to stay — as long as I 
 like. But, look here, oughtn't I to — ^well, I don't 
 want to graft, you know; couldn't you find out 
 if they'd be willing to board me .? I'd be more 
 comfortable." 
 
 "I suppose we are poor," said Silver, "but 
 they wouldn't hear of you paying board, Mr. 
 Hedden. Mum was saying only yesterday what 
 a privilege it was to have a great man in the 
 house. The longer you stay the better they'll 
 like it." 
 
 "I wonder," said Hedden. "Well, you settle 
 it, Silver. Shall I go or shall I stay ?" 
 
 "You'll stay," said she with an arch emphasis 
 which delighted him. 
 
 "You see," he said, "you can help me so much." 
 
 "/can?" 
 
 "Why, don't you see, whenever I get a scene 
 finished, or think I've got it finished, we can carry 
 it down to the shore, or off into the woods, and act 
 
 42 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 it all out, and find what's wrong with it or what's 
 right with it. It's much the best way to compose, 
 if you have an intelligent partner." 
 
 At this moment they were interrupted by the 
 entrance of Captain Sands. 
 
 "Good morning, Mac," he said. "I've been 
 admiring your yawl. I'm going to have me one 
 just like her one of these days." 
 
 "Good man," cried Silver. "When ?" 
 
 "Oh," said he, "when my ship comes in." 
 
 « 
 
VI 
 
 HEDDEN lost no opportunity to consult with 
 Silver about his newest plagiarism, of which 
 a rough draft was soon finished. He had set his 
 heart on securing the girl to play the leading 
 part, and was now prepared to exert all his in- 
 genuity in fitting that part and indeed every line 
 of the play to her particular personality. To be 
 a Broadway success he told himself she had only 
 to be natural; for the most sophisticated critic 
 has yet to resist a beautiful mouth that laughs 
 under beautiful eyes that mourn; adding to these 
 a strong graceful figure and a brave boyish voice. 
 
 He himself could not have said when he had 
 been so charmed with any one. 
 
 It is the happy-go-lucky custom of boys and 
 girls dwelling on Cape Cod and its adjacent 
 islands to do without chaperons. Of this cus- 
 tom Hedden took firm advantage, claiming that, 
 for all his experience, he was still a boy at heart. 
 
 To his credit, for every man must have a Httle 
 credit tucked away somewhere, his attraction to 
 Silver was at this time purely professional. If he 
 
 44 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 kept her out sailing or walking until they were 
 late for supper, it was not so that he might have 
 opportunities to play upon her affection. He 
 wished less to dazzle her with his own wealth, 
 power, talents, and prestige, than with the 
 glamour of the stage. 
 
 Upon a bluff overlooking the upper bay he had 
 found a place where he could experiment with 
 "When My Ship Comes In" to his heart's con- 
 tent. Here scrub-oaks, old as the hills and no 
 higher than the second-story windows of a house, 
 had been permitted by the salt ocean winds to 
 grow in serried ranks about an open glade. These 
 oaks in turn were surrounded by a dense growth 
 of alders and bayberry bushes which, from a 
 foot-high beginning of rose and sweet-fern, swept 
 upward to the lower branches of the oaks like an 
 ocean swell. To the glade itself no wind could 
 penetrate; here candles might have burned peace- 
 fully during a hurricane. And here in dry weather 
 a writer might handle his most precious manu- 
 script without fear. Emerging from the grove 
 by a narrow and much-twisting path you could 
 hang your feet over the edge of the bluff, and at 
 high tide observe the pretty comings and goings 
 of minnows in the clear salt water below. 
 
 To the north, two miles, as a crow might fly 
 45 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 if he flew straight, were green elms, the white 
 spires and the many-masted harbor of Hanley- 
 town. As many miles to the south, and separated 
 from the bay by a narrow belt of sand-dunes and 
 sea-beach, the Atlantic made itself known by 
 long-drawn roarings and great tossings of white 
 spray. 
 
 In the glade you could be as private as in your 
 own parlor. More so: you could shout and rant 
 if you pleased and play this part or that, and 
 there were no neighbors to disturb except the 
 crew of some passing boat, or some circling gull. 
 And in the hot summer sun the essential oils of 
 the' sweet-fem and of the bayberries vaporized 
 and gave out heavenly odors. And these odors 
 were added to those of wild roses and ripe black- 
 berries. 
 
 In this glade Hedden coached Silver in the part 
 which he hoped she would play. But that he so 
 hoped she had as yet no suspicion. She thought 
 that she was helping him, in something the way 
 that a lay figure might have helped; that she 
 was merely a help to him in visualizing the action 
 of the piece. As for instance he might say: 
 
 "That won't do, according to the stakes " (he 
 had staked the place off to represent the distances 
 of his New York stage). "If you take even one 
 
 46 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 step backward, you will bump into the man with 
 the fish-net. We'll get a laugh that way, but not 
 the kind we want. What would you do, naturally, 
 if a girl said that to you ? Would you step back in 
 astonishment, or would you just stand and look 
 at her?" 
 
 "I think," said Silver, "you'd just stand and 
 look at her until your eyes filled with tears, 
 and " 
 
 He interrupted her quickly. 
 
 "All right. Try it that way. She's said it. 
 Now you look at her. No — no, really look at her 
 — she's there; fiendishly glad to have hurt you — 
 don't blink even — visualize her, look at her — look 
 at her until I tell you to stop." 
 
 Nearly ten seconds passed. 
 
 "Now look at me." 
 
 She turned upon him a great pair of injured 
 eyes that were actually blurred with real tears. 
 
 "Here! Here!" cried Hedden. "Take this. 
 Here! What do you want — anything I've got!" 
 
 Half joking, half in earnest, he flung at her 
 feet his watch, his gold cigarette-case, his wallet 
 filled with bills of large denominations, and all 
 the change in his trouser pockets. 
 
 "She can cry on purpose! Yes, she canl 
 Didn't you see her ! " 
 
 47 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Silver was laughing now. Her face was rosy 
 with pleasure and proper pride. And she tried 
 to diminish her achievement by explaining it. 
 
 "You just pretend that she's real, and really 
 said it, and you pretend to see her so hard that 
 you really do see her, and then you just can't 
 help crying." 
 
 "Yes, that's it," said Hedden with mock levity. 
 "You just pretend. There's nothing more simple." 
 
 She knelt and began to hunt in the grass for 
 the valuables which he had thrown at her feet. 
 Having recovered all the larger objects and most 
 of the small silver, she held them out to him in 
 two heaped handfuls. 
 
 "I suppose you are just pretending, too?" she 
 said. 
 
 "Unless you care to accept that lot of junk as 
 a month's salary." 
 
 "Me?" 
 
 "Why not ? Silver, why don't you tell your 
 family that you are going on the stage and that 
 they can go to the devil ? Please observe that 
 when I say that I smile. But why don't you ? 
 I'll see you through. So help me ! I will." 
 
 "Oh, I couldn't," said Silver. They'd hate it 
 so. And they've always been just as good as 
 gold to me." 
 
 48 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 " If they make you hide your light. Silver, they 
 are not being good to you. And you know it." 
 
 She sighed, and then wistfully: 
 
 "I'd like to. But I won't." 
 
 "But if they consented without your taking 
 any stand in the matter ? I mean if I told them 
 that you would be a success, and that I would 
 look after you, and they should say: 'Oh, very 
 well !' Then — ^would you V 
 
 She jumped to her feet. Already, to her active 
 imagination, Hedden had said his say to her 
 parents and they had given their consent. 
 
 "You know I would !" she cried. 
 
 "Well, Silver," he said, "we don't want to 
 alarm them yet. Let's get our play in shape 
 first. Then some night I'll read it to them and 
 you. Then you'll say good night and beat a 
 retreat, and then I'll wrestle single-handed with 
 the New England conscience. I'll begin by say- 
 ing: 'I'm going to put that piece on in October, 
 and I want Silver to play the principal part!'" 
 
 "But you don't! Me? Honestly?" 
 
 She was on fire with excitement. 
 
 "Who but you. Silver Sands?" said Hedden 
 gravely. 
 
 And he dropped his hand on her further shoul- 
 der and gave her the least suggestion of a hug, 
 
 49 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 and although she twisted quickly away from him, 
 yet in all her life she had never liked any one as 
 much as at that moment she liked McKay Red- 
 den. For he had opened to her wonderful vistas 
 down which she saw herself walking in delightful 
 triumph. 
 
 Hedden was silent for some moments. The 
 veins in his forehead appeared red and swollen. 
 When he spoke it was with a distinct effort. 
 
 "Would it bore you too much," he said, "to 
 go back to your second entrance ?" 
 
 50 
 
VII 
 
 SILVER owned a catboat about fifteen feet 
 long. Her father's gift, at considerable finan- 
 cial sacrifice, the sound and pretty little craft had 
 a personality for her. For many days now, owing 
 to Hedden's presence in the house, the Gopher had 
 nodded neglected at her moorings, and, owing to 
 recent rains at night, was settling lower and lower 
 in the water. Captain Sands said nothing, but 
 the thought that Silver had already tired of his 
 gift cut his tender heart to the quick. He did not 
 know that Silver herself felt badly about it. 
 
 One morning she rose early and, putting on her 
 bathing suit, rowed out to the Gopher. It was her 
 intention to pump out the water, spread the sail 
 to dry, put things in order generally, refresh her- 
 self with a short swim, and be ready for family 
 breakfast. But a pleasant breeze came ruffling 
 over the morning calm, the rigging of the little 
 boat creaked pleasantly, and upon an impulse 
 Silver cast loose from the moorings, jibed au- 
 daciously round the end of the long wharf, and 
 sailed straight away into the intolerable bright- 
 ness of the rising sun. 
 
 SI 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 Her course passed under the stem of a beau- 
 tiful white schooner-yacht that had anchored in 
 the bay the night before. Silver read her name, 
 aphrodite. New York, in gilt letters, and noted 
 with pleasure the perfect order and whiteness of 
 her decks and the immaculate burning brightness 
 of her brasses. 
 
 "When my ship comes in," thought Silver, and 
 the Gopher had breasted a mile of harbor water 
 before the train of imaginings and aggrandize- 
 ments thus loosed was interrupted by a faint but 
 cheerful hail. 
 
 "Catboatahoy!" 
 
 Silver looked this way and that. 
 
 "Offthe port bow!" 
 
 And now she saw very bright in the sunshine 
 the brown upturned face of a young man floating 
 in the water. 
 
 "Want help ?" she called. 
 
 "If you don't mind." 
 
 Silver passed beyond him, and then with a long 
 swing of her tiller brought the Gopher into the 
 wind. She " picked up " the swimmer as accurately 
 and gently as if he had been her mooring. He 
 clutched the Gopher's low rail with his left hand, 
 and it was at once evident that he could do no 
 more 
 
 52 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I've hurt my arm," he exclaimed. "I'm 
 afraid I can't get on board without help." 
 
 "Drop aft," she said. "And come in over the 
 rudder. I'll help." 
 
 It was a hard struggle for both of them, and 
 once the young man groaned sharply; but she 
 got him in at last. 
 
 "Where shall I take you?" 
 
 "I'm off the Aphrodite — the white schooner 
 yonder." 
 
 Without comment. Silver dropped the centre- 
 board and began to haul in the main sheet, until 
 the sail filled and the Gopher heeled over on the 
 port tack. 
 
 "It's mighty good of you," said the young 
 man. "I'm taking you out of your way. My 
 name is Henley." 
 
 "Not at all," said Silver. "I wasn't going 
 much farther. How did you hurt yourself?" 
 
 "Took a full stroke with my right arm into a 
 heavy piece of floating timber. I suppose I could 
 have gone on floating indefinitely. But I gave 
 up trying to buck the tide. I couldn't make any 
 progress, with one whole arm missing. It's mighty 
 good luck for me that you came along." 
 
 "Is your arm broken?" 
 
 "No, I'm sure it isn't." 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Shall I put you on board your yacht or take 
 you to a doctor?" 
 
 Mr. Henley, having recovered his breath and his 
 equanimity, smiled at her. 
 
 "Which would take longer?" he asked. 
 
 "I will take you to the yacht," she said severely. 
 "And you can go ashore in your launch." 
 
 "I didn't mean to be fresh," he said, and looked 
 so penitent that Silver couldn't help laughing. 
 
 "When I swim," she said, "I go against the 
 tide first, and then when you get tired and want 
 to come back you have it to help you." 
 
 "I'll remember that," said Henley, "the next 
 time. This your boat?" 
 
 Silver nodded. 
 
 "Some day," he said firmly^ "I'm going to 
 have a boat. I love 'em. But I'll have to wait 
 till my ship comes in." 
 
 Silver smiled secretly. 
 
 "I thought the Aphrodite was yours." 
 
 Henley glanced at his dark bathing suit. 
 
 "If you saw me in my business suit," he said, 
 "three years old, come Epiphany, you'd never 
 mistake me for a millionaire. No. The Aphrodite 
 belongs to my boss — a great high and mighty 
 super-overlord by the name of Van Brunt. These 
 bathing suits are great levellers. I'm on my 
 
 54 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 vacation. Two weeks. I spend all the rest of 
 my time on the island of Manhattan helping Mr. 
 Van Brunt's customers to separate themselves 
 from their money. But it will be fun during the 
 next fifty weeks or so to remember that I was 
 saved from drowning by a girl. I'd always sup- 
 posed it would be a humiliating thing to have 
 happen to one. But it isn't. It's fine. But I'm 
 glad you didn't have to leap overboard, quiet 
 my frantic struggles with a blow of your fist, and 
 tow me ashore by my back hair." 
 
 "Lucky I didn't have to," said Silver, "I 
 couldn't have got hold of your back hair. Why 
 do you cut it so short ? " 
 
 "Well, for one thing," said he, "if I let it get 
 more than half an inch long it curls in an affected, 
 offensive, and unmanly manner. But I've a bet- 
 ter reason. I like to pretend that I'm a British 
 soldier on the road to Mandalay." 
 
 "Heads," said Silver. "I'm coming about." 
 
 When the Gopher had filled lazily (for the wind 
 was failing) on the other tack Silver said: "On 
 the road to where?" 
 
 "Mandalay. Don't tell me you don't know 
 all about the road to Mandalay. Why, look here, 
 for two cents I'd sing it to you." 
 
 "I haven't got a penny on me," said Silver. 
 55 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I'll sing it anyway," said Henley. "Because 
 it's never been done before. I mean I'm the first 
 man that ever lived that wanted to sing a song to 
 a girl before breakfast." 
 
 Forthwith he put his head back and sang " Man- 
 dalay" — not for her, but to her, in a charming deep 
 voice, with fire, and with romantic manliness. 
 He looked very handsome as he sang, and when 
 he came to the line — 
 
 'I've a neater, sweeter maiden in a cleaner, greener 
 land," 
 
 a sudden thrill went through Silver from head to 
 foot, and the stage and Hedden, and things that 
 were not full of youth, and yearning, and romance, 
 seemed far-off things and worthless. 
 
 "And I should very much like to know how 
 that song strikes you?" said Henley. 
 
 She did not answer for some moments, and 
 the wise youth fell to studying the set of the 
 Gopher's sail. Then Silver said: "It's the most 
 beautiful song I ever heard and you sang it just 
 right." 
 
 After a short silence, Henley pointed to the 
 aphrodite, now a short hundred yards off the 
 port bow. 
 
 S6 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Do you see that yacht ?" he said. "Do you 
 know what's the matter with her ? She's too 
 near. I wish the wind had stayed down where it 
 was put. I wish the speed of the tide would in- 
 crease to twenty-five knots. I've had such a bully 
 sail, and now it's almost over, and I haven't even 
 been clever enough to find out your name." 
 
 "My name is Silver Sands," she said. 
 
 "Once more, please. Silver Sands. I don't be- 
 lieve it. It's too good to be true. . . . And if you 
 don't live in the square white house with the blue- 
 angel-blowing-a-gilt-trumpet weather-vane I'll be 
 terribly upset." 
 
 "But I do!" exclaimed Silver. 
 
 "And," said he, "when young gentlemen, 
 whom you have rescued from a watery grave, 
 come to call, are you generally at home ? Because 
 the Aphrodite — sink her ! How near she is ! — 
 will remain in port for three days — and you 
 couldn't be 'not at home' all that time, could 
 you?" 
 
 "But—" began Silver. 
 
 "You mean we haven't been introduced. True. 
 I hadn't thought of that. Kindly sail me back to 
 where you found me and let me jump overboard, 
 and drift quietly out to sea. I wouldn't have 
 it get out for the world that you saved an ut- 
 
 57 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 ter stranger from drowning. Poor Mrs. Grundy 
 would have a terrible fit. And that you let him 
 talk to you afterward — and sing to you. ... So 
 it's good-by, is it?" 
 
 He tried to hold out his right hand but could 
 not. The pain made him frown slightly. 
 
 "It doesn't matter," he said. "I never met 
 you. We never met, Miss Sands and I. But I 
 will bet, that we shall yet, and don't forget " 
 
 "Heads!" she exclaimed, and he ducked only 
 in time to keep from being brained by the Gopher's 
 boom. 
 
 "You are very silly," said she. 
 
 "I wonder." 
 
 "You needn't." 
 
 "But I do. I wonder if I'm silly or if I'm very 
 wise. If you'd had as many things happen to 
 you this morning as I've had happen to me " 
 
 And he looked her straight and very earnestly 
 in the eyes. 
 
 "I'm coming to call at four o'clock," he said. 
 
 "And I'm sorry I shall be out." 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders, and looked at once 
 hurt and a little contemptuous. 
 
 "But," she continued placidly, "if you could 
 wait till five " 
 
 And at that he burst out into a joyous laugh. 
 58 
 
VIII 
 
 AT breakfast Silver told of her adventure. 
 . "Such a nice young man,^mum," she said 
 patronizingly. "And he's coming at five o'clock 
 to thank me." 
 
 Hedden looked disappointed. 
 
 "I thought we were going to explore the old 
 whaler on the bar?" he said. 
 
 "So we are," said Silver. "But we didn't say 
 at five. We didn't even say to-day." 
 
 "Oh, it doesn't matter," said Hedden. 
 "Only — " And then, realizing perhaps that noth- 
 ing was to be gained by acting like a spoiled 
 child, he made a swift and agreeable change of 
 subject. But after breakfast, before going up- 
 stairs to his work, he apologized to Silver. 
 
 "But it's your fault," he said. "You've been 
 so nice to me, always ready to show me around, 
 or to help me, that I've gotten into the habit of 
 feeling that I own a monopoly of your time, never 
 stopping to realize that even the most accommo- 
 dating people like, if only once in a great while, 
 to be at their own disposition." 
 
 59 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 Silver smiled. 
 
 "You don't pull beautiful young men out of 
 the water every day, do you ?" she asked. 
 
 "You do not," said Hedden, "fortunately. 
 And is he really beautiful?" 
 
 "He's the best-looking thing you ever saw," 
 she assured him. "And the strongest, without 
 being clumsy, and the best made. I think he must 
 have rowed on some college crew. That's the 
 sort of build he's got. One year there were half 
 a dozen of the Harvard crew down here, to visit 
 Billy Cousins who was coxswain, right after beat- 
 ing Yale, and they used to go in swimming all 
 in a bunch off the long wharf, and we kids used 
 to sit around, with our thumbs in our mouths, 
 and think in our secret hearts that they couldn't 
 really be human beings — ^that they were a sort 
 of Amphibious God." 
 
 "What does your rescuee do for a hving.? Is 
 he a young Croesus, 'Young, insolent, and splen- 
 did,' or could we persuade him to play the figure- 
 head that comes to life in 'When My Ship Comes 
 In?'" 
 
 Silver clapped her hands with pleasure. " Don't 
 tell me you're really going to bring the figurehead 
 to fife — like you said ! " 
 
 "The more I think of the notion the better I 
 60 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 like it. But of course it mustn't be magic. The 
 audience mustn't be fooled. Only you must be 
 fooled. . . . Silver, we've got a great show." 
 
 "It seems wonderful to me; but of course you 
 know. I wish you'd tell me how you got the idea." 
 
 "I wouldn't tell anybody but you. They'd 
 think I was posing, trying to pretend that I was 
 something I'm not. As a matter of fact, except 
 for certain details like the figurehead, and like 
 the blind captain's change of heart, the whole 
 thing came to me in a flash — as at night, when 
 there is sudden lightning, you will see every 
 detail of a village more clearly and more thor- 
 oughly than if you had a "whole afternoon of day- 
 light to study them in." 
 
 "Isn't that inspiration?" 
 
 "I don't know what you call it," said Hedden 
 modestly. "But that's the way it works." 
 
 And he went up-stairs feeling that he had 
 undone much of the impression created by the 
 Amphibious God whom Silver had pulled out of 
 the harbor. 
 
 Promptly at five o'clock, Mr. Henley lifted 
 the brass knocker of the square white house in 
 which Silver lived, and let it fall. He was dressed 
 
 6i 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 in white flannel and white tennis shoes; on his 
 left coat sleeve was a mourning band; his right 
 arm was in a sling. 
 
 Silver opened the door, and smiled at him 
 from the dark hallway. Ever since half past four 
 her pulse had been beating more quickly than 
 usual. But she had had the good sense to make 
 no unusual toilet for the occasion. She wore a 
 sailor blouse over a white duck skirt, tan stock- 
 ings, patent-leather pumps, her silver boatswain's 
 whistle on a white braided lanyard, and she wore 
 a scarlet ribbon in her hair. 
 
 "How's the arm?" she asked. 
 
 Henley wanted to say: "You look desperately 
 young; but I've fallen in love with you just the 
 same." But he didn't. He said: "Oh, it's com- 
 ing along" and "How was your appetite for 
 breakfast?" 
 
 "I have been eating all day," she said. "But 
 it hasn't spoiled my appetite for tea." 
 
 "Are you going to give me tea ? I don't be- 
 lieve it!" 
 
 "Avd cinnamon toast, and crawlers, and choc- 
 olate if you like it better than tea. And I hope 
 you do, because I whipped the cream. We'll sit 
 in the parlor, and please don't sit down hard be- 
 cause it shakes the walrus teeth on the mantel, 
 
 62 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 and if they fell and broke the captain would 
 never get over it." 
 
 "What captain ?" 
 
 "My father." 
 
 Henley tiptoed to the mantelpiece and ex- 
 amined the walrus teeth. Some long-dead sailor- 
 man with a real feeling for art and good work- 
 manship had mounted each of the pair on a 
 little square pedestal of inlaid woods. Upon the 
 ivories themselves, now mottled with rich yellow, 
 he had scrimshawed, in paled, faded colors a pair 
 of Samoan dancing girls, with large goggle eyes 
 and high-heeled French dancing slippers. 
 
 "The ones I saw," said Henley, "didn't wear 
 slippers. I remember because they danced round 
 a fire of driftwood to keep off the mosquitoes. 
 Paaeuaa, who was the fattest and consequently 
 the most beautiful, stepped on a hot coal — and 
 her next step must have been a good twenty feet 
 — straight up." 
 
 "And when were you a sailor ?" 
 
 "Meaning that I hardly knew enough to duck 
 my head when the main boom swings over ? Well, 
 I sailed before the mast, and as you know the boom 
 is always behind it " 
 
 "You didn't really — did you?" 
 
 "I certainly did. Otherwise I'd be a day- 
 (>3 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 laborer in Hong Kong to this day. You see, my 
 mamma gave me a sum of money to take me 
 around the world, and when I got to Hong Kong 
 I found to my horror and surprise that I'd spent 
 all of it. So I shipped before the mast, honestly 
 I did, way out in front of it — and to this day my 
 friends call me Swimbad the Sailor. They do 
 this for two reasons — first because in all modesty 
 I swim rather better than most people, and second 
 because my friends are all very fresh and funny." 
 
 She offered him a dish filled with cinnamon toast. 
 
 "She thinks I talk too much," Henley com- 
 plained. "She's trying to gag me " 
 
 There was a sound of footsteps in the hall. 
 Silver looked up with a slight frown. It was 
 rather mean of "Hedden," she thought, to come 
 "butting in." 
 
 But he made every excuse. He said that he 
 had been working at fourth speed since lunch, 
 that he was completely exhausted, etc., etc., and 
 asked for a cup of tea as a necessity rather than 
 as a luxury. As a matter of record, he had spent 
 the entire afternoon on a sofa, reading, smoking, 
 and dozing. 
 
 Silver introduced the two men to each other. 
 "It's Mr. Paul Henley, isn't it?" said Hedden, 
 and he turned to Silver. 
 
 64 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "We shook hands one night at the Lambs' 
 Club after a gambol." 
 
 "Correct," said Henley. 
 
 "You told me something about a play yoit 
 were writing." 
 
 "I afterward sent it to you, and you sent it 
 back." 
 
 And Henley laughed, but not heartily. 
 
 "I remember — I remember," said Hedden. 
 "And I think I sent you a letter of advice. I 
 wonder if you followed it." 
 
 "I did," said Henley grimly. "I threw the 
 thing into a raging fire created for the pur- 
 pose " 
 
 "And I hope you then sat down and began to 
 write another play?" 
 
 "I did," said Henley. 
 
 It was all Hedden could do to keep from laugh- 
 ing. It is never pleasant to be sued for stealing, 
 especially when you actually have stolen. But 
 in this case there could now be no suit, since 
 Henley had been so stupid as first not to know 
 that he had written a cracking good play and 
 second to destroy it. 
 
 "He's burned his best evidence," thought Hed- 
 den. Aloud he said: "Another lump, please, 
 hostess, and I leave you." 
 
 65 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 He was in a real hurry now. He wanted to 
 get somewhere where he could laugh. 
 
 "When the new piece is finished, Henley," 
 he said in a kind voice, "send it in. Your first, 
 for all its crudeness, interested me — truly." And 
 he left them. 
 
 "Tell me about your play," said Silver. "I'm 
 crazy about plays." 
 
 Now every young man is embarrassed, more 
 or less, to have it disclosed, in the presence of a 
 young woman, that he has written an unpro- 
 ducible play. But Henley, much as he wished 
 the subject changed, was still game to make sport 
 at his own expense. 
 
 "I will tell you the story of all my other crimes," 
 he said. "Once I murdered an old man for the 
 gold fillings in his teeth, once I roasted a Jew in 
 front of a fire to make him say where his money 
 was hidden, once I threw a little boy off the roof 
 of an apartment-house just to see if he would 
 burst — but to tell you about my play would really 
 make me uncomfortable and ashamed." 
 
 "Do you ever stop joking?" 
 
 He looked her steadily in the eyes. 
 
 "I'd stop right now — if I dared." 
 
 66 
 
IX 
 
 MR. HEDDEN is a very old friend of my 
 father and mother," said Silver. "And 
 that's how he happens to be staying with us." 
 
 Henley had persuaded her to take him for a 
 sail in the upper bay. They were to land, cross 
 to the ocean beach, and tell each other, I suppose, 
 what they thought of the ocean. Henley, you 
 may be sure, would say that he was "amazed at 
 its size." 
 
 It was his last day. The Aphrodite was to sail 
 the next morning at dawn. Hanleytown would 
 be a memory. He wondered if Silver Sands would 
 ever be just a memory to him. "She's too young 
 to think of marrying," he thought. "But she's 
 so beautiful and rare that some utterly worthless 
 and undeserving man is almost sure to gobble 
 her up between now and my next vacation. I 
 wonder what Hedden's game is ? . . . " 
 
 "He's one of the most interesting men on 
 Broadway," said Henley. "He'll take a play 
 
 67 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 that isn't much good and stage it so beautifully 
 and realistically that even the critics are fooled. 
 And he certainly can teach people to act. He's 
 got genius." 
 
 He wanted to go on, and tell her more about 
 Hedden; how, for all his real talent, he was 
 supposed to be a thief, a liar, and a man ab- 
 solutely without moral sense; and what to Hen- 
 ley's mind was almost worse, a man whose every 
 word and gesture was an affectation. But it did 
 not seem fair to say these things about her father's 
 guest, about a man whom she herself obviously 
 admired and believed in. 
 
 "When winter comes," he asked, "what do 
 you do ? Whom do you play with ? " 
 
 "In winter," said Silver, "I am a wholly ad- 
 mirable person. I forswear current novels and 
 read literature. We have a literary club and a 
 dramatic club. I knit a given number of socks 
 and sweaters for charity. When the ponds freeze 
 over we skate. When there is snow we say what 
 fun it would be to coast if there were any hills. 
 On New Year's Day, no matter what the weather 
 is, six of us go in swimming off the long wharf. 
 It's horrible. And of course there's lots of going 
 to church, and Sunday-school classes, and carrying 
 baskets of delicacies to the sick. And the nights 
 
 68 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 are long and dark as years; and sometimes old 
 sea-captains drop in and swap stories. Talk about 
 Jonah ! There isn't a man in Hanleytown, over 
 sixty years of age, who hasn't been bitten in two 
 by whales — often." 
 
 The Gopher was passing close to that wooded 
 point where Hedden and Silver had their outdoor 
 workroom, among the scrub-oaks. 
 
 "What a bully place for a house!" exclaimed 
 Henley. "When my ship comes in I shall buy 
 it and build. Please couldn't we land and explore ? 
 We could tie up to that ruined wharf and scramble 
 ashore somehow." 
 
 For some reason or other Silver Sands did not 
 tell him that she and Hedden often tied up to 
 that particular wharf and scrambled ashore. 
 She chose perhaps to regard her friendship with 
 Hedden as the business side, the serious side 
 of her life, whereas Henley was a sort of holi- 
 day. 
 
 Exciting and flattering as it was to be in Hed- 
 den's confidence and to be booked, if all went 
 well, to play the leading part in "When My Ship 
 Comes In," it was more downright fun to explore 
 the scrub-oak grove with Henley, and to see a 
 country house come into being under his enthu- 
 siastic and playful imagination. 
 
 69 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 At last they penetrated to the windless glade 
 where Silver and Hedden did their experimenting 
 and rehearsing, and Henley cried: 
 
 "I was worried about where the garden should 
 be. Behold it ! We come from the house by this 
 path and we look into the glade — it won't be a 
 garden to walk in — it will just be a mass of color 
 in a wood, larkspur and phlox, and we'll fill the 
 place with a mist of water from hidden nozzles, 
 and there will always be wonderful rainbows and 
 things " 
 
 He found and picked up a cigarette butt. 
 Upon the butt, printed in Prussian blue, were the 
 initials M. H. 
 
 "M. H.," said Henley. "McKay Hedden, I 
 bet a million." 
 
 "Yes," said Silver. "He comes here a lot." 
 
 "With you?" 
 
 Somehow she hated to answer. 
 
 "He reads me his new play," she said, "and 
 makes me pose around as if I was the different 
 characters." 
 
 But the grove was spoiled for Henley. His 
 country house, his gardens, his boat-house, all 
 quite real a minute ago, with Silver Sands pre- 
 siding over them, vanished. 
 
 "Let's put to sea again," he said. "Men don't 
 70 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 leave tracks on the water. And I that thought 
 no one had entered this grove since the Indians ! 
 Let's go. If we don't something tells me that I 
 shall find egg-shells and beer-bottles." 
 
 He preceded her out of the grove, pretending to 
 cover his eyes with his left hand. Suddenly he 
 turned. A question had suddenly formulated in 
 his mind, not in sequence to any train of thought, 
 but springing up fully armed from heaven knows 
 where. 
 
 "You're not thinking of going on the stage, 
 are you?" 
 
 "Yes," said Silver firmly. "But it's a secret 
 from my father and mother. I'll never do it 
 without their permission. And I don't believe 
 they'll ever give me that. They don't even like 
 me to be in the Hanleytown dramatic club." 
 
 "Thank you for telling me," said Henley. 
 " It was impertinent of me to ask such a question. 
 But somehow I can't help being interested about 
 you, and wanting you to have the very best of 
 everything." 
 
 "You don't approve of the stage?" 
 
 "I love it better than an37thing else. I work 
 nights trying to write plays. And some day, God 
 help me, I'm going to put over something good. 
 But nine girls out of ten, or more than that, who 
 
 71 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 go on the stage don't come to any happiness. 
 On the other hand " 
 
 "That's the hand I'm interested in," said 
 Silver. 
 
 " Are you ? Wait and see. On the other hand, 
 if you go on the stage, it will bring you to New 
 York, and then to-night I wouldn't have to say 
 'Good-by.' I could say 'So long. See you later.'" 
 
 They regained the Gopher and pursued their 
 way toward the narrow bar of sand which pro- 
 tected the upper bay from the onslaught of the 
 ocean. 
 
 "Of course," said Henley out of a clear sky, 
 "my life belongs to you " 
 
 " Stop saying that I saved your life. You don't 
 think it." 
 
 "Well, I was helpless, and I was drifting out 
 to sea as fast as I could. It's an even bet. No- 
 body was about, except you. Of course I was far 
 from drowning when you helped me, but if you 
 Hadn't come " 
 
 "Or if some one else just as good hadn't come !" 
 
 "Anyway," he said, "I like to think that you 
 saved my life." 
 
 "Really? Why?" 
 
 " Because I like the idea that it belongs to you. 
 I've been thinking a lot since you pulled me out 
 
 72 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 of the water. And it all boils down to this: that 
 I've got to go away to-morrow at dawn and that 
 I don't want to." 
 
 "I think I hke you best," said Silver, "when 
 you joke about everything." 
 
 "It must have been terrible in the old whaling 
 days," said he. "A young fellow who'd just 
 signed to go on a four or five years' voyage would 
 suddenly see the prettiest girl in the world, and 
 get as far as wanting to tell her so, and then, 
 presto ! — off to the Arctic, the Antarctic, the South 
 Seas — five years of it — and maybe all the time 
 eating his heart out wondering what had become 
 of the girl." 
 
 "In those old days," said Silver, "it was the 
 fashion for girls to be faithful. Mr. Hedden is 
 writing a play about it " 
 
 And she remembered that she was not to say 
 anything about the play, that she must not even 
 mention the title to a "living soul." 
 
 "And nowadays that isn't the fashion ? I don't 
 believe that hearts have changed — only that the 
 modern girl's sense of obligation sits lighter on 
 her. If she has a change of heart, she feels at 
 liberty to break her contract — no matter how the 
 man feels." 
 
 "All girls aren't like that," said Silver. 
 73 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I know it," said he, "and I thank God for 
 it. You aren't — for one?" 
 
 "Who knows ?" said Silver. 
 
 "/ know. That's enough people. If I were 
 going on a five years' voyage and you promised 
 to wait for me and be faithful — ^you'd wait and 
 you'd be faithful." 
 
 "Maybe," said Silver. "But I'd do a lot of 
 thinking before I promised." 
 
 Then they both laughed. 
 
 "When does Hedden go back to Broadway?" 
 
 "He's going to finish his play. And then he's 
 going to talk to the captain and my mother, and 
 try to persuade them to let me be in it." 
 
 "I'd love to know what's decided." 
 
 " Really ? Then I'll write and tell you." 
 
 "Good girl. Truly? Would you mind if I 
 wrote to you once in a while ? I'd like to tell you 
 from time to time what I'm doing with the life 
 you " 
 
 "Never mind what I did with your life. But 
 I'd love to hear what you are doing with it." 
 
 "Truly?" 
 
 She looked very solemn and crossed her heart. 
 
 "And if," said Henley, "I hear that you are 
 going to stay here, I'll be glad. And if I hear that 
 you are coming to New York, I'll be glad. On 
 
 74 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 the chance of the latter event I shall begin at 
 once to save all my salary so that there may be 
 expensive doings. Oh, Lord, wouldn't it be fun 
 to be rich ! Tell me, honestly, what will your 
 family say ?" 
 
 "If they say yes, it will be a miracle." 
 
 "And you've set your heart on their saying 
 it?" 
 
 "I suppose so." 
 
 "And you'll be terribly disappointed if they 
 don't?" 
 
 Silver Sands had a beautiful quality of honesty. 
 For some reason she wished to answer him with 
 an unshaded truth. The best she could manage 
 was this: 
 
 "I won't be as disappointed as I would have 
 been." 
 
 Whether Henley understood her precise mean- 
 ing or not is unknown. At least his heart began 
 to beat faster, and he looked quickly away from 
 her. 
 
 They waded heavily through the thick sand 
 and sparse vegetation of the dunes, until sud- 
 denly the ocean was spread before them — ^wave- 
 less, shipless, birdless to the horizon. 
 
 75 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Well," said Silver, "there it is. What do you 
 think of it?" 
 
 And Henley, with complete seriousness, assured 
 her, as we have foreseen, that he was amazed at 
 its size. 
 
 Then suddenly shading his eyes with his left 
 hand, and looking straight out: "Do you know," 
 he asked, "what country is right opposite us ? " 
 
 "England?" 
 
 "Wrong. Go to the foot. Spain is opposite. 
 And do you know what I see ?" 
 
 "A castle in Spain?" 
 
 "Go back to the head !" 
 
 7& 
 
X 
 
 "T HAVEN'T seen much of you lately," said 
 A Hedden. "Quite a lot has happened since 
 you took to fishing demigods out of the water. 
 I've ripped the scene before the church up the 
 back, and it mustn't be a swift that the cabin- 
 boy makes for her on the long voyage; it must 
 be a busk." 
 
 "Of course," said Silver; "how stupid of us! 
 The best she could do with a swift would be to 
 screw it to her sewing-table; but she could sew 
 the busk into the front of her dress, as all the 
 girls did, and then it could always be close to her 
 heart." 
 
 "Precisely," said Hedden; "and I thought this, 
 too. Let the cabin-boy have all the ingenuity 
 and patience of the usual sailor-artist and worker 
 in bone and ivory, but let him have in addition 
 an Italian genius for form and color; let his work 
 be worthy of a real master, so that when the bark 
 Pheenix (I have decided on Phcenix because that 
 is the bird which rises from its ashes) starts on 
 her last voyage the audience will know that the 
 
 n 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 world is going to lose a Raphael. . . . Now, how 
 do you think this would do for the captain's lines 
 when he tells her about the cabin-boy's death ? 
 I should explain that the cabin-boy is to be the 
 captain's nephew, that on shore the captain is the 
 favorite uncle of all his nieces and nephews — 
 they climb on his knee and pull his beard and so 
 forth and so on — but that at sea he is the sternest 
 of disciplinarians. Well, the captain says: 'How 
 could I know that he was injured internally; that 
 he was dying ? He called to me, "Uncle Robert — 
 Uncle Robert," and I said, "Boy — you have no 
 uncle on this ship." Then he crep' away into the 
 foc's'le and died all alone.'" 
 
 The cabin-boy had grown under Hedden's 
 hands from a comic figure into a tragic. He was 
 very real to Silver, and she sighed. 
 
 "I wish you could spare him," she said. 
 
 "I can't," said Hedden with the positiveness 
 of fate. "Now, Silver, there's a difficulty. This 
 is where you can help. I don't care what I spend, 
 but the properties of 'When My Ship Comes In' 
 must be the real thing. Everything needed is to 
 be found right here in Hanleytown — quadrants, 
 spy-glasses, walking-sticks of whalebone and ivory, 
 swifts, busks, jagging-knives, lamps for burning 
 whale-oil, silver spectacles with square eyepieces, 
 
 78 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 'baccy-boxes, etc. I can send up my scene-paintir 
 and get the church and the doorways and the 
 wharfs and the ships, but the other things come 
 hard. The people whom I've talked to who own 
 such things won't sell. But there must be others 
 who will. Now, you know everybody in Hanley- 
 town, and I'll give you carte blanche to buy up 
 what you can. I want the parlor in the prologise 
 to be an absolutely perfect reproduction of a top- 
 notch whaling captain's parlor — only we'll lay th« 
 ivories on thick; it takes a lot of whale and walrus 
 teeth to strike a whole color note on a scale as 
 large as the average Broadway stage. Now, will 
 you get busy on this ? " 
 
 "I know a lot of things that could be bought," 
 said Silver. "I think it's only where they've 
 always been in the family that the owners really 
 care about them." 
 
 In the doorway Hedden turned, smiling as if 
 upon a sudden thought. 
 
 "Silver," he said abruptly, "a. prize-fighter goes 
 into strict training for weeks and weeks before a 
 fight; so a horse before a race; so a college boy 
 before a football game. Now all these things are 
 child's play to acting. You must regard me as 
 your trainer. Can you do that ?" 
 
 "I think so." 
 
 79 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 And she smiled up at him, wondering what he 
 was going to say next. 
 
 "Then," said he, "keep your eyes in the boat. 
 Better, keep your eyes and your mind all the time 
 on your ship — that's bound to come in, if only 
 you concentrate hard enough. Don't go scooting 
 oflF on side issues." 
 
 "Please tell me what I've done ?" 
 
 "You haven't done anything. I'm telling you 
 what not to do." 
 
 "Not very definitely." 
 
 "Well, then— don't fall in love." 
 
 With that he left her. 
 
 Silver Sands moved slowly to a window and 
 stood looking out at the yachts and catboats with 
 which the near-by waters of the harbor bristled. 
 Until Hedden's half-joking, half-earnest admon- 
 ition it had not occurred to her that she could 
 fall in love with anybody. She was too young, 
 and self-centred thoughts were so interesting. 
 
 Gradually from among the yachts her eyes 
 singled out the beautiful white hull of the Aphro- 
 dite, and after that saw no other. 
 
 They had said good-by — not even "So long — 
 see you later." When she waked the next morn- 
 ing, supposing that she ever managed to go to 
 sleep at all, he would be gone; a day or two and 
 
 80 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 he would have forgotten her. Yes. Hedden was 
 right. The play was the thing; she must keep 
 her eyes in the boat. 
 
 One single knock fell sharply upon the front 
 door and set Silver's sad heart to beating more 
 quickly. Being without affectation, she ran to 
 the door and opened it swiftly. 
 
 Henley's face was pale and grave. 
 
 "I had to see you again," he said. "I kept 
 thinking: 'I'm going away; I'm going away.' 
 And there wasn't any future to that. And so I 
 had to come. I came," he said, "to undo that 
 good-by of ours. I came to say 'So long — see 
 you later.' If you don't come to New York 
 soon — Silver Sands — I'm coming back here. I'll 
 have to fix it somehow." 
 
 He stepped into the dark hall and shut the 
 door behind him. Silver was unable to speak. 
 For some reason she was deeply moved; her 
 heart fluttered in her breast like a caught bird — 
 a "cot" bird, she would have said. And though 
 she stood her ground, her great eyes had, you may 
 say, a sort of "backing away" look. 
 
 "I had to come," he said. "I had to." 
 
 Then he smiled with great gentleness, and there 
 was quite a long silence. 
 
 "Shouldn't I have come ?" 
 8i 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I don't know." 
 
 "I've only one good arm at the moment," he 
 said; "if I don't put it round you I think I'll just 
 die. Silver " 
 
 The sound arm slid into place. And all of a 
 sudden her tense body seemed to relax and grow 
 soft, and near. Her head drooped on his shoulder 
 like a flower wilting, and he kissed her and kissed 
 her. 
 
 Then his right arm came out of its sling and 
 folded about her. And he was not conscious of 
 any agony. 
 
 If they had had thoughts of anything in this 
 world but each other, they might have heard 
 from the top of the stair an exclamation of anger 
 — and of disgust, mixed perhaps with a sudden 
 green note of jealousy. 
 
 "Why," whispered Henley, "she belongs to me. 
 She's my girl; she's my dear." 
 
 "Are you mine, too?" 
 
 And at that he smiled and smiled and told her 
 with ecstatic levity that she had just won an 
 argument. 
 
 There was no time to talk about the future. 
 Captain Sands's heavy feet could be heard com- 
 ing up the brick walk to the door. -.Mrs. Sands 
 ttas about to emerge from the kitchen on a tour 
 
 82 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 of lamplighting. Hedden might come down the 
 stair at any moment. 
 
 "We're going out to-night, dear," said Henley 
 swiftly, "instead of in the morning. My boss 
 has had a telegram, and " 
 
 "I don't want you to be sailing at night." 
 
 "There will be a moon — and, besides, nothing 
 can happen to me now — nothing." 
 
 And he kissed her once more. 
 
 And then Captain Sands began to open the 
 front door, Mrs. Sands began to come out of the 
 kitchen, and McKay Hedden began to come down 
 the stair. They were in time to hear Henley 
 saying: 
 
 "It's been a great pleasure, and thank you for 
 all your kindness. I'd have been bored stiff if it 
 hadn't been for you." 
 
 It wasn't a very satisfactory parting; but she 
 went with him as far as the gate. 
 
 "When do you start ?" 
 
 "They're getting up the sails now." 
 
 "I'll put a candle in my window." 
 
 "And I'll watch it till I can't see it any 
 more." 
 
 "If the night turns foggy, I'll die of worry. 
 Please say that you'll take care of yourself. 
 Coeldn't you sleep in a life-preserver?" 
 
 83 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "To-night ? I couldn't sleep if they filled me 
 with opium." 
 
 "It isn't as if you had the use of both your 
 arms . . . why, you've taken it out of its sling! 
 Put it back at once, sir ! . . ." 
 
 "Only because it's of no use out here in the 
 street — ^the street of Many Eyes. Why do they 
 call it that?" 
 
 "Because the mothers, and the wives, and the 
 sweethearts used to sit at those windows and look 
 toward Cape Hope to see their ships come in. 
 But nowadays they just use the windows to make 
 lovers uncomfortable." 
 
 "I've got to go, dear. God bless and keep you." 
 
 "God bless and keep you. But you'll write — 
 say you'll write ?" 
 
 "Do I have to say it ?" 
 
 And they laughed for pure happiness. 
 
 Silver sat at her window by a Ughted candle, 
 her eyes upon the receding sails of the Aphrodite. 
 Already the moon was rising. And the Lord had 
 never made a safer or more exquisite night for 
 sailing. The wind blew steadily and not hard 
 from the southwest. The flashings of the Cape 
 Hope Light — three white flashes with intervals of 
 
 84 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 ten seconds, and then a red flash — could be seen 
 for twenty miles. No ship putting out of harbor 
 ever ran less risk of sudden storms or collisions 
 than the Aphrodite, but for all that, when the 
 yacht's sails and lights had vanished at last. 
 Silver Sands knelt by her narrow white bed, and 
 said the prayer for those in peril on the deep, and 
 burst into a storm of weeping. 
 
 8S 
 
XI 
 
 As Silver sat by the candle watching the Aph- 
 . Todite sail away into the moonlight, her ears 
 ought to have tingled. On board the receding 
 schooner two gentlemen, one with his right arm 
 in a sling, the other, and older, with his mustaches 
 turned up like the German Emperor's (much as 
 peach-trees are trained against walls in the Old 
 World) were talking about her. 
 
 "So that's how you've been spending your 
 time!" said Van Brunt. 
 
 "That first morning," said Henley, "the min- 
 ute I heard her voice, even before I'd seen her, I 
 knew that something definite and important had 
 happened to me. And when she leaned out to 
 help me into her boat and I had a good look at 
 her, I said to myself: 'That is the girl I am going 
 to marry.'" 
 
 And he laughed happily. 
 
 "I saw het that first morning myself," said 
 Van Brunt. 
 
 "You did? Where?" 
 86 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "You passed under my stateroom ports. I was 
 shaving, so I couldn't come out. But I looked 
 out and cut myself." 
 
 "God bless you!" exclaimed Henley. "I al- 
 ways said you had the best eye ! " 
 
 "But, Paul, you're not in a position to marry. 
 And I've only one thing to say: don't marry till 
 you are. Wait till you see enough money coming 
 in steadily. You have no idea how much it costs 
 to keep house nowadays, and marriage isn't any 
 good in the long run if you don't keep house." 
 
 "Of course," said Henley, "there's no future 
 for me in Wall Street. I'm ashamed to take what 
 you pay me as it is." 
 
 "Don't be," said Van Brunt, "you're worth 
 your wages and more; but no man can go in for 
 any career that doesn't call out the very best that 
 he has in him. Now I had the makings of an ideal 
 broker. I'm not boasting. To understand and 
 grasp so simple a business I had to strain my 
 small brain to the breaking-point. That's why 
 I've gotten on. I was always trying to do some- 
 thing that was a Uttle too hard for me. Of course, 
 in addition, I knew enough to be honest, and to 
 keep my mouth shut, even when intoxicated. 
 Now you've got a different kind of a brain. What 
 took all of my mental powers to accomplish makes 
 
 87 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 hardly any call on yours. I'm speaking very 
 frankly. It's like playing tennis every day with a 
 man to whom you can give thirty. He will im- 
 prove, but you won't. On the contrary, you'll 
 play down to his level, and if you keep it up long 
 enough you'll ruin your game. 
 
 "It's your personality that's useful to me, not 
 your work. You know everybody and everybody 
 likes you. That means customers for me. Now 
 I'll always have a job for you, but if I were you 
 I wouldn't be satisfied with that." 
 
 "I'm not," said Henley; "I'd rather do plays 
 than anything else. But as nobody seems to 
 think them worth producing . . ." 
 
 "Of course," said Van Brunt, "if you want to 
 take a chance, I'll put up the money. You can 
 always buy a production." 
 
 Henley shook his head. 
 
 "I have faith in the managers," he said; "they 
 make mistakes, but they don't do it on purpose." 
 
 "I've another proposition," said Van Brunt. 
 "It's what's hurrying us back to town." 
 
 "The Lost Mines?" 
 
 "There's a career for you." 
 
 "Ex-pound." 
 
 "What are you looking at ?" 
 
 "A Ught in a window." 
 88 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Van Brunt laughed softly, and reached in his 
 pocket for a cigar. 
 
 "I've spent a hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars in developing those mines," he said. 
 "And now that they are in condition to pay, 
 Mexico bursts into a dozen revolutions, and I'm 
 expecting every day to hear that my plant has 
 been destroyed and that I've lost my money. 
 Griffin, the manager, stood up to half a dozen 
 threatening letters, and then lost his nerve and 
 skedaddled. I don't blame him. Now Tallant, 
 the tennis-player, has interests next door to mine. 
 He proposes to go down and protect them. You 
 could do the same for mine. You would have to 
 pick up a dozen or twenty cowboys this side of 
 the Rio Grande, sneak them into Mexico between 
 days, live off the country, fortify the mines, and 
 hold them. I shouldn't expect you to work them. 
 But you might try. It's a wild country — plenty 
 of pig and deer and quail and lions. . . . Now 
 if you can keep my interests and improvements 
 unhurt until it's safe to do business in Mexico, 
 I'll give you a quarter interest in the Lost Mines." 
 
 "When do I start?" asked Henley simply. 
 And there was a great surge of joy in his heart. 
 
 "If this wind holds," said Van Brunt, "we'll 
 make New Bedford in a couple of hours. We'll 
 
 89 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 motor to Providence and make the best connec- 
 tions for New York that we can. I've telegraphed 
 for accommodations on the midnight train from 
 Boston and on the one o'clock. You'll outfit to- 
 morrow morning and start for San Antonio in 
 the afternoon." 
 
 "In that case," said Henley, "I'd better go 
 below and write my letters now." 
 
 "Letters?" 
 
 "Letter." 
 
 Van Brunt laughed softly. 
 
 " If you don't mind, tell Gasaki to bring me a 
 pint of champagne in a tall glass with mint. 
 Better join me." 
 
 But Henley only laughed and went below whis- 
 tling loudly: 
 
 "The lips that touch liquor shall never touch 
 mine." 
 
 It was at this moment that Silver Sands was 
 beginning to pray for those in peril on the deep. 
 
 90 
 
XII 
 
 IT is possible that without interference McKay 
 Hedden might have lost interest in Silver 
 Sands. Even he could not train her into a dra- 
 matic star without the exercise of much labor and 
 patience. He had sounded her parents and they 
 were utterly opposed to her going on the stage. 
 And she herself, he was convinced, would never 
 set their authority at defiance. It seemed wisest 
 to pigeonhole the new play, to sail away on the 
 Buskin, and trust to Providence to provide him 
 with a new star. 
 
 Furthermore, there remained of the new play 
 only the stern and difficult parts. And Hedden 
 was not the man to arrive at results by steady 
 toil. He could, upon an impulse, work all around 
 the clock; but he could not work eight hours a 
 day for a month. Already the vivid newness of 
 "When My Ship Comes In" had worn off, so 
 that his mind was jaded with the subject. 
 
 But the advent of Paul Henley had acted upon 
 him Uke a strong stimulant. For the leading 
 motive of his life had been jealousy. The mere 
 
 91 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 fact of something more or less desirable being 
 owned outright by some one else had always given 
 him a fierce desire to make that very thing his 
 own, by theft, by barter, or even by hard work. 
 It was not alone the excellence of Henley's play 
 that had caused him to steal it, it had seemed 
 pitiable to him that so valuable a property should 
 belong to any one but himself. 
 
 And so with Silver Sands. 
 
 He had heard and seen enough from the top 
 of the stairs to rouse his sense of covetousness. 
 "First Henley owns my play," he thought, "and 
 then he owns my star. Whatever his rights may 
 have been to the first, to the second he has none. 
 I discovered her." 
 
 And from this time on McKay Hedden regarded 
 Silver Sands in a new light. He still coveted her 
 as a money-making proposition. But he coveted 
 her more because she was beautiful and inno- 
 cent. And he coveted that keen, if inexcusable, 
 homage which the well-known lady-killer receives 
 even from the virtuous. To have written and 
 produced "When My Ship Comes In," to have 
 discovered a new star, and to be known as her 
 "protector" by those on the inside, and all this 
 in one season, would fill his cap with bright 
 feathers. The mere ruin of a life presented no 
 
 92 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 obstacle to his conscience. He had none, like 
 the great Napoleon. Anything for money, power, 
 and self-gratification. 
 
 It would have been interesting to have asked 
 Hedden questions to which, either by divine pres- 
 sure or by torture, he would have been obliged to 
 return absolutely truthful answers. 
 
 Do you fear any retribution except that which 
 is provided by man and his laws ? 
 
 No. 
 
 If A steals B's play, is that wicked ? 
 
 Yes. 
 
 But if you steal B's play ? 
 
 It isn't wicked. 
 
 Would it be wrong for you to ruin a girl ? 
 
 Not for me. 
 
 Can you do wrong ? 
 
 I cannot. I am above the law, above morality, 
 above religion. I am the most wonderful person 
 that ever lived. Men ought to be grateful to me 
 for considering their work worth appropriating. 
 A girl of any sense whatever should consider being 
 my mistress one of the highest honors attainable. 
 
 Are you afraid of anything? Are you afraid 
 of God? 
 
 No. 
 
 Of hell? 
 
 93 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 No. 
 
 What are you afraid of, then ? 
 
 I am afraid of fines and imprisonment. 
 
 I am afraid of having my face punched. 
 
 I am afraid of having my hide horsewhipped. 
 
 I km afraid of weapons, of violent men who 
 imagine that I have wronged them. 
 
 Do you, when all is said and done, consider 
 yourself virtuous, a good citizen — in short, a 
 noble character ? 
 
 I do. . . . 
 
 Henley's coming, then, had furnished him with 
 a new impulse — ^jealousy. Silver Sands herself 
 was to furnish him with another. 
 
 The day after Henley's departure she said: 
 
 "Mr. Hedden, I don't think I want to go on 
 the stage any more." 
 
 "You don't ? Oh, very well, it won't be the 
 first time I've wasted on people who don't know 
 their own minds. And I don't suppose it will 
 be the last." 
 
 He turned his back on her then and marched 
 violently out of the house. And she ran after 
 him, and called to him, and he pretended to be 
 deaf, and kept on marching, and showing her 
 the receding back of a greatly injured man. 
 
 It is a pity, perhaps, that his behavior did 
 94 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 not act upon her sense of the ridiculous. During 
 his silly dudgeon she ought to have read his 
 spoiled-child character clearly and lost all her 
 awe of him. That she did not must be attributed 
 to the tenderness of her heart. 
 
 She watched to see which turn he would make 
 from Water Street — the street of Many Eyes — 
 and having seen, started around the block in the 
 opposite direction and at a quick trot to head 
 him off. And it so happened that they met 
 face to face in front of a vacant house standing 
 in an umbrageous and unkempt yard. 
 
 "Mr. Hedden — Aren't you going to speak 
 to me ?" 
 
 Taken by surprise, the manager clapped a 
 hand to his forehead with a dramatic gesture 
 and exclaimed: 
 
 "You!" 
 
 "I was afraid I'd hurt your feelings. I didn't 
 mean to, and so I headed you off to tell you, 
 and " 
 
 "Mine," said Hedden, "is a position of great 
 isolation. If I allowed myself to have feelings 
 that could be hurt I should long ago have perished 
 of sheer pain. And yet you have managed to 
 hurt me. Silver. I counted on you. It seems to 
 me that you and I were in an alliance to show 
 
 93 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 the world a great play greatly played. But it 
 seems that on your part the whole thing has been 
 a mere 'pour passer le temps.' " 
 
 "I don't know what that last means," said 
 Silver, "but it wasn't any whim. I was terribly 
 in earnest and excited about it. And then I got 
 more excited about something else." 
 
 And she flushed a rich rose under her clear 
 tan. 
 
 "How like a woman!" exclaimed Hedden. 
 "And may I ask what you have found more 
 exciting to your imagination than a great Broad- 
 way success ? To my mind, short of a great 
 naval or military triumph there is nothing to 
 equal that. But then I am a plain, straight- 
 forward, mere man — ^with a mere man's point 
 of view. What new thing has come into your 
 life, Silver?" 
 
 It was not easy for her to tell him. She leaned 
 against the ruined gate of the deserted dwelling, 
 and looked at the ground. 
 
 "Surely," said Hedden, "you ought not to 
 come to a definite conclusion affecting your whole 
 life on the strength of a three days' acquaintance. 
 Is it Paul Henley who has changed your mind 
 for you ? " 
 
 "He said he didn't like the stage for a girl," 
 96 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 she said stoutly, "but on the other hand he said 
 that he would hke for me to be in New York." 
 
 "Well," said Hedden, and he spread his hands 
 in a Semitic gesture. "There you are !" 
 
 And he, too, leaned upon the ruined gate and 
 looked at the ground. 
 
 "And you are really in love with him ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 There was a long silence, and then Hedden, 
 in a dramatic whisper, more to himself than to 
 her, mumbled: 
 
 "My God, what have I done to deserve this? 
 I ask you, what ?" 
 
 And then he lifted his eyes to Silver's troubled 
 face and spoke swiftly: 
 
 "Do you think it was only to make a star of 
 you that I have stayed on and on in Hanley- 
 town? A jumping-ofF place of the world from 
 which all initiation, all play of mind, all ambi- 
 tion, all broad-mindedness have long since 
 jumped ? Do you think I have lavished and 
 squandered my humble talents on 'When My 
 Ship Comes In' merely for art's sake? I have 
 written it for you. I have put my whole heart 
 in it. For it seemed to me that because of your 
 extreme youth aU other channels of expression 
 were denied me. But others have not respected 
 
 97 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 your youth — others have felt that it was legiti- 
 mate and manly to play upon your feelings. If 
 that right exists for another, it exists for me. 
 And I love you, Silver, not as boys love but as 
 men love. I loved you from the first moment 
 that I saw you ! Ay, and before that. I loved 
 you thousands of years ago — in Babylon, when 
 I was a king and you a Christian slave. My 
 God — my God, what have I done to deserve 
 this?" 
 
 He stepped impulsively toward her, and some- 
 thing in his expression caused her to give ground. 
 Hedden felt rather than saw that the old lilac 
 bushes along the yard fence now screened him 
 from prying eyes. " What do you know of love, 
 you — little beauty ? " he said, his face red as fire. 
 Silver did not take another step backward. And 
 though she trembled with a vague fear, her great 
 blue eyes regarded him with an extraordinary 
 brave steadiness. If she had shown fear, like 
 the coward he was, Hedden might not easily have 
 mastered his sudden passion. A moment they 
 stood thus. Then the color went out of the man's 
 face, and it was he who took a step backward. 
 
 "Forgive me. Silver," he said. "And unless 
 it should please you to remember that I, too, 
 loved you, forget what I have said. We shall 
 
 98 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 talk no more of my love — you and I. S6e" — 
 and he made a twisting gesture with his right 
 hand — "I lock the secret in my heart, whence 
 it issued for a moment, only to find that it had 
 lain hidden too long, too long. And yet I would 
 have leashed my winged soul and given it into 
 your keeping. For you I would have worked the 
 flesh from my fingers. Together we should have 
 gone far — far. Well, my dear, for you there is 
 the high noon of your new happiness— ^-for me, 
 too, there shall be this happiness — that I shall 
 renounce without capitulation to bitterness, to 
 envy, to uncharitableness. Silver, my dear, do 
 you pray ? " 
 
 She nodded. 
 
 "Then pray for poor McKay Hedden — pray 
 God to help him play the man." 
 
 And he smiled upon her with great brilliance, 
 believing secretly in his heart that he resembled 
 a male angel. 
 
 "And I ought to tell you," he said, "that I 
 think your young man is a beautiful young man, 
 a worthy young man, and I intend so to live that 
 he shall one day call me — friend." 
 
 "I'm awfully sorry," said Silver, "that you 
 feel about me the way you do. But I think 
 you've been fine about it. And you've been so 
 
 99 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 good to me that I wouldn't have hurt you for 
 the world, if I could have helped it. But I couldn't 
 help it, could I ? Say- 1 couldn't." 
 
 He distended his lungs with air and held him- 
 self very erect, and looked very manly — stage 
 manly. 
 
 "You could not," he said, "and may God bless 
 you and make you happy. . . . And now will 
 you forgive me — ^if I run away? The battle's 
 too hot for me just now. Silver. I was surprised 
 by the enemy in great force and I must go some- 
 where alone — ^to reform my lines — ^to renew my 
 courage." 
 
 And with an abrupt wave of a shapely hand 
 he turned and left her. ■ 
 
 Silver found a hidden seat under a pear-tree 
 heavy with green fruit. Before witnesses she 
 might have kept countenance indefinitely; but 
 alone, screened from all eyes, she broke down and 
 cried like a httle child, grinding her fists into 
 her eyes. 
 
 And this was a pity, because later when she 
 called at the post-office it was to learn that Mr. 
 Hedden had already collected the mail, his own 
 and that of the Sands family. It was also a pity 
 that Silver did not ask the postmaster if there 
 had been a letter for her. 
 
 lOO 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 There had been, and in sorting the mail Hedden 
 had recognized Paul Henley's hand on the private- 
 signalled stationery of the Aphrodite. But he, 
 fearing lest Silver might make a particular in- 
 quiry at the post-office, did not at once open, 
 read, and destroy it. All the rest of the day and 
 evening he carried it carelessly in his jacket 
 pocket; whence he could produce it at a moment's 
 notice, in case Silver should say: 
 
 "But the postmaster said there was a letter 
 for me. He noticed it particularly because Mr. 
 Van Brunt's private signal was on the envelope." 
 
 Then Hedden could say: 
 
 "I just stuffed everything into my pocket and 
 maybe that one got left when I took the others 
 out. 
 
 But Silver Sands left him in quiet possession 
 of her letter and the next morning, immediately 
 after he had brushed his teeth, Mr. Hedden 
 ripped- it open, and read as follows: 
 
 lOI 
 
XIII 
 
 MY LnTLE Silver: 
 Just as you dropped from the skies into my 
 undeserving life, and showed me the way to 
 happiness, so now the good Van Brunt, out of a heart 
 many sizes too large for the average man (and because 
 he did see my Silver through a porthole and thought 
 the world of her), has shown me a broad exhilarating 
 road at the end of which I may hope to find fortune. 
 A fortune is a pleasant thing. Silver Sands. Even be- 
 fore I knew you I wanted to be rich. 'Cause why ? 
 
 "Make me to need no aid from men 
 That I may help such men as need." 
 
 But now the crying need of money has doubled, 
 trebled, millionupled, all because of a slip of a girl, 
 all tanned by the sun, and dear, with the laughingest 
 mouth in the world and the magicalest great eyes. 
 
 But how are we ever to say to each other the things 
 that are to be said ? And how is that strong youth, 
 Paul Henley, to bear a long absence from his "Dear" ? 
 
 Listen, Little Brown Love: there lurk among Mexican 
 mountains certain divers and particular mines. The 
 Lost Mines men call them. These belong to rich man 
 Van Brunt, and lo, because there are troublous times 
 in Mexico these mines require a caretaker — a bold, 
 resolute fellow who cannot be bluffed, because he is 
 so much in love, and so well loved back, that he is 
 stronger and perkier than any other twelve men in 
 the world put together. 
 
 loz 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 This then is the plot. In Texas I am to gather a 
 band of cowboys, and with them, to stand guard over 
 the Lost Mines until times and manners in Mexico are 
 more domestic than now. We shall be too strong to 
 be attractive to robbers, insurgents or regulars. So 
 you are to have no anxiety about that. We shall be 
 in a divine and sparkling climate. And so no fear on 
 that score. And I shall think about you all day and 
 dream about you all night — in case that was worrying 
 you. 
 
 Only this is a trouble. That we shall be apart for 
 ever so long and that it may be impossible to receive 
 or send letters. Honey heart, if you don't get letters 
 from me for outrageous lengths of time, how are you 
 to believe that I am faithful, and that all my love is 
 always all yours ? You will believe in me because 
 you love me. My first thought of you was this: Oh, 
 God, how she would love a man and trust him — if she 
 loved him. Almost I think I wanted your love before 
 I loved you. But who shall say which of two things 
 happened first in a billionth of a second ? At this 
 moment I wish that I could crawl a long, long way and 
 kiss your feet. I don't know why love should suddenly 
 focus upon just such a longing. I only repeat the facts. 
 And I wish that all the time I could be protecting you 
 (most successfully) from terrible dangers that you 
 knew nothing about. I wish I had you in my arms. 
 I wish I had known you well enough to kiss you, that 
 time in the Gopher when your face was all wet with 
 salt spray. What a lot of time we wasted. 
 
 On the way to the Lost Mines I shall write and 
 telegraph again and again. If after that letters are 
 few and far between, don't lose heart or faith, dear 
 heart, will you .? The address I gave you, care of 
 
 103 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 Van Brunt, will reach me if any address will. This 
 banishment into a far country won't last forever. 
 And I shall own a fourth interest in the Lost Mines, 
 which are richer than the dreams of the average avari- 
 cious — and all this being finished and done and at- 
 tended to and made history — ^we'll get married the 
 soonest possible. And if I'm not good to you and 
 don't make you happy and give you everything that's 
 worth having in this best of worlds God punish me ! 
 God bless and keep you, my darling ! 
 
 Paul. 
 
 McKay Hedden merely remarked, "Bean 
 Soup!" and tore the letter into a thousand 
 pieces. 
 
 104 
 
XIV 
 
 AND so it came about that Silver Sands did 
 l\. not quite know what had become of her 
 lover. Letters she had and telegrams — such 
 letters as a man very much in love, but swiftly 
 travelling, may find time to write; such telegrams 
 as a man may send to a girl without giving her 
 secret away in her home town. And all that he 
 talked about, openly in letters, covertly in the 
 telegrams, was his love for her and hers for him. 
 Of plans in general and of the Lost Mines in 
 particular he made no further mention, except 
 in this last letter of all. 
 
 "I've got together the buUiest crowd of boys, 
 and to-night we cross the river. . . ." 
 
 She pondered over that a good deal and could 
 not make it out. 
 
 Every day for a week she had one or more 
 letters and one or more telegrams. And then 
 no more of either. At meals and between meals 
 Hedden studied her face. And it became evi- 
 dent to him after a while that she did not know 
 what had become of Henley, 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "At least," said Hedden to himself, thinking 
 of the destroyed letter, "the young pup has the 
 sense not to repeat himself." 
 
 To make sure of this, however, he waited until 
 Sunday morning when, the entire Sands family 
 and their servant being at church, he made a 
 thorough and successful exploration of Silver's 
 bureau. He found the letters and telegrams 
 numbered by Silver in the order of their recep- 
 tion, untied the crimson hair ribbon with which 
 she had tied them together and read them at his 
 leisure. Certain phrases in the letters met with 
 his artistic approval, and before replacing the 
 packet as he had found it, he copied them into 
 his note-book for future reference. 
 
 And then thoroughly satisfied with the play 
 that fate seemed to have made in his favor, he 
 went for a stroll along the gray water-front, al- 
 ways upon his keen hunt for local color. 
 
 "At least," he said, "she won't hear from him 
 often. She's not old enough to stand neglect, 
 even if it's only fancied. Very Ukely the fool 
 will be murdered." 
 
 And he felt that he had arranged everything 
 himself and that it could not have been better 
 done. 
 
 "Give her time," he said, "and she'll drop at 
 io6 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 my feet like a ripe brown pear from a tree. . . . 
 Yes, I think we may say that Mr. Paul Henley 
 has been successfully eliminated. . . . She won't 
 want to eat out her heart in this place. I know 
 women. She'll be all for New York again — after 
 a little while. And if there is such a thing as a 
 forsaken girl turning to her best friend, to her 
 benefactor, why " 
 
 And the thought opened infinite vistas of 
 triumphant possibilities; not the least of which 
 pictured Henley as returning from Mexico, rich 
 and successful, to find that his Silver Sands had 
 been faithless. 
 
 And later he met her returning from church 
 between two boys who loved her dearly. One 
 carried her prayer-book and one carried her 
 hymnal. And she was doing her best to be very 
 sweet and kind to them both, although there was 
 beginning to be a look of great trouble in her 
 eyes. 
 
 Hedden lifted his hat, and imagined himself a 
 great French aristocrat, who, at the risk of his 
 life, should salute Marie Antoinette on her way 
 to the scaffold. And when she had passed, he 
 looked back at her over his shoulder, and he 
 said to himself: 
 
 "At a pinch I'd marry that girl!" 
 107 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 And he pictured himself, not as the father, but 
 as the companion of incomparably gifted sons 
 and daughters. And a rose that leaned over a 
 garden fence caught his eye. A green, slimy slug 
 was feeding upon its heart, and in an instant Hed- 
 den had composed a much-needed Une for "When 
 My Ship Comes In." 
 
 And then he shook the slug out of the rose, 
 and gave it a dramatic exit, between the brick 
 sidewalk and the rubber sole of his shoe. 
 
 io8 
 
XV 
 
 EVERY day Silver Sands wrote to Henley 
 at the address which he had given her. 
 But when two weeks had passed after the receipt 
 of his last letter to her she stopped writing. She 
 had never understood why such a wonderful per- 
 son should love her; and the notion that it had 
 been only a passing whim grew slowly but surely 
 in her heart like a cancer. 
 
 Her good friends of Hanleytown remember 
 very well this period in their favorite's life. Old 
 persons and young mothers remember a thou- 
 sand acts of unselfishness and pure kindness. 
 And they remember, too, the look of patiently 
 borne suffering in her great eyes. Boys and 
 girls of her own age remember that her heart 
 was no longer in childish things, sports, close 
 harmony singing or daring emulation. She could 
 look upon the lofty bowsprit of a coastwise 
 schooner without wishing to show how cleanly 
 she could dive from it; she was a great deal in 
 the kitchen with her mother. And little by 
 
 109 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 little she renewed her former close association 
 with McKay Hedden. 
 
 TTiat wise impostor spoke no more to her of 
 love. But allowed her to see that he, too, could 
 suffer in silence. 
 
 "Silver," he said one day, "am I right in 
 thinking that the stage has begun to appeal to 
 you again ? Because summer is passing, and 
 something ought to be decided." 
 
 "Nothing appeals to me very much just now," 
 she answered. 
 
 "You poor child," said Hedden, and he al- 
 lowed himself to look as if he beUeved that in 
 this world are certain men who ought to be ex- 
 terminated. Later that same day he said: 
 
 "Couldn't you tell me the trouble? I'd give 
 my hand to help you." 
 
 She hesitated, but only for an instant. 
 
 "He hasn't written to me for nearly three 
 weeks," she said. 
 
 "Not written to you ! Why, that is incredible." 
 
 "Either he finds that he made a mistake, or 
 something has happened to him." 
 
 "What could happen to him, and you not hear 
 of it ? He's very well known in New York. An 
 accident to him would have been in the papers." 
 
 "I'm not sure that he is in New York. His 
 no 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 last letter was from Texas and he was just going 
 to cross over into Mexico." 
 
 "But he's had plenty of time to do that and 
 get back to his place of business. There's no 
 staying long in Mexico now, you know. The 
 whole country is in a state of revolution." 
 
 "If he found he'd made a mistake he would 
 tell me." 
 
 Hedden averted his face, 
 
 "Of course he would," Silver persisted. 
 
 Hedden made no comment. 
 
 "Why don't you think he would?" she asked. 
 
 "Silver," he said gravely, "anything that I 
 might say to you about Henley for good or for 
 evil could not be expected to bear inspection. If 
 I were to tell you that he is a fine man, it could 
 only be attributed to my wish not to appear 
 jealous. If I were to tell you that he was base" — 
 Hedden's voice strengthened on the term — "it 
 could only be construed as the wail of a worsted 
 rival." 
 
 "But I know better — ^you would say what you 
 really thought — to me. You think he would tire 
 of a girl and not tell her .? Just let her find out 
 for herself?" 
 
 "You'll not trap me into any criticism of Hen- 
 ley," said Hedden. "I shall neither tell you what 
 
 III 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 I know about him personally, nor what is com- 
 mon gossip. Don't you see that I can't? If I 
 said things about him that you didn't like, even 
 if you had to believe them — ^you would hate me, 
 wouldn't you ? If you want my advice, such as 
 it is, it's yours for the asking. But you've got 
 to let me steer clear of personaUties." 
 
 "What would you advise.?" 
 
 "Well, Silver, you've written and he doesn't 
 answer. How long do you think a girl ought to 
 keep up that sort of thing ? " 
 
 "I've already stopped." 
 
 "You can't very well go to New York and hunt 
 him up. Either there is an excuse for his silence 
 or there isn't. In either case you can do no more 
 than you have done. Meanwhile, if you just 
 brood and mope and give your sorrow free rein 
 you'll break your heart. I know you well enough 
 to be sure of that. Life, Silver, is a savage bull; 
 you mustn't run^ from him or wait for him, you 
 must go to him and take him by the horns and 
 worst him. Silver, upon my soul, believe me — 
 the play's the thing. . . . Make that your 
 interest. At least let me speak to your father 
 and mother " 
 
 "They'll never let me go on the stage." 
 
 "You promised that if I could obtain their per- 
 
 112 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 mission, you would sigh a contract with me. Was 
 that promise just words ? But forgive me. Of 
 course it wasn't. I would back your word against 
 Rockefeller's bond." 
 
 "I did promise," said Silver, "but I'm afraid 
 I couldn't be much use to you if I wasn't happy." 
 
 " Let me be the judge of that. Does the promise 
 stand?" 
 
 "If you want it to." 
 
 "Silver, I only want what is best for you. And 
 I am convinced that the play is the thing. It will 
 lift you right up out of your trouble. But I 
 wouldn't force you into anything. And so I give 
 you your promise back. And now what are you 
 going to do.?" 
 
 It seemed to her that he was being fine and 
 generous. 
 
 "Then I suppose you'd better speak to my 
 father." 
 
 "Not yet. Silver. I won't have you saying 
 that I took advantage of you. Think the matter 
 over for a week. Meanwhile I shall vanish. I've 
 worked and worried myself to a frazzle. I need 
 rest and exercise. That's a paradox. I'm going 
 for a little cruise." 
 
 "Where?" 
 
 "I wish you could come. It would be proper 
 "3 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 enough, but the world wouldn't think so. Why, 
 I am going nowhere in particular. I thought I'd 
 just stand out to sea for two or three days and 
 come back." 
 
 "But it's blowing half a gale and the papers 
 say that we are in for the worst blow there's 
 been in years." 
 
 "Well, I can't help that, can I ?" said Hedden 
 cheerfully. Very cheerfully, indeed, for he saw 
 that she was by way of being anxious about him. 
 
 "A man," he continued, "has got to take some 
 chances in this world. And, Silver, when I'm 
 sick — sick at heart, there's always been one sover- 
 eign cure for me — wind and waves and the open 
 sea. Did you ever have your fortune told ? Three 
 gypsies in different parts of the world — one in 
 Scotland, one in Michigan, one in Bavaria — have 
 told me that I shall die by drowning." 
 
 "I know nothing about gypsies," exclaimed 
 Silver, "but I know something about boats and 
 sailing. Any man who deliberately puts out in 
 the face of such weather as this — is crazy." 
 
 "Silver," said Hedden simply. "Nothing hap- 
 pens to men who have nothing to live for here." 
 
 "But you have — hundreds of things." 
 
 "Nothing that I care about — any more." 
 
 "I think you are very cruel." 
 114 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 He smiled imperturbably. 
 
 "I need a tonic," he said, "to my physical 
 make-up there is nothing so bracing as a dash of 
 danger. This won't be the first time I've put out 
 in a gale. And it won't be the last. So look for 
 me a week from to-day, and have your mind 
 made up." 
 
 "If anything happens to you it will be my 
 fault. I shall never forgive myself." 
 
 "Is it your fault that you are the most beauti- 
 ful girl in the world, and that I love you as per- 
 haps no man ever loved before ? Is it your fault 
 that instead of poor me, you love some one else ? 
 That is nonsense, my dear. Fate is to blame. 
 So let fate do the weeping if anything happens 
 to Adonis." 
 
 An hour later he gave a sealed envelope into 
 her hands. Upon it he had written: "If anything 
 happens to me, read this, and — ^^destroy it." 
 
 Ill 
 
XVI 
 
 AROUND the comer from Hanleytown, as 
 ^ you may say, is a dent in the coast where a 
 yacht may lie as in a mill-pond through the worst 
 northeaster that ever blew. Furthermore, the 
 bluffs sheltering this little refuge are so high that 
 even the spars of a very tall vessel therein an- 
 chored cannot be seen from Hanleytown. The 
 cove and the gray-shingled cottage on the bluff 
 belong to a fat Mrs. Giddings with dyed hair. 
 She calls it her "Summerrr Home." She is con- 
 nected with the stage. And she is not received 
 socially in Hanleytown. 
 
 While Silver Sands imagined Hedden to be 
 somewhere on the tumbhng Atlantic, desperately 
 adventuring for love of her, he was being com- 
 fortably and even lavishly entertained by his old 
 friend, Mrs. Giddings, and the good ship Buskin 
 lay safely at anchor in the cove. 
 
 He ran little risk of detection by Silver. During 
 the storm no boats would put out from Hanley- 
 town and accidentally discover his hiding-place, 
 and that Mrs. Giddings should do no talking 
 
 n6 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 could be safely left to a man so high in the profes-' 
 sion with which she was connected. 
 
 Mrs. Giddings understood selfish men very 
 thoroughly and knew how to make them com- 
 fortable. She and her servants waited upon Hed- 
 den as if he had been a king, and he conducted 
 himself quite as if her Summerrr Home had 
 been his own. 
 
 And Silver Sands worried herself sick about 
 him; and what is more, her father's house seemed 
 dull and empty now that he had gone, and she 
 missed her talks and walks with him. The des- 
 perate state of mind in which she believed him 
 was surely no fault of hers; but if anything should 
 happen to him she felt that she could never for- 
 give herself or enjoy a moment's peace thereafter. 
 
 He had left her the manuscript of "When My 
 Ship Comes In" and she made a practise of car- 
 rying this to the boat-house and rehearsing the 
 different parts in front of an inadequate mirror; 
 for Hedden himself had told her that this was one 
 of the highroads to technic. The wind howled 
 about the little boat-house and the rain roared 
 against it. Within the lonely girl played many 
 parts, fighting all the while against the sorrows 
 that gnawed her heart. She was like one im- 
 prisoned in a great drum; sometimes she could 
 
 "7 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 not hear herself speak; and sometimes in lulls of 
 the storm a whisper had the effect in her ears of 
 shouting. At times she suffered terrible dis- 
 couragement, and did not know what to do with 
 her hands or feet; at other times she actually 
 seemed to herself to be the various people whom 
 she was attempting to portray. Sometimes in 
 going over one of the many love scenes she 
 imagined now that she was Paul Henley and now 
 herself, and this always ended in a breakdown; 
 when she would lie upon the floor, her face buried 
 among tarry canvas boat cushions, and sob till 
 she was dazed and exhausted. 
 
 At times the poor child took a certain des- 
 perate pleasure in the thought that she had been 
 deserted. It would be painfully pleasant, having 
 loved, never to love again and to be in the eyes 
 of others always an enigma and a mystery. And 
 she knew that such thoughts were childish, and 
 yet she could not help having them — possibly be- 
 cause she was a child. 
 
 The storm over, Hedden bade adieu to his 
 hostess, since risk of discovery was now great, 
 and sailed away to Nantucket. Thence he de- 
 parted in time to reach Hanleytown harbor upon 
 the afternoon of the seventh day. And Silver, 
 through her father's telescope, saw the Buskin^ 
 
 ii8 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 with all her sails set, swing around Cape Hope, 
 and experienced a sensation of relief that was 
 akin to joy. And color, so often absent from her 
 cheeks nowadays, flooded them and her heart 
 quickened. 
 
 In that moment she felt a romantic friendship 
 for Hedden. How kind he had been, how pa- 
 tient. And how much the poor fellow suffered 
 on her account. It was her duty, it should be 
 her pleasure, to give him in return all that she 
 could. And since she could not give him love 
 she would give him steady friendship, and faith, 
 and if he should persuade her parents to let her 
 go on the stage, she would leave undone nothing 
 of labor or effort to justify his belief in her. 
 
 And she accorded Hedden so warm and affec- 
 tionate and thankful a welcome that for a few 
 hours he actually believed that her infatuation 
 for Henley had cooled. And it was more intui- 
 tion than good judgment that prevented him from 
 taking her in his arms and kissing her. 
 
 Almost in the first minute of greeting he asked 
 for and received the sealed envelope which he had 
 left in her care. Later he carried it to his room 
 and carefully unfolded and spread the contents 
 on his work-table. He was running short of 
 paper of a certain size and quality, and it was 
 
 119 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 quite likely that the blank sheets which he had 
 placed in the envelope would come in handy. 
 
 Just before supper he said: 
 
 "Have you heard from him?" 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 Hedden made no comment. He contented 
 himself with looking the anger and contempt 
 which — ^he didn't feel. 
 
 At supper he said suddenly: 
 
 "Rose, I've been and written a play under 
 your hospitable roof. I'd like to read it to you 
 and the captain and Silver. I'd like to see how 
 it's going to strike people. And I've another 
 reason — ^to be disclosed later." 
 
 "Why, Mac," exclaimed Mrs. Sands, "you 
 couldn't suggest anything we'd like better." 
 
 "After supper, then," said Hedden, and he 
 stole a covert glance at Silver. 
 
 And she trembled a little, for she knew how 
 deeply his other reason, "to be disclosed later," 
 concerned her own future. 
 
 All mixed in with McKay Hedden's poses, con- 
 ceits, and affectations were a number of genuine 
 talents. No man living could make more out of 
 a play in manuscript than he could. If his de- 
 livery was stagy, at least he diflPerentiated the 
 characters with swift, precise, and telling strokes. 
 
 1 20 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Nor was he content to sit tamely under a lamp; 
 he would give you the setting with delightful 
 clarity, move tables and chairs to represent what- 
 ever properties the scene demanded, and at once 
 fall upon the exposition of character and plot 
 with a kind of frenzied energy that kept you on 
 the qui vive. I, myself, had the pleasure of hear- 
 ing him read "Marooned," months before it saw 
 the footlights. And greatly as Mclntyre subse- 
 quently played it, Hedden's interpretation was 
 swifter and more thrilling. Most certainly, the 
 creature could act. And most certainly if a piece 
 contained slow and dull passages, he knew how 
 to quicken and lighten these by a kind of miracu- 
 lous slurring and interpolation. 
 
 For an hour and a half he took Rose and her 
 husband completely out of their dull little parlor, 
 and set them down among the animating lights 
 and smells of a playhouse. And as for Silver, 
 who knew the piece by heart, his rendering of the 
 whole was a revelation and an inspiration. For 
 an hour and a half she watched and listened, 
 almost breathless, almost motionless, her real 
 trouble forgotten. And then when the last swift, 
 inexorable curtain was down, and Hedden had 
 thrown the manuscript on the nearest table with 
 a kind of disdain, she found that her heart was 
 
 121 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 thumping wildly against her ribs, and that her 
 face was wet with tears. 
 
 McKay Hedden shrugged his shoulders. "I'm 
 out of practise," he said. "I read it very badly. 
 . . . Well, what do you good people think ? Is 
 there anything to it — or not ?" 
 
 Mrs. Sands, what with snufflings and hand- 
 kerchief moppings, could not speak. Captain 
 Sands, in a husky voice, said: "It's great, Mac, 
 it's great." 
 
 Hedden turned to Silver and spoke with a pair 
 of eloquent eyebrows. She picked herself up 
 heavily and left the room. 
 
 "Stop crying. Rose," said Hedden, "it's only 
 a play. And I want to talk to you. What do 
 you think of the girl? Did she remind you of 
 Silver?" 
 
 "That's why I'm so upset," complained Mrs. 
 Sands. 
 
 "I drew her from Silver," said Hedden, "and 
 she's the best thing I've ever done. Far and 
 away — far and away. Captain, that little bundle 
 of hand-written sheets represents my best chance 
 of success in this world. Hitherto I've adapted, 
 faked, and subordinated the humanities to the 
 arts of stage-craft. But though I say it that 
 shouldn't, 'When My Ship Comes In' is a living 
 
 122 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 drama. It shall have all the resources of my 
 Broadway house to draw from. But jt would 
 make good in a barn. And when I think that it 
 will never be produced, at least while I live " 
 
 "For Gawd's sake, why not, Mac?" 
 
 "Because there is only one actor in this world 
 whom I would consent to see play the girl. And 
 she is previously engaged." 
 
 "Who is she, Mac?" 
 
 "She's been engaged by a couple of narrow- 
 minded, selfish managers to play humdrum, stay- 
 at-home village-life parts. They've got her on 
 an interminable contract. And I can't get her 
 away from them by fair means. It's a wicked 
 shame, too. She's never seen Broadway; but 
 she would only have to appear to be hailed as its 
 brightest luminary. And I rather think I know 
 what I'm talking about. You asked me who 
 she is. Carlo. Guess." 
 
 And he smiled from one to the other. 
 
 "You give it up ? Why, she's your own 
 daughter, man." 
 
 "Not Silver!" exclaimed Mrs. Sands. "Oh, 
 Mac, you haven't been putting ideas in her 
 head." 
 
 "The ideas were already there. Rose. The 
 child wants to go on the stage. She's brimful 
 
 123 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 of talent, intuition, humor, and fire. Her person 
 and her voice are beautiful ..." 
 
 Mrs. Sands's face became set, sullen, and 
 stubborn. 
 
 "We've had our share of the show business 
 in this family." 
 
 "Oh, but things are so diflFerent nowadays, 
 Rose. And, besides, a travelling circus was never 
 quite the same as a Broadway company." 
 
 Mrs. Sands shook her head violently. "Never. 
 Not while there's a breath in this body. Never." 
 
 "And you, captain?" 
 
 "You know what me and my Mrs. went through, 
 Mac. Do you think we'd expose Silver to — to 
 a man like that man .?" 
 
 "At least," said Hedden, "his sin found him 
 out before it was too late. At least. Carlo, you 
 had the satisfaction of " 
 
 "I'm glad I killed him," said the captain stoutly. 
 
 "And so," said Hedden, "am I. If you hadn't 
 killed him I don't know how I should persuade 
 you to let me introduce Silver to Broadway. . . . 
 Don't lose your wool. I told you I couldn't get 
 her by fair means." 
 
 "Are you standing there saying that if we don't 
 let Silver go on the stage you'll give me up ? " 
 
 "Not to let Silver go on the stage, Carlo, is 
 124 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 worse than a mere commonplace murder. It's 
 killing aspiration, putting beauty in prison, hid- 
 ing light under a bushel. Come, man, say no 
 more; let her sign a five-year contract with me. 
 I have the same feeling for her that a brother has 
 for a sister." 
 
 "And if we don't, you'll tell the police where 
 I live and who I am ?" 
 
 McKay Hedden stepped to the parlor door, 
 opened it, and called cheerfully to Silver. And 
 when she came he took her by the hand and led 
 her into the room. 
 
 "My dear child," he said, "your father and 
 mother have decided that they will not oppose 
 your wish — or stand in your way." 
 
 Silver ran and knelt at her mother's feet, and 
 looked in her mother's face. 
 
 "Mum, darling," she cried, "please don't look 
 as if it was breaking your heart." 
 
 Captain Sands stumped to the nearest window 
 and stood looking out. 
 
 "To-morrow, Silver," said Hedden gently, 
 "these dear people will begin to take an active 
 interest in your new career. Just now they think 
 of nothing but the fact that the baby bird's wings 
 have sprouted and that she is going to leave the 
 
 nest." 
 
 I2S 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Mother— Father," said Silver. "Don't be 
 like this; say something." 
 
 Her father came and, gathering her in his arms, 
 lifted her to his heart. 
 
 "Oh, my dear — my dears," cried Silver. "I'll 
 try to make you so proud of me, and I'll make 
 you so happy and comfy and all, and all — 'when 
 my ship comes in,' my dears, 'when my ship 
 comes in' ! " 
 
 "It's for your good, Silver," said Hedden, 
 "and for theirs!" 
 
 126 
 
XVII 
 
 SILVER SANDS had persuaded her parents 
 that it was "easier to say good-by here" 
 (they had intended to accompany her to New 
 York), and in the end it was decided that she 
 should start upon her adventure alone, timing 
 her departure according to advices from McKay 
 Hedden, who had gone cruising again in the 
 Buskin. 
 
 She had very few preparations to make. 
 
 "You'll need a brand-new kit," Hedden had 
 said, "and Nell Michelin will put you wise to 
 the dressmakers and the fashions. She'll meet 
 you in the Grand Central and from the first you'll 
 be right under her wing." 
 
 Silver would have been very happy at this 
 time if she had not been in a kind of apathetic 
 despair abbut Henley. Without a word of ex- 
 planation he had stepped out of her life into the 
 unknown. If she had received the letter which 
 Hedden had destroyed nothing could have shaken 
 her faith in her lover. But she had not received 
 that letter nor any other telling her that he might 
 
 127 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 have to be silent for a long time and that she must 
 never let her power of belief m him grow tired. 
 
 It was pleasant to find what a big place she 
 occupied in the hearts of Hanleytown. The first 
 shock that a Hanleytown beauty was going on 
 the stage had been got over without casualties, 
 though many of the older women who remem- 
 bered the stern, stoic, patient, and deeply religious 
 whaling days had declared that it would be the 
 death of them. But in the end even Mrs. Pratt 
 announced that, if anybody could be an actress 
 and remain undamned, that body was Silver 
 Sands. 
 
 Until the bolt actually fell, the community 
 had not realized perhaps how far it had lapsed 
 away from its golden era. There was nothing 
 now to hold the young men in Hanleytown. The 
 sea was no longer a stern and joyous road to for- 
 tune; it was rather a large body of water for 
 aliens of means to swim in or sail upon. So the 
 young men who in the old days might have been 
 well-to-do sea-captains at twenty drifted away 
 to Boston or New Bedford or West, and became 
 clerks in banks, or cowboys, or prospectors, and 
 those who remained, a less worthy lot, gave much 
 thought to dress and pleasure and the constant 
 beguilement from parents of small sums in cash. 
 
 12S 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 The walls of many a Hanleytown parlor boasted 
 framed pictures, cut from periodicals, of stage 
 beauties. Persons who had never seen the in- 
 side of a theatre or missed a church service were 
 the exceptions now rather than the rule. The 
 touch of baby hands turned those who had been 
 hard and pleasure-hating parents into soft and 
 merry grandparents. The old town hall, where 
 once a genuine witch had been condemned to 
 death by burning, was now a temple dedicated 
 to humorous and tragic stories as revealed by the 
 cinematograph. The movies had come to stay, 
 the automobile and the telephone; nine catboats 
 out of ten could run eight miles an hour in a dead 
 calm, and make a smell like burnt gasolene and a 
 noise like an evil conscience. And for every man 
 of Anglo-Saxon descent you saw upon the street, 
 you saw two nigger-black Portuguese. In short, 
 Hanleytown was now an easier and a pleasanter 
 place to live in, and its gods had departed and 
 its glory. 
 
 But whatever Hanleytown now did that it 
 didn't use to do, it had yet to furnish Broadway 
 with a star. It was this that had rendered Sil- 
 ver's position almost untenable for a day or two. 
 
 Then Mrs. Pratt went to see Mrs. Moore, and 
 she said: 
 
 129 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "If I was young and pretty and smart, I be- 
 lieve I'd go on the stage myself. I don't condemn 
 Mrs. Sands for letting Silver follow her bent. I 
 admire her, and you can say I said so. Last year 
 when they had the theatricals I said to Mrs. Pease, 
 that Silver Sands ought to be a professional and 
 earn good money by her arts of mimicry. You 
 can ask Mrs. Pease if I didn't. And now that 
 it's come to pass just like I said it would, I think 
 we ought to get together and wish the child well. 
 For my part, I'm going to talk plain to her. I'm 
 a-going to point out the dangers and pitfalls and 
 I'm going to tell her not to pay any attention to 
 'em, but just to mind her own business, and fear 
 the Lord. . . . Talk about fearin' the Lord, old 
 man Handy says he's so afraid of the Lord that 
 when he dies he's goin' to have a loaded shotgun 
 buried with him. Now you just pass along what 
 I've said about Silver. If I've got any say in this 
 town it's on her side, and you can say I said so. 
 What's more, when she has her first appearance 
 I'm going to be in that theatre, wherever it is, so 
 she won't feel she hasn't any friends cheering her 
 on." 
 
 Now, Mrs. Pratt was and is a great power in 
 Hanleytown. She lives in its only brick house 
 and she has survived three husbands, all of 
 
 130 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 them whaling captains, and all of them pros- 
 perous. 
 
 And her approval of Silver's venture lent it a 
 kind of defiant respectability. 
 
 There were certain boys who felt at Silver's 
 departure that now indeed the glory of Hanley- 
 town was gone forever. " 
 
 She went away into the tag end of a north- 
 easter, swift-moving, white-capped waves, and 
 shimmerings of pale sunshine. 
 
 She travelled to New York via New Bedford 
 and Providence. And, unbelievable though it 
 may seem in this year of grace, rode in a railroad 
 train for the first time, for the first time ate a 
 meal alone, for the first time bought and read a 
 novel which had not been perused previously by 
 her father or mother. 
 
 She rode in the parlor-car, and was so home- 
 sick that if at least one man (now one and now 
 another) had not been looking at her out of the 
 corner of his eyes from start to finish, she must 
 have wept bitterly. 
 
 A colored porter snatched her brand-new suit- 
 case out of her hands, and she followed him along 
 an interminable concrete walk which terminated 
 in an iron gateway and a gauntlet of people come 
 to meet friends or relatives. 
 
 131 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 A little apart from the crowd stood a lady of 
 statuesque form, of a smiling, kindly, command- 
 ing aspect. She had a face of classic beauty, not 
 clever, and the most beautiful hat and dress that 
 Silver had ever seen. The lady was accustomed 
 to being stared at, and enjoyed it. She was 
 neither bold nor shrinking, but a woman who 
 valued her own beauty, took pleasure in it, and 
 was glad that it should give pleasure to others. 
 
 Silver recognized her at once from photographs 
 which Hedden had shown her, and a little thrill 
 of excitement swept through the tired and lonely 
 girl. 
 
 "Mrs. Michelin? I'm Silver Sands." 
 
 "My word !" exclaimed Mrs. Michelin. "You 
 are a duck. McKay told the truth for once." 
 
 Silver smelled cosmetics and rice-powder: she 
 had been affectionately kissed on both cheeks. 
 
 "Taxi ? Where you goin' ?" It was the porter 
 who had spoken. Mrs. Michelin answered. She 
 knew her way about. 
 
 "Follow us," she said sweetly, "and you'll find 
 out where we are going." 
 
 She seemed to sweep Silver through the station, 
 as a wave sweeps a cork, and into an electric 
 brougham, very black and smart, in waiting at 
 the Vanderbilt Avenue entrance. 
 
 132 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 There was a bunch of roses in the brougham in 
 a silver-and-crystal vase, a mirror, a powder-pufF, 
 etc. Mrs. Michelin, Hfting her veil and talking 
 pleasantly, began to occupy herself with these. 
 
 "You don't mind dining early ? I'm playing, 
 you know. My Gawd, but I'm tired of it ! After- 
 ward McKay is taking us to supper at the 
 Knickerbocker." 
 
 "I haven't a thing to wear," said Silver. 
 
 "Well, you'll have to have something. New 
 York isn't the Garden of Eden yet — ^worse luck. 
 But we've thought of that. Mrs. O'Mally will 
 be at my apartment, and, drunk or sober, she'll 
 create something for you while we wait. It will 
 only be thrown on and pinned on, but it will 
 look like a three-hundred-dollar Paquin, and with 
 your face — ! I hope you're not scrawny. You 
 don't look scrawny. But in my experience ex- 
 treme youth and collar-bones are synonymous 
 terms. McKay tells me that you and he are 
 great friends, and he says that you have a won- 
 derful talent. I do hope he won't have such a 
 time worming yours out of you as he had worm- 
 ing mine out of me. I ought to have arrived years 
 ago. However . . . you're to stop with me until 
 you know your way about a little. I hope you 
 don't mind. This is my glass-house ! " 
 
 133 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 The brougham had stopped before an apart- 
 ment-house of dignified, upright lines, 
 
 Mrs. Michelin lived on the top floor. Her 
 drawing-room windows commanded a view of an 
 East River bridge, and a group of four tremendous 
 chimneys. It was a large and, to Silver's eyes, a 
 beautiful, if not a very orderly place. There were 
 many signed photographs of celebrities, many 
 very deep and easy chairs, others very stiff and 
 gilded. There was a grand piano of Circassian 
 walnut, a table setting forth with prominence 
 whiskey and soda, tall glasses, and ice. There 
 was sheet music on the piano and on the floor. 
 There were several gigantic brass candlesticks 
 out of churches. There was a mezzotint of Mrs. 
 Siddons as the tragic muse; in front of this 
 stood, altarwise, a little satinwood table with 
 candles and flowers on it. There were a number 
 of plays in manuscript tossed carelessly here and 
 there. 
 
 It was soon obvious that the famous Mrs. 
 Michelin was not a restful person. Within five 
 minutes she had kissed Silver five distinct, sepa- 
 rate times, played three-quarters of a Chopin 
 Polonaise, hummed half a song, drunk a short 
 whiskey and soda, taken off her hat, ordered 
 dinner to be served at seven o'clock sharp, flung 
 
 134 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 herself four times at full length on a lounge, 
 written two notes and telephoned a telegram. 
 
 Silver was then shown to the blue-and-silver 
 bedroom which she was to occupy and was hustled 
 out of her clothes and into a bath. Mrs. Michelin , 
 came and went. 
 
 Silver dined in a gorgeous Chinese brocade, her 
 hair down her back. During dinner Mrs. Michelin 
 received and answered notes and telegrams and 
 telephone calls. Much of this, Silver soon gathered, 
 had to do with the payment, or rather non-pay- 
 ment, of bills. 
 
 "I'm so extravagant," Mrs. Michelin com- 
 plained, "and I think they cheat me at the bank. 
 Yesterday I just knew I had a couple of thou- 
 sand to draw against and I got a note saying I 
 was three hundred overdrawn. That comes of 
 not having a man to look after one. When my 
 husband was alive this sort of thing never hap- 
 pened, I can promise you. But I'm sure if people 
 owed me money I'd never make their lives miser- 
 able. You're the lucky one. I'm to help you 
 shop, but McKay says you can go about as far 
 as you like. He believes in you, my dear. Do 
 you realize how wonderful it is to come to Broad- 
 way from a Uttle country town and to start at 
 the top ? " 
 
 I3S 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I'm terribly frightened," said Silver. 
 
 "That's the one thing we can't allow. With 
 your face and voice there should be no such word 
 as fear or fail." 
 
 The apartment bell rang. 
 
 "That should be Mrs. O'Mally. The most 
 wonderful dressmaker! I do hope she is sober. 
 But it doesn't really matter." 
 
 Mrs. O'Mally was not sober. She was very 
 tall, very bony, very red-headed, and very drunk. 
 When she had had a good look at Silver, and seen 
 how beautiful she was, she swore frightfully and 
 harped upon the expressions "stoate" "mackree" 
 and "a drame." 
 
 It was time for Mrs. Michelin to hurry to the 
 theatre. 
 
 "We'll pick you up after the show," she said. 
 "Meanwhile, I'm leaving you in good hands." 
 
 And Silver was alone with the drunken Irish- 
 woman. Whereupon there followed two hours of 
 fascinating and original dressmaking. 
 
 To Silver, made to revolve slowly in front of 
 a tall and flattering mirror, the rime passed with 
 wonderful swiftness. For she soon saw that she 
 was going to bloom as she had never bloomed 
 before. Mrs. O'Mally reeled, swore, and stag- 
 gered, but her hands went swiftly and surely 
 
 136 
 
'With your face and voice there should be no such word 
 as fear or fail " 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 about their business, draping, smoothing, pin- 
 ning, basting, and evolving out of soft and lovely 
 materials belonging to Mrs. Michelin a sleeve- 
 less, neckless evening dress that dazzled by its 
 simplicity and its aplomb. 
 
 When it was finished, Mrs. O'Mally sat down, 
 in a kind of heap, and laughed. 
 
 Then she wept, then she told Silver the story 
 of her hfe. And it was not a pretty story. Then 
 she had "just one nip " of whiskey, and then she 
 had another. After that she lectured on the 
 beauties of temperance. Then she wept some 
 more. Then she gathered up her dressmaking 
 paraphemaha and departed, staggering, and 
 making the colored elevator boy's Ufe miserable 
 with witty truths about his habits and personal 
 appearance. 
 
 "Goodness," thought Silver, "more things 
 have happened already than in all the rest of my 
 life before. I wonder if it's really necessary to 
 be quite so helter-skelter." 
 
 A note arrived by special messenger. It was 
 addressed to her. It was from Mrs. MicheUn. 
 
 Dearest Silver: 
 
 I forgot to say that if you can't get rid of Mrs. O'M., 
 pretend to telephone for the police. See you later. 
 
 Yours, Nellie. 
 
 137 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "How quickly they get to know you," thought 
 Silver. "And don't they ever stop sending notes 
 and telegrams ? " 
 
 And then she herself sat down and wrote to her 
 mother, stopping now and then to have a peep 
 at the wonderful new dress in the tall mirror. 
 
 It was long past her usual bedtime, but ex- 
 citement kept her awake. 
 
 138 
 
XVIII 
 
 THE next day she visited Hedden in his 
 chapel-like office. Even at supper the 
 night before she had noticed changes in him; 
 such simplicity and naturalness as he maniaged to 
 acquire with his summer tan had been laid aside. 
 It was true that he had been the life of his own 
 table; but he had also been the life of several 
 other tables. The ordinary conventions, it seemed, 
 were not good enough for him. He wore a scarlet 
 tie with his dinner clothes, and scarlet socks, and 
 he drew notice from even far-ofF tables by the 
 loudness of his voice, by sudden risings and visits 
 to other tables, and by elaborate swinging ges- 
 tures. If the music pleased him he became silent 
 and tragic, and sent presents of money to the 
 musicians; but if the band by any chance played 
 dance music (that could be danced to) he affected 
 to be in distress; stopped his ears with his fingers, 
 or bit the corner of his napkin. Upon occasion he 
 would seem to be struck by a sudden thought or 
 inspiration worth remembering; it might come in 
 the midst of an anecdote, or a compliment; he 
 
 139 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 would send for paper and pencil in order to make 
 a record of it. 
 
 Under all this affectation and buffoonery the 
 shrewd fellow was careful to note the effect of 
 Silver Sands upon those who were seeing her for 
 the first time. Would her personality spread at 
 once throughout the whole supper room; or be 
 confined to persons in the immediate vicinity of 
 his table ? Would a few people only be saying, 
 "a new beauty has come to town," or would the 
 whole Broadway world be saying it ? Of this 
 last he had few doubts; but the proof of the 
 pudding is in the eating; and McKay Hedden 
 soon perceiving that half the room was talking 
 about Silver, chuckled with self-satisfaction. And 
 he adopted toward her an intimate proprietary 
 manner, leaning toward her and speaking in quiet 
 tones. What he said at these times was sufficiently 
 ordinary: "Are you having a good time?" "Is 
 there anything that you'd like that you haven't 
 got ?" But if people wished to judge by appear- 
 ances, he might have been saying almost anything 
 they pleased to imagine. 
 
 The supper had been a great success. Silver 
 had memories of many men who, lingering a 
 moment in passing had been introduced to her 
 by Hedden or Mrs. Michelin; and she must have 
 
 140 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 been inhuman not to have realized that, in the 
 telling American, she had made a hit. . . . 
 
 McKay Hedden was seated upon a kind of 
 throne; one foot rested upon a velvet cushion 
 and when Silver entered, a small page in knee- 
 breeches was in the act of offering him several 
 sheets of typewriting upon a silver salver. 
 
 Perceiving Silver, the great man carelessly ac- 
 cepted the typewriting, dismissed the page with 
 a "Vanish, child," and descended from the throne. 
 He passed his free hand a number of times across 
 his eyes, as if even the subdued and many-colored 
 light which filtered through the stained-glass win- 
 dows was too much for them. He seemed about 
 to speak, but was interrupted by the sudden 
 sweet and peaceful toUing of a bell. He waited, 
 with bowed head, until the last reverberation had 
 died away. Then sighed deeply, and, tossing the 
 typewritten sheets carelessly on a table, where 
 there was a rare bronze ink-well, several quill pens, 
 a silver cup, half full of number eight shot, and a 
 silver caster containing fine sand, he remarked in 
 an absent voice: "That is your contract. Silver, 
 please sign at the bottom of the last page." Noth- 
 ing that Hedden had ever done in her knowledge 
 of him could lead her to think that he would take 
 advantage of her. So she pulled off her glove, 
 
 141 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 and leaned over the table to sign. As she did so 
 two young- men came from behind a tapestry and 
 watched her. When she had finished signing they 
 came forward and without orders witnessed her 
 signature. Silver Sands raised slightly inter- 
 rogative eyebrows to Hedden. He said simply: 
 "A matter of form." 
 
 One of the young men folded up the contract 
 and took it away. 
 
 "And now," said Hedden, smiling, "you are a 
 star. I welcome you, O star, to my little quarter 
 of the heavens." 
 
 They remained standing and Silver could not 
 help looking about the chapel-ofiice with childish 
 wonder and curiosity. 
 
 "Let me see! Let me see!" said Hedden. 
 "There was something — something. I have it ! 
 A copy of your lines in 'When My Ship Comes 
 In' has been mailed to you this morning. You 
 will be perfect in them Monday week. We shall 
 then begin rehearsals. In the meanwhile, though 
 I shall see you often, I am up to my ears in work, 
 and Nellie Michelin will look after you. I hope 
 you like pretty things to wear, do you ?" 
 
 Silver burst into a gay laugh. 
 
 "You bet I do," she said. 
 
 "Money will be no object to you," said Hed- 
 142 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 den. "Spend what you please; but be guided a 
 little by Nellie; she knows what the best people 
 are wearing. And, by the way, you don't want to 
 stop with her forever; so we must find a maid for 
 you and an apartment. You'll enjoy that. Let 
 me know when you begin to buy furniture. I 
 love furniture. But you will want some ready 
 money and I never carry any. Dear me ! Dear 
 me!" 
 
 He clapped his hands loudly, exclaiming at 
 the same time, "Tisbury! Tisbury!" 
 
 A little man, who may or may not have been 
 a Jew, opened a Madonnaed door and poked his 
 head into the chapel. 
 
 "Get me four or five hundred dollars, Tis- 
 bury." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 A few minutes later, the money in crisp, yellow 
 bills was in Silver's hands. 
 
 "A little advance against your salary," Hed- 
 den explained. "But this is just pocket-money. 
 Dresses and that sort of thing you should charge — 
 better have the bills sent, well, not to me, that 
 wouldn't look well. Have them sent to the McKay 
 Hedden Theatre Co." 
 
 "You're awfully good to me." 
 
 "Pure selfishness, my dear child — I am count- 
 143 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 ing upon you for added fame and fortune. Is 
 Nellie waiting? Then don't keep her. Have a 
 good time. And mark you, I want you to wear 
 lovely clothes, I want you to have beautiful 
 things. You are too young for diamonds; and 
 you are not rich enough for pearls — at least, not 
 yet. But I saw a lovely string of tourmalines 
 the other day at TiflFany's, old roses, pale greens, 
 faded mauves. Look at it. I would like to give 
 it to you. But I suppose I mustn't." 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 "Well, if you like it, buy it. And now, my 
 dear child " 
 
 As she turned to go Hedden called in a loud 
 voice: "Tell Mr. Vanderbilt I will see him in 
 a few minutes." 
 
 Silver was deeply impressed. She wondered if 
 it could be one of the Vanderbilts. It was not. 
 It wasn't anybody at all. It was just one of those 
 little stratagems by which McKay Hedden con- 
 tinually gulled the gullible and maintained among 
 them an impregnable prestige. 
 
 144 
 
XIX 
 
 THERE is no spectacle more touching than 
 that of a sweet and faithful girl whose lover 
 has tired of her. But during the first few weeks 
 of her life in New York Silver Sands hardly had 
 the time to realize how unhappy and broken- 
 hearted she was. Certain heroines, I know, carry 
 their sad looks all through dinner, theatre, and 
 supper parties. To a certain extent Silver did. 
 But she was too human to carry her tragedy 
 into the great department stores and the fashion- 
 able dressmaking establishments. Give a natural, 
 healthy, and pretty girl carte blanche to buy things 
 for the first time in her life, and you will have 
 gone a long way in keeping her and melancholia 
 apart. 
 
 To the dressmakers Silver was a precious cus- 
 tomer. They are a very human lot. They take 
 pride in making pretty clothes, and especially 
 for pretty people. The prettier a client and the 
 better made, the greater the advertisement. That 
 Silver, as a Broadway star, would be, for a time 
 anyway, in the public eye was an added attrac- 
 ts 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 tion. But most they liked her because of her 
 personality. 
 
 Nine young people out of ten are ashamed to 
 be natural; or if not positively ashamed, con- 
 sider that a show of sophistication is more expe- 
 dient. It is for this reason that so many boys 
 smoke and so many girls look bored. The boy 
 wishes to be thought of the world, worldly; the 
 girl likes to appear as one long surfeited with 
 amusements. But Silver Sands was not one of 
 the nine. 
 
 She told the dressmakers that never before had 
 she bought her own dresses; that never before 
 had she had any money to spend. And she told 
 them how happy and excited it all made her. 
 Her pleasure and excitement were contagious; 
 even Nellie Michelin was aflFected; and the oldest 
 and most cynical dressmakers behaved as if the art 
 of dressmaking had just been discovered, and was 
 the most exhilarating sport in the whole world. 
 
 Hedden encouraged her to be extravagant. 
 He was always telling her that she could afford 
 to do this and that. Though just what her salary 
 was to be, and when payable, he did not tell her, 
 and she, believing him to be her true friend, and 
 generous to the point of foolishness, did not like 
 to ask. 
 
 146 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 She had her purchases charged to the McKay 
 Hedden Theatre Company and kept only the 
 vaguest track of her expenditures. 
 
 She began to meet and Uke a great many people. 
 Her enthusiasm, sweet temper, and inexperience 
 delighted them. And though nobody had ever 
 seen her act, she began to enjoy a great reputa- 
 tion. Fables were circulated concerning her. 
 She was said to have drawn great crowds in 
 Chicago and San Francisco. Hardly anybody 
 believed that she had never had a public ap- 
 pearance. "Even Mac," they argued with some 
 justice, "wouldn't give a star part to an ab- 
 solutely untried person." Many, especially among 
 the women, gave it out as a fact, perfectly well 
 known to them, that she was far, far older than 
 she looked. Such would say, for instance: "Now, 
 you wouldn't believe she was twenty-eight, would 
 you?" or "She really does look like a girl in her 
 teens, doesn't she?" 
 
 It became gossip that she had had an unfor- 
 tunate love-aflFair. She had eloped, it was said, 
 with a wealthy cattleman from the southwest, 
 only to discover when it was too late (how they 
 relished that "when it was too late"!) that he 
 was already married. Others said that she had 
 really known this all along, but that until he 
 
 147 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 beat her she had not cared. Her family, stern 
 and rich New Englanders, had cast her off. 
 McKay Hedden had discovered her exhibiting 
 a troupe of trained dogs in vaudeville. She had, 
 it was said, the most wonderful genius for the 
 management of dumb animals. 
 
 There were people, mostly men, who accepted 
 her, age, origin, and all, for exactly what she 
 was. And these were the people, because they 
 were simple and sincere, whom she came to like. 
 Some of them, I am happy to say, were actors, 
 quiet gentlefolk, who lived a life of self-denial 
 and endeavor. 
 
 One night at supper she sat next to Van Brunt. 
 When he was introduced she did not catch his 
 name, and to him she was simply a very young 
 and beautiful Miss Sands. He did not recognize 
 her for the girl who had passed under his state- 
 room window with Paul Henley, and whose good 
 looks had caused him to cut himself while shav- 
 ing. All this was a pity. For Silver might have 
 listened to reassuring words about her lover and 
 his long silence. 
 
 Curiously enough, however. Van Brunt talked 
 to her about the Lost Mines, for even Broadway 
 was interested in Mexico at this time, and told 
 her how a young fellow in his office had gone 
 
 148 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 down there to hold them against the revolutionists, 
 and how it was impossible to get word from him 
 or to him. 
 
 "The worst of it," said Van Brunt, "is that 
 this promising youth has a best girl. Of course, 
 he told her not to count on letters, but still she 
 must be having all kinds of fits. He's a charm- 
 ing person. If I were a girl I'd hate to think I'd 
 lost him." 
 
 "Is she nice, too?" Silver asked. 
 
 "He thinks so," said Van Brunt. "I never 
 met her. I saw her once, and I thought she was 
 about the prettiest girl I ever saw. I suppose I 
 ought to look her up and tell her to be of good 
 cheer. And I would if Wall Street wasn't in such 
 a beastly mess. I simply can't aflFord the time. 
 And, besides, though I know where she lives I 
 have quite forgotten her name. So I can't write. 
 No, I'd have to go to her city, and wait in the 
 post-office until she showed up." 
 
 "But, after all," said Silver a little wistfully, 
 "you haven't much to tell her. You haven't 
 heard from him either. You don't know if he's 
 alive or dead." 
 
 "But that's where you are wrong. I knotp 
 he's alive." 
 
 "How?" 
 
 149 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 " I just know it. Sounds like a woman, doesn't 
 it ? But some men have intuition, too." 
 
 "But if he's been away so long," said Silver, 
 "maybe he's forgotten the girl." 
 
 Van Brunt looked her reproachfully in the 
 eyes. 
 
 " This from you !" he said. 
 
 "Just what do you mean by that ?" 
 
 "I mean that at your age a girl who is cynical 
 about a love-afFalr ought to be severely punished." 
 
 "Oh, but I'm not cynical a bit," said Silver, 
 and her eyes filled suddenly with tears. 
 
 Van Brunt, perceiving them, turned hastily 
 away and said to himself: "You fool, you've been 
 and trod on a love-match gone wrong. Some 
 brute has been unkind to this child." 
 
 Aloud he said: 
 
 "Have you ever seen the Stock Exchange?" 
 Silver Sands shook her head. 
 
 "Good," exclaimed the broker, "it's one of 
 the most amusing sights in New York. I'll give 
 a lunch party at down-town Delmonico's; will 
 you come ? And who else shall we ask ?" 
 
 But Silver could not give an answer then be- 
 cause the man at her left suddenly began to 
 clamor for attention. He was a nut-brown Eng- 
 lishman, with a white sabre cut wiped across one 
 
 ISO 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 cheek and the bridge of his nose. He was a cele- 
 brated correspondent and soldier of fortune. He 
 laid his calling-card on Silver's plate and cried 
 in a bitterly aggrieved tone: 
 
 "That's my real name and I'm being terribly 
 neglected." 
 
 Van Brunt sighed and turned to the girl on 
 his right. He knew by experience that she would 
 talk about nothing but herself. And he preferred 
 women who either talked about him or allowed 
 him to do so. 
 
 "And who," said Silver, smiling and coloring, 
 "gave you this name ?" 
 
 "I'm sure I don't know," said the Englishman, 
 "because I have it on the best of authority that 
 my sponsors in baptism contented themselves by 
 answering N. or M. I think my father must have 
 given it to me. It was just the kind of thing he 
 would do, he was an awful old bla'guard." 
 
 Silver was dreadfully shocked and grieved. 
 
 "Is that the way Englishmen talk about their 
 fathers?" 
 
 "Younger sons do," said the Englishman. 
 "In England you either ought to be the oldest 
 son or you ought not to exist. But never mind, 
 he's quite dead now. And onp of my rules is 
 'de mortuis nil nisi bonum.' " 
 
 151 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "And what does that mean ?" 
 
 "It means that those who speak the truth, 
 the whole truth, and nothing but the truth are 
 considered hard and wicked. But that's natural. 
 The average person is a born tombstone." 
 
 "A tombstone?" 
 
 "Simply another word for a cheerful liar. 
 You must have read inscriptions on tombstones, 
 haven't you ?" 
 
 "Why, yes." 
 
 "Well, all the people who used to be alive 
 couldn't have been beautiful and religious and 
 charitable and righteous and beloved. We had 
 a man over in the Foreign Legion who stole a 
 pie from a Turkish farmer's wife and ate it all 
 himself. The next day he was killed by a Greek 
 bullet, and those who ought to have shared in 
 the pie wrote to his mother and said how noble 
 and unselfish he had been — always. Tombstones, 
 I call them." 
 
 "And do you always speak the truth ?" 
 
 "Always." 
 
 "Is it ever complimentary?" 
 
 "Only when it is about dogs and horses and 
 little children, and young girls with enormous 
 blue eyes." 
 
 "Have you ever been to Mexico?" 
 152 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I am going — for Van Brunt. I am going to 
 take a letter to the manager of some mines he 
 has down there." 
 
 Somehow she longed to ask the manager's 
 name but was prevented by a sudden trepida- 
 tion of shyness. 
 
 "Any messages for any one down there?" 
 
 To his horror her eyes filled with tears, and 
 forthwith he dropped his brutal ways, and be- 
 gan to talk so prettily and tenderly and under- 
 standingly of all sorts of things in their world 
 that she found herself liking him immensely, and 
 hoping that she wasn't seeing him for the last 
 time. 
 
 I S3 
 
XX 
 
 OF all man's inventions the stage perhaps 
 has the greatest powers of illusion and of 
 disillusion. The othe.r side of Lohengrin's beau- 
 tiful white swan is rough lumber full of knots; 
 the rock against which the villain "sprains his 
 reason" is made of canvas and is softer than many 
 a lodging-house pillow. A hot bath would melt 
 the jewels in the king's crown. But now and then 
 there treads the stage some man or woman at 
 whose least word or gesture the canvas drop be- 
 comes the forest of Arden and the true Romance 
 spreads her great wings and rises in thrilling 
 flight. 
 
 The night before the first rehearsal of "When 
 My Ship Comes In" Silver Sands did not sleep 
 a wink. She had the worst sort of stage fright. 
 "Why," she thought, "even the man who walks 
 across with the lantern in the dark scene has had 
 more experience than I. They'll all hate me for 
 being awkward and stupid and they'll all hate me 
 for being taken up and shoved over their heads." 
 
 Mrs. Michelin, with whom Silver was still 
 staying, tried to comfort her. "My dear," she 
 
 1 54 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 said, "by the time the rehearsals mean anything 
 you will be so used to them you won't care. 
 There's only one way in which you will seem 
 green. You will know all your lines by heart 
 and the others won't. Mac is giving you splen- 
 did support. He's got together for you the most 
 experienced and versatile bunch of actors on 
 Broadway. And they know one thing that you 
 will learn, namely, that hardly a speech as now 
 written will be spoken when the curtain goes up 
 for the opening performance. Mac's been tell- 
 ing everybody that he's written a wonderful 
 drama. Well, he hasn't. He may have a won- 
 derful idea for a drama; and he may have ar- 
 ranged it roughly into more or less logical scenes. 
 But he hasn't written it, he won't begin to write 
 it till it's in rehearsal. You'll see. He'll say, 
 'Stop a little — stop a little,' and everybody will 
 stop. Then Mac will sit centre with his head in 
 his hands, and suddenly he'll jump to his feet, 
 almost foaming at the mouth, and he'll say, 'I 
 have it. I have it.' And then he'll tell you not 
 to say what you've just said or to do what you've 
 just done, but exactly the opposite, maybe. 
 That's how he writes plays. He just keeps mov- 
 ing people and words here and there until they 
 look and sound good to him." 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 But Silver's stage fright persisted, and when 
 she reached the theatre controlled by Hedden she 
 thought that her legs were going to give way 
 under her. It was a pale, diffident, wabbly star 
 to whom McKay Hedden was presently intro- 
 ducing her satellites. 
 
 Silver has recollections of a very high brick wall, 
 of odds and ends of ropes and canvas flopping and 
 swinging high overhead, of rows and rows and 
 rows of orchestra chairs covered with white cotton 
 sheets, of a number of very ordinary-looking men 
 and women in street dress, of one man who was 
 quite deaf and kept talking a steady stream in 
 order to conceal the fact, of other men in more or 
 less dirty shirt-sleeves who came and went and 
 did nothing when they got there, of a nice, 
 friendly looking old lady who sat in a papier- 
 mache throne and knitted on a green silk neck- 
 tie — They had all been introduced to her, and 
 they had all said pleasant, complimentary things. 
 She was having quite a nice talk with the friendly 
 old lady, when suddenly McKay Hedden clapped 
 his hands and cried in a loud voice: 
 
 "No! No! No! Now, then, once more — 
 from the beginning." 
 
 He seemed to have been exasperated for hours. 
 
 Nothing changed. The men in shirt-sleeves 
 156 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 continued to come and go and to do nothing when 
 they got there. The old lady continued to knit, 
 the deaf man to talk. One of the ladies in street 
 dress suddenly picked a piece of lint from the 
 right shoulder of the gentleman in street dress, 
 and at that moment McKay Hedden clapped his 
 hands and cried: 
 
 "Capital! Capital! That is a touch of real 
 life. If you please! — once more!" 
 
 Once more the lady removed lint (an imaginary 
 piece this time) and Silver saw that her lips were 
 moving. 
 
 Then the men in shirt-sleeves stopped coming 
 and going, the deaf man stopped talking, the 
 nice old woman stopped knitting, and everybody 
 looked at Silver. It was like — she thought of 
 this afterward — one of those awful scenes in 
 "Alice." There was a painful silence. 
 
 "Your cue. Miss Sands," said Hedden. 
 
 "Oh, I didn't hear a word," said Silver. 
 
 "Very well, then," said Hedden, "once more 
 from the beginning — try to get it right this time. 
 Miss Sands. Now, then — from the beginning!" 
 
 Once more the shirt-sleeves came and went, 
 the deaf man talked, and the old woman knitted. 
 Once more the lady picked lint from the gentle- 
 man's shoulder and moved her lips, but this time 
 
 157 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Silver, having gathered what the various persons 
 were supposed to be doing, stepped forward and 
 in her sweet, clear, friendly voice said: 
 
 "I'm so sorry." 
 
 Instantly Hedden began to stamp and to thrust 
 his hands one after another through his tall, black 
 hair, something like a dog learning to swim, and 
 at the same time he shouted: 
 
 "Tremendous! Tremendous!" 
 
 Then he walked apart by himself, appeared to 
 wrestle with an emotion; and came back. Then 
 he bowed very reverently before Silver, and said: 
 "won't you go through with that once more — as 
 a personal favor to me — Madame Duse?" 
 
 So once more Silver stepped forward and said 
 that she was so sorry, and once more McKay 
 Hedden shouted: 
 
 "Tremendous! Tremendous!" . . . 
 
 "Well, my dear," said Mrs. Michelin, "how 
 did it go?" 
 
 "Oh," said Silver, "I have spent a whole after- 
 noon in chaos. It's terribly hard to understand. 
 Why, nobody even speaks audibly except me ! " 
 
 "Well," said Mrs. Michelin, "it was out of 
 chaos that the Lord made heaven and earth, the 
 sea and all that in them is. So don't worry. If 
 the Lord could do all that, McKay Hedden can 
 
 iS8 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 at least make a Broadway success out of the same 
 materials. How do you like your company ? " 
 
 "I didn't get to know them very well. But 
 they were very polite. I wish Mr. Hedden didn't 
 have to shout and stamp so. I like the nice old 
 woman who knits neckties " 
 
 "Mrs. Ambler." 
 
 "Yes, and I liked Miss Reeves." 
 
 "Did you?" 
 
 "She asked if she could come to see me, and 
 I said yes. Do you mind ? " 
 
 "Of course I don't. I think she's sweet. But 
 she's had a sour life enough, poor girl !" 
 
 The next day Miss Reeves came to see Silver 
 and take her to rehearsal. To Silver she seemed 
 rather too sophisticated, but sweet and under- 
 standing, . and not a bit jealous. On the other 
 hand, she had a disturbing quality. She did not 
 trust many people and she managed to make her 
 suspicions contagious. 
 
 They passed a pleasant half-hour opening boxes 
 which had come to Silver from various dress- 
 makers and department stores. And suddenly 
 Miss Reeves said: 
 
 "For Heaven's sake, don't get carried away 
 159 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 and spend yourself into a hole. Of course I don't 
 know what you earn — and all real lace ! My 
 dear, I think they are perfectly exquisite. But 
 there's one thing every girl ought to leam and that 
 is: 'To earn a little and to spend a little less.' " 
 
 Silver laughed. 
 
 "But Mr. Hedden told me to go as far as I 
 liked ! And you see I've never had any pretty 
 things before." 
 
 "I've heard women of eighty make that same ex- 
 cuse," said Miss Reeves. "As for me, I've learned 
 only one thing in ten years of New York. A girl 
 mustn't owe money. But of course I've never 
 been a star. I don't even know what a star earns. 
 There are rumors, of course, but one never knows." 
 
 "Well, I can't tell you," said Silver, "because 
 I don't know, either." 
 
 "You're spending money right and left, and 
 don't know what you are earning?" 
 
 Silver couldn't help feeling that Miss Reeves 
 was prying into matters which did not concern 
 her; but it was not in the child to hurt any one. 
 So she tried to defend her position. 
 
 "Mr. Hedden told me not to think about 
 money," she said. " But maybe I ought to have a 
 talk with him. Maybe he didn't quite mean it." 
 
 "You have a contract?" 
 i6o 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Yes, I signed one, but I didn't read it." 
 
 Miss Reeves was silent for a moment. Then 
 she said: "Look here! You need a nurse! Oh, 
 I know you think I'm butting in, but you don't 
 know this game of life as well as I do. Won't 
 you believe that I'm rather crazy about you and 
 sincerely want to be your friend .'' Won't you 
 believe that?" 
 
 Impulsively she took Silver in her arms and 
 kissed her. And there was something so spon- 
 taneous and genuine in the action that Silver 
 believed. 
 
 "I think," said Miss Reeves, "that you've 
 begun with a mistake. Please don't spend any 
 more till you know what your salary is. Couldn't 
 you promise me that V 
 
 Silver nodded. 
 
 "How much have you spent?" 
 
 "I don't know exactly. I don't think it's more 
 than fifteen hundred dollars." 
 
 "Well, suppose your salary is two hundred and 
 fifty a week ? You've spent six weeks of it." 
 
 "Eight," corrected Silver. "He gave me five 
 hundred dollars in cash." 
 
 "Well, suppose," said Miss Reeves, "that in- 
 stead of two fifty a week, you are earning only 
 twenty-five ? " 
 
 i6i 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "But Mr. Hedden gave me to understand " 
 
 "Well, ask him pointblank. Will you, please? 
 It's business, my dear, in its simplest form." 
 
 "Somehow, I don't like to bother him about 
 money." 
 
 "People never do until it is too late. And, by 
 the way, how long does your contract last ?" 
 
 "Why — I don't know that, either." 
 
 "Little Miss Sands," said Miss Reeves very 
 gently, "you are a little nanny-goat." 
 
 And she sighed with real feeling. 
 
 When the rehearsal was over Silver left the 
 theatre with Miss Reeves. 
 
 "Did you ask him?" 
 
 "Yes. He said I am earning two hundred and 
 fifty, and that our contract is for three years. 
 So you see " 
 
 " Did anybody hear him say so ? " 
 
 "How suspicious you are." 
 
 "Suspicious of McKay Hedden ? My dear, he's 
 the biggest liar and cheat on Broadway." 
 
 Silver felt as if she had been hit between the 
 eyes. 
 
 "I don't believe it!" she said. "I know better 
 than you how white he is." 
 
 "Ask him what your salary is before witnesses. 
 Not before his clerks and errand boys, but before 
 
 162 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 me and, yes, Mrs. Ambler. She can't be bought, 
 either." 
 
 "He's been a good friend to me," said Silver. 
 "And I'm going to trust him." 
 
 "If you do you'll regret it all your born days." 
 
 "I don't want to quarrel — " said Silver. 
 
 "You shan't, dear. Because now I know that 
 you need a friend." 
 
 • " If we're to be friends, you mustn't say horrid 
 things about other friends of mine." 
 
 "I won't. I'm sorry I spoke." 
 
 And she set her keen wits to work to see how 
 she could save Silver Sands from a situation as 
 odious as it was obvious. 
 
 163 
 
XXI 
 
 OUT of these daily riots, optimistically termed 
 rehearsals, McKay Hedden began to give 
 a final and lasting shape to the play which he had 
 stolen from Paul Henley. Gradually the mum- 
 bling of the actors became articulate; the heart- 
 bladed harpoon with which the murder was to 
 be done arrived from New Bedford, and was 
 substituted for the shepherd's crook with which 
 the villain had been practising. The scene-painter 
 and stage-carpenter had evolved from laths and 
 canvas, and a zealous emulation of old prints, a 
 realistic forward section of a whale-ship, and were 
 busy at work on the figurehead which comes to 
 life. Already the set representing Hanleytown's 
 street of Many Eyes, the charming old houses 
 {en echelon, the better to see the homing whaler 
 round Cape Hope), had been built and painted; 
 and the scene before the little Christopher Wren 
 church was nearly finished; and the truly beau- 
 tiful nightscape, Hanleytown harbor and its 
 light, and farther off" the light of Cape Hope, 
 three white Hashes and then a red flash, and be- 
 tween them, rising, a jagged silver moon; just 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 as the lovers see it from the top of Execution 
 Hill. 
 
 As for Silver, she was beginning to submerge 
 her own personality in that of Hope Merrymouth. 
 To Hedden, who had banked more upon her 
 beauty and her voice and her youth than upon 
 any other of her attributes, she was beginning to 
 be a revelation. " I knew she was a pearl-oyster," 
 he said, "but I didn't know she actually contained 
 a pearl of great price. She isn't going to be a 
 personality hit; she's going to be an artistic hit. 
 She's got something here — something here," and 
 he beat his forehead, "that other people haven't 
 got. She's something that I didn't believe existed. 
 She's the genius that achieves success at the first 
 effort. I tell you that child is inspired, touched 
 with divine fire." 
 
 It was to his lawyer, a man impossible to de- 
 ceive, to whom he thus spoke. But he asked 
 other people to believe that Silver's acting was 
 the result of the infinite pains which he himself 
 had taken with her. He wanted the world to 
 think that he had taught her shade by shade, 
 note by note, and step by step. 
 
 As a matter of fact, her intuition was con- 
 tinually setting him right. But he would never 
 allow this to appear. He would tell her to read 
 
 i6s 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 a certain line in a certain way, and she, carried 
 away by a sudden flame of inspiration, would 
 give it an altogether different reading, and one 
 which Hedden was clever enough to see was to 
 his oWn as gold was to gilt. But he would only 
 say: 
 
 "Just so. Thank you. At last you get me!" 
 But of course he helped her in a hundred ways 
 and showed her a hundred short cuts; for be- 
 neath the most inspired acting is a technic 
 which has to be learned slowly like scales on the 
 piano. He could not make a finished actor of 
 her in six weeks, but he could give her so excel- 
 lent an imitation of finish that only trained actors 
 and critics would be able to perceive her naive- 
 ties and shortcomings. As for the "groundlings," 
 she would sweep them off their feet. Better than 
 this, clergymen would advertise "When My Ship 
 Comes In," from pulpits; jgirls' schools would be 
 brought to see it. And money would descend 
 upon him in showers. 
 
 She was going to prove so valuable that some- 
 times he actually considered the advisability of 
 giving her a square deal. To his artistic and 
 dramatic instinct it seemed almost a tragedy that 
 she should be so cheated of her just deserts, and 
 of life itself, as he intended to cheat her. 
 
 i66 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 Such thoughts sometimes kept him awake at 
 night. And once, following out logically the re- 
 sults to her of his plans and plots concerning her, 
 he actually shed tears. 
 
 One day he sent for her. She found him stand- 
 ing in a shaft of many-colored lights that streamed 
 through the rose window of his chapel-ofiice. 
 She found him standing; but he conveyed the 
 effect of one who has just risen from prayer. 
 
 "Silver," he said, "I have been thinking about 
 you. I want your life to be different from that 
 of other actors. I want it to be peaceful, serene, 
 untrammelled. If I thought that by any chance 
 the stage could cast a shadow on so white a soul 
 as yours, I would send you back to your people. 
 . . . Silver, darling Silver — couldn't you let me 
 stand between you and the unkind world ? To- 
 gether we should become immortal ! " 
 
 When a man wants to make love to a girl he 
 shouldn't send for her. He should know that 
 colored lights and romantic surroundings are 
 not nearly so important as sincerity and im- 
 petuosity. If you want to tell a girl that you 
 love her, break down the front door, throw her 
 big brother out of the window, and get arrested, 
 if necessary. But don't be stagy. 
 
 Even gentle Silver, who wouldn't have hurt a 
 167 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 fly's feelings, resented the situation in which Hed- 
 den had placed her. As her employer, he had a 
 right to send for her. And that rendered his 
 doing so even more odious. For the first time 
 her heart questioned his sincerity and honesty. 
 
 "Marry me, Silver — for God's sake, marry 
 me ! 
 
 And he flung himself on his knees at her feet, 
 and looked up into her face with a wild and 
 tragic expression. 
 
 She was a little angry, a little frightened, and 
 a little inclined to laugh. 
 
 "Please — please don't, Mr. Hedden," she said. 
 "You oughtn't to — it isn't fair to send for me 
 and " 
 
 Hedden rose to his feet, and his face darkened. 
 
 "You still love that man!" he cried. "Damn 
 him ! He has spoiled your life — and mine." 
 
 "You promised to be my friend." 
 
 "I am only a human being — only a human 
 being!" he cried and thrust his hands through 
 his hair, and mumbled something about his 
 "throat" and "ending it all." 
 
 He went and leaned against one of the fluted 
 pillars which supported the chapel's vaulted roof. 
 
 "I am nothing to her, nothing," he murmured, 
 and hid his eyes on his forearm. 
 
 i68 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I am so sorry." 
 
 Hedden appeared to pull himself together. 
 He shook himself, straightened his cravat, and 
 smoothed his hair. He walked to his great 
 work-table and took from a drawer a sheaf of 
 bills. 
 
 "Wish you'd look them over," he said, "and 
 O. K. them, if they are all right. This is why I 
 sent for you. But, seeing you, I said what I 
 said. I am sorry. Try to think kindly of me. 
 Silver. For all the savor has gone out of my 
 life. I used to love my work. But now in all 
 my heart there is room but for the one thing. 
 Sometimes I wish that I had never seen you." 
 
 "I'm so sorry," said Silver, and she took the 
 sheaf of bills and escaped as quickly and kindly 
 as she could. 
 
 169 
 
XXII 
 
 WITH rehearsals in full blast, Silver began 
 to experience the immense stress under 
 which actors sometimes live. Rehearsals them- 
 selves took up five to twelve hours of the day. 
 She had rented an apartment of her own, in the 
 same building with Nellie Michelin, and was 
 doing it over from top to bottom — or rather from 
 end to end. She was getting her costumes for 
 "When My Ship Comes In." Van Brunt had 
 presented her with a West Highland terrier puppy 
 from his celebrated kennels and she was trying to 
 teach the said puppy how gentlemanly little dogs 
 are supposed to behave themselves in brand-new 
 drawing-rooms. She was doing her dutiful best 
 to tell her father and mother and her friends in 
 Hanleytown all the wonderful things that were 
 happening to her. She was taking piano lessons 
 (she had always played fluently, but by ear). She 
 was taking singing lessons; and every day she 
 discovered that the world contained more and 
 more people whom it was necessary to remember 
 by name and face and to be polite to. Gradually 
 
 170 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 she had come to know a few of the younger people 
 in the Meadowbrook colony, and these had gone 
 quite mad about her; and it seemed to her that 
 the whole world held her in affectionate and 
 chivalrous regard. There were always motors to 
 take her wherever she wanted to go, always 
 flowers for her to wear, always more delightful 
 invitations than- she could possibly accept. And 
 no day passed but she felt herself being pointed 
 out and named by people who were utter strangers 
 to her. She began to figure (most amiably) in 
 the newspapers; a magazine published a series 
 of six photographs of her. Editors clamored for 
 her opinion on the stage as a profession, on wo- 
 man's rights, on the morality of the tango. She 
 could have received money for airing her opinion 
 on the Mexican situation; for thousands of people 
 were eager to know what so young, untaught, 
 and beautiful a creature thought about any- 
 thing. 
 
 But Silver was really too busy to think. Her 
 idle hours were spent in refreshing sleep — or 
 mostly. When the day with its rehearsing and 
 purchasing and telephoning and telegraphing and 
 its dressmaking and note-writing and West- 
 Highland-terrier-puppy training and its lively 
 dinner-party and its livelier supper-party was 
 
 171 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 over, and she lay down to rest, there was always 
 a space of five or ten minutes when she felt 
 utterly bewildered and forsaken and frightened, 
 and thought about Paul Henley and sometimes 
 cried a little. And waking it was the same. And 
 there were times during the day when she would 
 have a sudden sinking feeling as of everything 
 being hopelessly complicated and wrong. But 
 it wouldn't be fair to say that she was unhappy; 
 for sometimes her faith in Henley would flare up 
 strong and bright, and then for a while she could 
 fly at all the new excitements of life with the most 
 youthful and delightful enthusiasm. 
 
 Hedden fortunately was up to his ears in work. 
 Even the devil should have his dues upon any 
 matter tending to his own advantage or reputa- 
 tion. The man could work all around the clock. 
 And he felt so sure of his chances with "When 
 My Ship Comes In" that he was leaving un- 
 turned no major or minor stone of detail by which 
 its success might be further insured, if only by 
 a fractional part of one per cent. 
 
 Of course Silver saw a great deal of him; but 
 only professionally. He had, it is true, a Na- 
 poleonic way of summoning her at wholly un- 
 expected moments to his chapel-office, but it was 
 always upon some business connected with her 
 
 172 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 part. He might keep her ten minutes; he might 
 keep her two hours. But whatever the interval 
 of time it was devoted to work. 
 
 As everybody knows, the last act of "When 
 My Ship Comes In" opens with Silver winding 
 a chain of silk — stretched around a magnificent 
 ivory swift — into a ball, and singing — ^well, not 
 exactly singing — talking in tune rather — the sad- 
 dest little sea lullaby. She just smiles the song 
 to the slowly revolving swift, smiles it very 
 naively and very sadly, until all the men in the 
 audience, especially those who have taken some- 
 thing during the entr'actes, want to die for her, 
 and all the women (who are old enough to ac- 
 knowledge how old they are) cry quietly, and the 
 younger women wonder why the deuce their sing- 
 ing teachers didn't teach them to sing like that, 
 instead of to mouth and scream so that nobody 
 could possibly know what the song was about. 
 
 Originally the last act opened with a clumsy 
 old-fashioned soliloquy. Now although solilo- 
 quies contain some of the world's best literature 
 they are dramatically a mistake. In real life you 
 don't say (to the four walls of a room) "I hear 
 so and so arriving, I will just peek through the 
 keyhole and see what he's up to." You vnay 
 hear him arrive, and you may peek through the 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 keyhole, but you don't talk about it — In real 
 life. And it's a mistake in stage life. Well, Hed- 
 den had turned his wits inside out to avoid this 
 damning little soliloquy, and could not; because 
 it was inseparably connected with the logic of 
 the plot. 
 
 One day Silver said, "I can't get over feeling 
 like a fool when I talk to myself like that. I 
 never did in my life. People don't. Why couldn't 
 that soliloquy be rhymes instead of prose and why 
 couldn't I sing it ?" 
 
 Hedden's heart gave a great leap upward. He 
 felt that he personally (not Silver, he gave her 
 no credit) had been suddenly and divinely in- 
 spired. So he smiled patronizingly. 
 
 "Why, my dear," he said, "I've been work- 
 ing on that song for weeks." 
 
 He hadn't, of course, but he went to work at 
 once, or rather he hired others to go to work for 
 him. A celebrated writer of Bab-Balladian verse, 
 a man who could have made a brownstone house 
 rhyme with a porpoise, supplied the words, and 
 a sad little Pole, first fiddle in Hedden's own 
 orchestra, supplied the tune. And he it was who 
 taught Silver to sing it, saying: "Remember, 
 miss, a song is only a song when the words are 
 greater than the music. If the music is more 
 
 174 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 important than the words — then it is not a song, 
 but merely a music. The words they have made 
 for you to sing are very sweet, very touching. 
 When you sing, think of them only, and speak 
 them with feeling to the Httle air I have adapted 
 for them. Now then : one — two — three — um tum 
 tum — ^you will have no accompaniment, remember 
 that. You must imagine it — it is splashes of rain 
 every here and now upon the windows — so then 
 . . . No ! No ! not so. You are trying to give 
 the audience my music. It should be the words 
 you give them. You know Shubert ? You know 
 Sylvia .'' What is lovelier than Shubert's music 
 for that ! I shall tell you. It is Shakespeare's 
 words for it. So you should not sing the Shubert 
 of it, but the Shakespeare. Only remember that. 
 Now then ! Once more !" 
 
 And presently Silver was opening that fourth 
 act as we have all heard her open it, and the 
 Polish fiddler went into an ecstasy, and suddenly 
 to her intense bewilderment flung his arms about 
 her and kissed her first on one cheek and then on 
 the other. And then, aghast at what he had done, 
 and the possible consequences (he had a wife de- 
 pendent on his salary, and seven little Poles), he 
 cried, "Oh, Miss Silver — do not think for a mo- 
 ment I would dare to kiss you. It was your music 
 
 175 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 that I kissed. Your music — ^your understanding 
 — ^your genius. It was the words I kissed, not 
 the tune. The soul — not the beautiful bright 
 cheeks." 
 
 176 
 
XXIII 
 
 IN other and less agreeable ways, Silver Sands 
 was beginning to learn something of the trials 
 and responsibilities which go with success. She 
 knew at this time more society people than actors 
 (I don't know why they should be thus dis- 
 tinguished from each other, for actors on the 
 whole are more sociable than society people), 
 but she knew enough actors to have acquired the 
 certainty that theirs is a profession of uncer- 
 tain rewards; a way of life in which character 
 plays a very small and unimportant part — not 
 even a speaking part; and in which the only 
 value of a man or woman is that which a fickle 
 and quite unintelligent public places upon them. 
 
 And so like all other successful people who are 
 worth their salt she became a money lender. At 
 first with every confidence that the little loans 
 would be paid upon the nail, according to promise; 
 and later with even more confidence that they 
 would never be paid at all. 
 
 Hedden kept her well supplied with money. 
 And Miss Reeves contemplated her extravagances 
 
 177 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 with the deepest misgiving. But having tried to 
 interfere once, and gotten herself temporarily dis- 
 liked, she now assumed the attitude of a sym- 
 pathetic, but unconcerned observer. 
 
 One day as Silver and Miss Reeves were just 
 going into Delmonico's for a quick bite between 
 two long halves of a rehearsal, a young man with 
 upstanding red hair, and a heavy, but pleasant 
 twinkly face, gave an exclamation of joy (it was 
 almost a shout) at seeing Miss Reeves, and a 
 moment later was giving her hand a sound, 
 hearty shaking and telling her in a voice (care- 
 lessly loud and unconcerned) that he was beside 
 himself with delight at seeing her again. 
 
 "I've just landed," he said, "and the first 
 person I see reminds me of all the good times I 
 left behind. Thank God my novitiate is over." 
 
 "Silver," said Miss Reeves, and her face was 
 soft with real pleasure, "Miss Sands, let me in- 
 troduce Mr. Waring." 
 
 One swift glance at Silver was enough for the 
 bold youth. 
 
 "You didn't exist when I went away," he said; 
 "if you had I should have known it." 
 
 "Say that if you had known it," said Miss 
 Reeves, "you wouldn't have gone away." 
 
 "Well, I wouldn't," beamed Mr. Waring. 
 178 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Just the same," said Silver, in her kind, 
 friendly, rather timid way, "unless it was long, 
 long years ago, I actually did exist, and was a 
 very important person — to myself." 
 
 "I'm going to order lunch for three," an- 
 nounced Mr. Waring. 
 
 "Make it short, Sam," said Miss Reeves, 
 "and light. We have to work all afternoon." 
 
 A few moments later they were seated at one 
 of the tables near the long glass partition, and 
 Mr. Waring, his elbows on the table, his heavy 
 features brightened with kindness and pleasure, 
 addressed himself to Miss Reeves, and said : 
 
 "Now tell me everything." 
 
 But it was impossible that the ladies should 
 enjoy the young man's complete attention, at 
 any rate the outward manifestation thereof. For 
 men passing through the corridor to the bar, 
 perceiving him through the glass screen, stopped 
 long enough to attract his attention, and to 
 make welcoming faces at him, beaming eleva- 
 tions of eyebrows, winks and nods in the direc- 
 tion of the bar, or clasping and shaking their 
 two hands at him. And from other tables there 
 came to him smiles and gestures of welcome; 
 toasts were drunk to him across the room; the 
 manager sought him out, and made him a pleasant 
 
 179 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 little speech of welcome. The musicians in their 
 little balcony grinned their funny foreign grins at 
 sight of him, and after a swift consultation with 
 their leader, struck suddenly into a waltz (very 
 popular two years before) which caused Waring 
 to jerk his head around in their direction, and 
 wave his hand to them with smiles and nods of 
 friendly greeting and appreciation. 
 
 None of this being lost upon Silver, it was 
 only natural that she should be very curious to 
 know who Mr. Waring was and what he was. 
 Could he by any chance be the son of the Waring ? 
 As a matter of fact he was, but to the genius which 
 the father had for converting all that he touched 
 into gold, the son had added the greater genius 
 of friendships. And before she knew it, he had 
 added Silver's to his great long list. 
 
 "Couldn't I come to rehearsal?" he asked. 
 
 " If you can get by the doorkeeper," said Miss 
 Reeves, "and if Hedden doesn't throw you out. 
 This is a secret play. Nobody's been allowed 
 to see it." 
 
 "So much the better," said Waring. "Nothing 
 like being the first to burst into an unknown 
 sea." 
 
 Half an hour later he had made his way past 
 the doorkeeper, and had located McKay Hed- 
 
 1 80 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 den. Strict as were the latter's rules about ad- 
 mitting outsiders to rehearsals, they yielded at 
 once to Mr. Samuel Waring's cajoling manners. 
 Hedden only stipulated that the young man 
 should not give any one a hint of what he should 
 see, until after the play had had its first night. 
 
 "It's a new sort of play," said Hedden; "new 
 in matter, in manner, and in treatment. It 
 wouldn't do to have the critics get any hold on 
 it yet a while. I want it," he said dreamily, 
 "to burst with all its freshness upon the public — 
 all at once." 
 
 The rehearsing began, and as it went on, Mr. 
 Waring's good-natured face became serious and 
 troubled. Once in a while he frowned and seemed 
 to be trying very hard to remember something 
 or other. But nobody noticed him, for once in 
 his life. He sat apart in semidarkness, while 
 the characters of the piece came and went and 
 spoke their lines, and handled their properties, 
 and were constantly interrupted, corrected, and 
 (I must in justice admit) inspired by McKay 
 Hedden. 
 
 Rehearsals over, Mr. Waring drove Silver and 
 Miss Reeves to the former's address, and said 
 good-by to them (ascending) through the bronze 
 grill of the elevator. Then he sat down at the 
 
 r8i 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 telephone in the hall of the apartment-house 
 and gave the number of Van Brunt's ofiBce. 
 
 "I want to speak to Mr. Henley . . . Mr. 
 Paul Henley. . . . Then I'll speak with Mr. 
 Van Brunt. . . . Mr. Waring, Mr. Samuel 
 Waring. . . . Halloo yourself! . . . It's bully 
 to be back. But listen, I want to see Paul. It's 
 important. . . . Mexico, . . . The devil ! . . . 
 When'U you be up-town ? . . . No, not the 
 Tennis Club. I'm just back and there'll be too 
 many men I'll be glad to see. Make it Carson's 
 and we'll go on to the club later." 
 
 182 
 
XXIV 
 
 AFTER a second very genuine greeting Van 
 L. Brunt and Waring seated themselves at a 
 retired table in the back of Carson's place and 
 ordered something to drink. 
 
 "First place," said Waring, "I swear you to 
 secrecy. I'm going to start by betraying a con- 
 fidence myself. And it mustn't go any further. 
 I've been attending a rehearsal 'round at McKay 
 Hedden's theatre. . . ." 
 
 Van Brunt smiled. 
 
 "Miss Silver Sands's new play?" 
 
 "And Miss Reeves's." But Waring blushed a 
 little in spite of himself. 
 
 "Well ?" 
 
 "Hedden let me stay, only on my positive 
 promise that I wouldn't tell anybody one single 
 thing about the play. And that's where my be- 
 traying a confidence comes in. I'm going to tell 
 you things about that play." 
 
 The drinkables having been brought, Van Brunt 
 interrupted his friend long enough to give and 
 receive a "Here's how." Then Waring went on: 
 
 "Just before I went away, going on two years 
 183 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 now, Paul read me a play that he'd written. I 
 thought it was a peach of a play. Later Paul 
 wrote me a kind of discouraged letter saying that 
 Hedden had rejected the play and that he, Paul, 
 had taken Hedden's word for it that it wasn't 
 worth a damn and had chucked it into the fire, 
 and was going to give up all ideas of being a 
 literary light and stick to broking." 
 
 "Umm," nodded Van Brunt. 
 
 "Well, this play — this play that I've been to 
 see — this wonderful new play of Hedden's, is 
 Paul's play — out and out. When it comes to 
 remembering, I can go some. Else how'd I have 
 graduated from Harvard ? " 
 
 "Of course," commented Van Brunt, "every- 
 body knows that Hedden is a plain, ordinary, 
 common or garden — " and he made use of one 
 of those telling but unprintable colloquialisms 
 which make language so much more amusing to 
 speak than to write. 
 
 "Of course," Waring agreed. "Well, except 
 for a general change of scene and period he's 
 stolen Paul's play — body, blood, and soul." 
 
 "Paul ought to know." 
 
 "He's going to know." 
 
 "It's impossible to communicate with him 
 now — ^without using troops." 
 
 184 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Impossible? And this from you? You tell 
 me exactly where he is. Show me on the map, 
 and I'll communicate with him in mighty short 
 order." 
 
 "Even your father — " began Van Brunt. 
 
 "It isn't a question of bringing pressure to 
 bear on a trained seal. The democrats are too 
 busy helping themselves, to help other people. 
 Why, you turn Hans Wagner loose in Mexico 
 with a baseball bat, and he'll go anywhere he 
 likes!" 
 
 "You're still some fan, Sam." 
 
 " Seriously, though — I've travelled in the south- 
 west, and I know a dozen Indians who'd carry a 
 message to Paul. I'll send half a dozen, each with 
 the same message, so's not to take chances." 
 
 Van Brunt shook his head. "Even if Paul 
 knew what was going on, he couldn't do anything 
 about it from way out there." 
 
 "Of course not, the message would be from 
 you ordering him home." 
 
 "Paul," said Van Brunt, "is looking after a 
 pretty large stake for me — out there." 
 
 "He's got a pretty large stake of his own to 
 look after here." 
 
 "We might leave it to him." 
 
 "As how?" 
 
 i8s 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Tell him what's going on and tell him to use 
 his own judgment about coming back or staying 
 where he is." 
 
 Waring considered this for a moment, and 
 then said abruptly: "Very well, you write to 
 him and have five duplicates made. I'll do the 
 same. ... I don't mind a man's money being 
 stolen or his wife. But when I hear of a man's 
 invention being stolen — I see red ! What was 
 the news with Paul when you last saw him ? " 
 
 "He was in great need of money." 
 
 "That's not news. That need was always 
 chronic with him." 
 
 " I offered him a good interest in the Lost Mines 
 if he succeeded in keeping the Mexicans out of 
 them till there's some sort of peace in the coun- 
 try. And he jumped at it. The news with Paul 
 is that just before he went away he got himself 
 engaged." 
 
 Mr. Waring beamed with interest. 
 
 "To the right sort?" 
 
 Van Brunt shrugged his shoulders. "Girl up 
 in Hanleytown, Mass. Old New England stock; 
 poor but honest parents. That sort of thing. 
 It's my fault : I took him cruising with me. And 
 it happened." 
 
 "Pretty?" 
 
 i86 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I didn't meet her. I saw her once quite a 
 long way off. And as I'm near-sighted, why — ! 
 But of course I told Paul she was about the pret- 
 tiest thing I'd ever seen." 
 
 "She must be having fits, poor girl; with Paul 
 in the middle of a revolution, and not getting 
 letters from him." 
 
 "Oh, he wrote her in detail about where he 
 was going; told her the place itself was as safe 
 as New York City; that it was only the lines of 
 communication that were in a bad way. That 
 he'd get letters to her if he could; but that she 
 mustn't expect 'em." 
 
 "And still I think she must be having fits, poor 
 little soul. What's her name.?" 
 
 "I have so many things to remember," said Van 
 Brunt, with a gesture indicative of helplessness. 
 "I only heard it once or twice. You see I was 
 working on other things." 
 
 "Nice sort of confidant and friend to a man in 
 love— you are ! " 
 
 "Wait a minute," said Van Brunt; "I re- 
 member it had something to do with the shore — 
 Stone.? No— Surf? Breaker .?— Beach ! That 
 was it. Beach. Don't remember her first name — 
 except that Paul raved about it. Funny New 
 England name — probably Providence, Caution, 
 
 187 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Truelove, Washdish, Scrubfloor, or something like 
 that." 
 
 "But you're sure about the Beach ?" 
 Van Brunt nodded, and the gentlemen having 
 paid their score, left Carson's place, and moved 
 on to the Tennis Club, where Mr. Waring was 
 almost drowned in the tremendous wave of con- 
 viviality created by his arrival. 
 
 Mr. Samuel Waring was a young man to whom 
 all things were possible, with the exception of in- 
 activity. He could not keep still, mentally or 
 physically, and must always be briskly moving 
 in some matter of mere pleasure or of sheer 
 kindness. 
 
 Having written and had five copies made of 
 his own letter to Henley and received Van Brunt's 
 by special messenger, he sent his valet out with 
 instructions to return with the largest and newest 
 map of Mexico. 
 
 This being spread on the great library table 
 in his father's house, Mr. Waring located and 
 marked with an inked pen-point the exact where- 
 abouts of the Lost Mines. 
 
 "Dorking>?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 i88 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "You see that black cross?" 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "It represents a group of mines belonging to 
 Mr. Van Brunt." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "My friend Mr. Henley is in charge of these 
 mines." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "These letters are to go to him at once. There 
 are only two letters really — ^the others are du- 
 plicates. Two letters, and five pairs of duplicates. 
 How would you propose to get them to Mr. 
 Henley?" 
 
 "I should conceive that only an Indian could 
 travel through Mexico in its present troubled 
 state." 
 
 "You think that one of six Indians would 
 surely get through ?" 
 
 "Barring a convulsion of nature, sir, or a 
 general cataclysm of some sort or other." 
 
 "Just what I think, Dorking. I want these 
 letters to go at once." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "You will wait for an answer somewhere just 
 on this side of the border." 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "You have plenty of money?" 
 189 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Yes, sir." 
 
 "I shall be greatly obliged to you, Dorking." 
 
 "Thank you, sir." 
 
 The next matter in which Mr. Waring felt 
 that he must move, concerned the girl to whom 
 Paul Henley was engaged. He wished to see her 
 personally; to assure her of his friendship and 
 regard; of Paul's undoubted safety, and of the 
 probabilities of his early return. 
 
 But he could not at once pay a visit, however 
 brief, to Hanleytown. Having been for two 
 years engaged upon his father's interests in 
 various parts of the world, that implacable per- 
 son demanded of him in writing a full report of 
 his experiences, activities, and conclusions. Much 
 depended on that report. It would demonstrate 
 young Mr. Waring's fitness for being trained to 
 step one day into his father's shoes, or it would 
 not demonstrate it. And as the young man had 
 always longed for his father's belief and trust — 
 yes, and his friendship, that report seemed a 
 matter of immense moment to him — a thing to 
 be prepared at leisure, painstakingly and with 
 whatever clearness of mind and clearness of 
 language he could bring to bear upon its infinitely 
 varied propositions. 
 
 If the business of the report began forthwith 
 190 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 to occupy the most of his day, he found leisure 
 between four o'clock in the afternoon and the 
 time when the more respectable restaurants close 
 at night to cultivate his friendships — not least of 
 which he counted the newest one of them all. 
 
 And he was soon seeing Silver Sands oftener 
 than he was seeing anybody else. 
 
 191 
 
XXV 
 
 I SHOULD be the last man to deny charm and 
 beauty to the ladies of other countries. But 
 I must affirm that after landing in New York 
 from long travels, a man does not know how 
 glad he is to be at home again until he has caught 
 his first glimpse of a pretty American girl. 
 
 The great Waring interests do not lie in London, 
 Paris, and Petrograd; but in regions where there 
 are more wild beasts than people and more dark 
 people than white. The women whom Samuel 
 Waring had seen upon his travels were mostly 
 black; they had flat noses, beautified by brass 
 rings, and there was nothing romantic or mys- 
 terious about them, because they didn't wear 
 any clothes. 
 
 When the young man reached New York, he 
 was in excellent condition to fall in love. Be- 
 tween the pier and Delmonico's he saw from his 
 cab windows at least a hundred pretty girls in 
 all walks of life. Two years before he would not 
 have thought them all so very pretty; a week 
 hence he would be passing them by without a 
 glance or a thought. 
 
 192 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 He reached Delmonico's, ran up the steps, and 
 found himself face to face with Miss Reeves. 
 
 He had always admired her, and he was just 
 about to admire her twice as much, when she 
 introduced him to some one with the loveliest 
 face he had ever seen — the gayest, sweetest face 
 with the saddest eyes. 
 
 And forthwith he entered upon one of those 
 courtships in which money, enthusiasm, and 
 thoughtfulness take hands to shake a lady from 
 her equilibrium. There was no use telling him 
 that he mustn't do this, or that. He simply 
 would do them. He sent her flowers every day. 
 She complained bitterly and wore them. He 
 engineered the most delightful parties for her. 
 He took her for long spins in his car, for long 
 walks in the parks. He sent her books that he 
 had always loved and made her read them. He 
 kept her supplied with the newest songs and 
 waltzes. And he told all the young married 
 women he knew how sweet and rare and charm- 
 ing she was, and for his sake they called on her, 
 and then they made friends with her for their 
 own, 
 
 But he did not make love to her. He wanted 
 her to discover (without being told) that his 
 friendship and companionship were necessary 
 
 193 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 to her; and he wanted her to trust him entirely 
 and to feel that first, last, and always he was 
 her friend; having more regard for her welfare 
 than his own. 
 
 When his report was printed and submitted. 
 Waring, mindful of his friend Paul Henley, said 
 good-by to Silver Sands for three long days, 
 journeyed to New Bedford, and thence by boat, 
 through a golden autumnal haze, to Hanleytown. 
 
 The local telephone book did. not contain the 
 name of Beach. 
 
 "Good Lord," he thought, "her family must be 
 awfully honest if they're so poor that they can't 
 afford a telephone these days." 
 
 And he stepped into the post-office. 
 
 The postmaster, an elderly gentleman in a 
 coal-black wig, tilted a trifle over his left ear, 
 was agreeably occupied in deciphering the batch 
 of post-cards which the citizens of Hanleytown 
 had mailed that morning. He felt that this 
 process, with an equal attention to post-cards 
 received, kept him in closer touch with his fellow 
 townsmen than any one other thing. The in- 
 vention of seals and envelopes he regarded as 
 two steps backward in the world's progress. 
 
 "Is there a family in Hanleytown by the name 
 of Beach?" 
 
 194 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 The postmaster laid down his large brass- 
 bound reading-glass, swung around on his high- 
 stool, and faced the "general-delivery window" 
 through which Samuel Waring was politely 
 smiling. 
 
 "There was a family name of Beach. Summer 
 visitors. But they ain't been here for three 
 seasons. Sarah — the daughter that is — ^was a 
 great one to write post-cards; she was engaged 
 to be married to a feller named Pullins out in 
 Dayton, Ohio." 
 
 "What a memory you have!" exclaimed 
 Waring. So the name wasn't Beach. He was 
 at a loss for a moment. 
 
 "Do you remember a man named Henley who 
 was here last summer on a yacht for a few days ?" 
 
 "Paul Henley, New York, went straight from 
 here to Mexico. Kept sending letters and post- 
 cards to a girl right in this town. Sent her tele- 
 grams, too, if people speak the truth. He was a 
 pleasant-spoken young feller; but he talked all 
 the time. You couldn't get a word in edgewise." 
 
 "Does he still write to her.?" 
 
 "Dunno," said the postmaster. "She's gone 
 away, too." 
 
 "But wasn't her name Beach — or something 
 like it .?" 
 
 195 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "No, sir. Her name was Sands — Silver Sands." 
 
 It is a curious fact that the friendly, pleasant 
 smile continued to adorn Mr. Samuel Waring's 
 face. But he felt as if the world was falling about 
 his ears. And it is equally curious that his first 
 collected thought was not for himself, but for 
 her. "Now I know," he thought, "why her eyes 
 are so sad." 
 
 "You a friend of hers?" 
 
 "Why, yes," said Mr. Waring; "I am. Which 
 is her father's house ? " 
 
 The postmaster came out of his sanctum into 
 the sunshine and directed him with infinite 
 particularity. And Waring thanked him, and 
 walked away (like a man not yet awakened from 
 a disturbing dream) to a house four doors up the 
 street on the right. 
 
 "And I've been doing my best," he thought, 
 "to make her forget poor old Paul and fall in 
 love with me." 
 
 He straightened his shoulders, and his some- 
 what homely, thick-featured face took on a look 
 of great strength and nobility. But he strolled 
 for many hours about the picturesque old town, 
 before he found the heart to knock at the door 
 of her father's house. 
 
 196 
 
XXVI 
 
 FIFTEEN minutes after he had returned to 
 New York, Waring was walking into Silver's 
 little living-room and holding out both his hands 
 to her. There was a new sort of smile on his 
 face. It was fatherly. 
 
 "How could you!" he said. 
 
 "How could I what?" 
 
 "Keep me in such deep, dark ignorance about 
 everything ? " 
 
 She looked at him, very sweetly, her eyebrows 
 raised in a mild curiosity. 
 
 "For instance you never told me that you 
 came from Hanleytown." 
 
 "You never asked me." 
 
 "And you never told me why you look so sad 
 sometimes." 
 
 "It's so long since I had any word from him," 
 she said simply. 
 
 " But he told you he wouldn't be able to write. 
 He made that clear." 
 
 She shook her head slowly. 
 
 "Van Brunt told me. When they left Hanley- 
 town, Paul sat up half the night writing to you. 
 
 197 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 He must have told you where he was going and 
 why. Not even why? Why, Silver, he wanted 
 money very badly so that you and he — And 
 Van Brunt, who's almost as fond of him as I am, 
 gave him this chance in Mexico. And you didn't 
 know?" 
 
 "I gathered from letters and things," said 
 Silver, "that he was going to Mexico — but not 
 why or for how long." 
 
 "Then it's quite obvious that you didn't get 
 the one letter that was important to get. It was 
 written on the Aphrodite, and it must have been 
 mailed in New Bedford, in time to catch the next 
 morning's mail back to Hanleytown. Do you 
 remember when the Aphrodite left ? " 
 
 She blushed a little, and told him the day and 
 the hour. 
 
 "And you got no letter the next day ?" 
 
 She shook her head. And Waring thought for 
 a moment. "Did you go for the mail yourself?" 
 
 "Of course," she said simply; "but some one 
 else had already called for our mail." 
 
 "Your father?" 
 
 "No. Mr. Hedden." 
 
 "McKay Hedden?" 
 
 "He was staying with us — working on the 
 play." 
 
 198 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Well," said Waring, "you didn't get an im- 
 portant letter. That's certain. Tell me. Have 
 you thought hard things about Paul ?" 
 
 " Sometimes it's been very hard to understand." 
 
 " But you understand now ? . . . Silver, that 
 boy is as true as steel. For God's sake don't go 
 to doubting him." 
 
 "I thought maybe he'd been a little carried 
 away and that when he got off by himself — he — 
 just wanted everything to die a natural death." 
 
 Waring smiled at her somewhat facetiously. 
 
 "That may be your cautious Puritan father's 
 method," said he, "but you want to remember 
 at all times that Paul Henley is a real man. It 
 is impossible to conceive of his shirking a real 
 duty — ^like telling a girl fair and square that he 
 no longer cared for Jier. But maybe you've tired 
 of him!" 
 
 "Sometimes," she said quietly, "I think that 
 he is in trouble and needs me with him, and then 
 because I can't go, it seems to me as if I'd just 
 die." 
 
 Waring walked to one of the windows and 
 stood looking out. Presently Silver joined him, 
 and laid one hand lightly, like a fallen leaf, on 
 his shoulder. 
 
 "Silver," he said, "since you've been in New 
 199 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 York, have you talked with any of Paul's friends 
 about him ? You've seen quite a lot of Van 
 Brunt. You could have asked him things." 
 
 "But you see," said she, "if I'd learned that 
 they knew where he was and were getting letters 
 from him, and all that it would have just killed 
 me." 
 
 "You should have had more faith in Paul, 
 Silver." 
 
 "Yes, I know," she said humbly. 
 
 "Do you ever lie. Silver?" 
 
 "Oh, yes, I suppose so." 
 
 "I wish you'd tell one lie for me." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "When Paul comes back, you tell him that 
 you never doubted him for one second. If it 
 hurts me to think that you've been doubting 
 him, think how it would hurt him." 
 
 "I'm no good," said Silver very humbly, "I 
 know that." 
 
 "I'll invite some marines to meet you at 
 supper," said Mr. Waring, "and you can tell that 
 to them. There's no use telling it to me. . . . 
 I paid a long call on your father and mother yes- 
 terday. Silver. They gave me a delicious supper, 
 and they sent you their very best love." 
 
 "You've been to Hanleytown!" 
 200 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Oh, no. I ran into them in a small seaport 
 of Tangiers. ... I boarded the Gopher." 
 
 "You didn't!" 
 
 "Your father thought you'd like to know that 
 she was in apple-pie condition. Some of the 
 neighbors dropped in, and I told them all about 
 you. What a success you've made already, and 
 how everybody that knows you loves you. And 
 it developed that everybody in Hanleytown loves 
 you, too. And all the boys and girls are getting 
 up private theatricals, and reading Shakespeare 
 and Ibsen " 
 
 "But how did you happen to go to Hanley- 
 town .'' " 
 
 "Why, Van Brunt told me that Paul was en- 
 gaged to a Hanleytown girl. And I thought I'd 
 run up and give her a jolly about him; same as 
 I've given you. It would have saved quite some 
 trouble if Van had remembered that her name 
 was Silver Sands instead of something or other 
 Beach. But I'm glad I went. I loved meeting 
 your father and mother. And you've a post- 
 master in Hanleytown whom I propose to culti- 
 vate. I think he remembers everything that 
 ever happened — everything. And besides I want 
 to know if he always wears his wig over his left 
 ear. Rehearsals been going all right ?" 
 
 20I 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Mr. Hedden says he's very pleased." 
 
 "I wonder where he got the idea of 'When My 
 Ship Comes In ' ? " 
 
 "Oh, it just came to him!" exclaimed Silver 
 with enthusiasm. 
 
 Waring turned away his head to conceal from 
 her a sudden desire for sardonic laughter. And 
 he thought: "Yes, it just came to him — ^with 
 stamps on the envelope." 
 
 Silver could not keep her mind off the play for 
 long stretches of time. She began to talk about 
 it now. 
 
 "And I'm so frightened," she said; "every 
 morning brings that awful first night twenty- 
 four hours nearer. And we're not even going 
 to have the small mercy of opening in Newark 
 or Atlantic City, and trying our wings a little 
 before we really try to fly. Mr. Hedden feels so 
 sure of the play and so sure of all the company — 
 even poor little me — ^that we're going to open 
 right on Broadway. And if it isn't a success it'll 
 be all my fault. And I don't know what I shall 
 do." 
 
 "If you're as frightened as all that," said 
 Waring, "suppose I get an injunction to have 
 the play stopped." 
 
 "Oh, but you couldn't!" 
 202 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 He laughed. 
 
 It was in his mind, naturally, to tell her just 
 how the idea of the play had come to Hedden; 
 how it was nothing but a big steal of propert/ 
 belonging to Paul Henley. 
 
 But he had not the heart to tell her, and he 
 questioned if he had the right. It was possible 
 also, though not probable, that Henley had re- 
 ceived compensation for his ideas and inventions. 
 
 "How would she feel," he thought, "if she 
 learned that she was helping Hedden to steal 
 credit and royalties from her best young man ? 
 And yet I ought to tell her. I think I will." 
 
 "What are you thinking about?" she asked. 
 "You haven't said a word for two whole minutes." 
 
 "If anything happened so that you couldn't 
 appear in 'When My Ship Comes In' — how 
 would you feel ? Would you be unhappy about 
 it?" 
 
 "Yes," she said, "everybody's been so good 
 to me. I want to make good. , . . But nothing 
 could happen, could it ? Unless I dropped dead 
 or something like that. If it hadn't been for the 
 play keeping me so busy and all, I think I'd have 
 gone crazy up there in Hanleytown — ^wondering 
 what had become of Paul. And I love the play 
 for its own sake. 
 
 203 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 She blushed and laughed shyly. 
 
 "Do you?" 
 
 "Parts of it," she said, "make me think of 
 Paul. He has a certain way of looking at every- 
 thing. I suppose you'd call it a philosophy, 
 wouldn't you ? And the figurehead that comes 
 to Ufe in Mr. Hedden's play looks at life in just 
 the same way. And sometimes when I'm re- 
 hearsing I pretend that I'm really saying things 
 to Paul, instead of to the figurehead that comes 
 to life — and when it's like that everybody praises 
 me, and that makes me happy, because it's just 
 as if they were praising Paul. Isn't it ?" 
 
 "Just exactly," said Waring with a laugh. 
 
 And a little later he had said good-by to her, 
 and was driving to his father's house. 
 
 "If I'd told her," he thought, "it would have 
 been like breaking a little child's doll favorite. 
 And yet she ought to know. Even innocently 
 she ought not to be helping to cheat poor old 
 Paul." 
 
 "Mr. Waring come up-town?" 
 
 "Yes, sir. He's in the Ubrary." 
 
 The face of Waring, senior, was massive, clean- 
 shaven, and very gray. When the lips parted 
 in one of their rare smiles it was a face with a 
 strong, masculine charm. 
 
 204 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 He smiled now, and held out a thick but shapely 
 hand. 
 
 "I congratulate you," he said, "upon your 
 report. It was exactly what I hoped for from a 
 son of mine." 
 
 "The report — oh, yes — I — glad you liked it." 
 
 The father's keen eyes sought the son's. 
 
 "Are you in trouble ?" 
 
 "I'm not very happy," said Waring. "But 
 you wouldn't call it trouble. I think I know 
 what's right to do. And I propose to do it. 
 Trouble is when you're unhappy, and don't know 
 what to do." 
 
 "Work," said his father, "is an excellent pal- 
 liation for unhappiness. When do you wish to 
 start in ? I was particularly interested m your 
 views of the transportation possibilities in the 
 river country. If you wish " 
 
 "I'm tremendously pleased that you've got 
 some confidence in me, father. I'd like to stay 
 in New York until Paul Henley comes back from 
 Mexico. . . . Then," and a little bitterness 
 crept into his voice, "I'll be ready to shake the 
 dust of this burg from my feet for " 
 
 "Sam," said his father briefly, "this isn't the 
 first time you've been miserable about some 
 young woman." 
 
 205 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 Sam Waring scowled at first, then broke into 
 a smile and a laugh. 
 
 "No, it's not the first time," he said; "and I 
 hope to heaven it isn't the last !" 
 
 206 
 
XXVII 
 
 ONE morning, finding her purse quite empty. 
 Silver called upon the treasurer of the Mc- 
 Kay Hedden Theatre Co., as Hedden had told 
 her to do, to have it filled. The treasurer gave 
 her what she asked for, but not casually as was 
 his habit. He threw in a few words of advice 
 and warning. 
 
 "Money is rather tight just now," he said; 
 "Mr. Hedden has lavished money on your play, 
 and now he is beginning to need large sums for 
 Mrs. Michelin's new piece. It seems to me that 
 we have been very liberal with you. Advances 
 made to you from time to time; bills paid for 
 you by us amount already to many thousands 
 of dollars." 
 
 "But I've only done what Mr. Hedden told 
 me to do. He told me not to think about money." 
 
 "I don't know what Mr. Hedden told you," 
 said the treasurer somewhat sourly. "I don't 
 deal with speeches, but with figures." 
 
 "The advances were all to be taken out of my 
 salary," said Silver. 
 
 207 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Then it's high time they were," said the 
 treasurer curtly. 
 
 "What do I owe the company, please?" 
 
 The treasurer sent for the figures, added the sum 
 which he had just given her, and displayed them to 
 her. Silver gasped. She felt actually frightened. 
 
 "I had no idea!" she exclaimed. 
 
 "Nobody ever has except the man who has to 
 find the money." 
 
 "May I take them and look them over?" 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 "Thank you ! And good morning." 
 
 "Good morning, Miss Sands." 
 
 She took the elevator for McKay's private 
 offices on the top floor. 
 
 Mrs. Michelin, looking very browbeaten and 
 worried, was just coming out. 
 
 "What's wrong?" asked Silver. 
 
 "Oh, nothing. It's the new part. It's very 
 hard. And I'm so slow and stupid." 
 
 She gave her fine head a shake and winked 
 bravely through incipient tears. 
 
 "Never mind," she said, "it'll all come out 
 in the wash." 
 
 Silver sent her name in, and was told presently 
 that Mr. Hedden could give her five minutes. 
 
 He was seated at his great writing-table tum- 
 208 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 ing over a piece of weak-tea colored Venetian 
 lace. It was a baby's cap. As Silver came for- 
 ward, he rose, thrust the cap to one side, followed 
 it with a wistful look, and remarked: 
 
 "I love children, Silver." 
 
 Silver laid the schedule of her debts on the 
 table, and said simply: 
 
 "Please look that over. Isn't it awful !" 
 
 Hedden turned the sheets over carelessly, 
 noted the total, and said: 
 
 "What's it all about?" 
 
 "I wanted some ready money," she said, 
 "and the treasurer wasn't very nice about it. 
 And it seems that this is what I've already had, 
 in cash, or bills paid for me — to be paid back out 
 of my salary." 
 
 "Your salary is . . . ?" 
 
 "Two fifty you said." 
 
 "Two fifty.?" He raised his eyebrows, seated 
 himself, spoke into his telephone and requested 
 that Miss Sands's contract be taken out of the 
 safe and brought to him. 
 
 And then, for the first time. Silver had a real 
 look at the document which she had signed. 
 
 Her first comment, in a tone of dismay, was 
 "Five years !" Her second, "fifty dollars a week." 
 Then she looked at him with grave, level eyts. 
 
 209 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "You told me two fifty when I asked you," she 
 said; "you remember I did ask you." 
 
 " I must have said fifty, Silver, and you thought 
 I said two fifty." 
 
 "But it will take me over ten years to pay 
 back what I owe, at fifty dollars a week." 
 
 "I admit that we've been very liberal with 
 advances." 
 
 "And for five years!" she exclaimed. 
 
 He looked puzzled and unhappy. 
 
 "But, Silver, you signed the contract." 
 
 "Yes. But I wasn't given a good chance to 
 read it, and I relied on everything that you'd 
 promised and allowed me to believe." 
 
 "Fifty dollars a week is pretty good money 
 for a beginner, Silver. Ask any one on Broad- 
 way. . . . Please — please don't look like that." 
 
 He broke into a boyish laugh. "Silver," he 
 went on, "you and I have about as much busi- 
 ness sense as a couple of geese. As a matter of 
 fact, / never read that contract, either. And it's 
 been drawn up, according to custom, instead of 
 according to the directions I gave. The ques- 
 tion is what are we going to do about it ?" 
 
 "You did mean me to have two fifty, and not 
 get into such a hole as this, didn't you.?" asked 
 Silver 
 
 210 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Of course," he said, "and you shall have it, 
 and you shan't be in a hole. The only question 
 is how is it best to straighten the thing out ? " 
 
 "Why, tear the contract up and make a new 
 one." 
 
 "You forget that I signed the contract, too — 
 for the firm. It isn't a private arrangement be- 
 tween you and me. It's a business deal between 
 you and a company in which I happen to own 
 stock." 
 
 "But if you said that it was a mistake." 
 
 "Oh, I'll arrange the matter. Don't worry 
 about that. But I want to save my face. Silver, 
 I'll have to throw myself on your mercy. I 
 can't — I simply can't go to my business associates 
 and confess to them that I signed a contract for 
 the firm without reading it. Don't you see .'' Sup- 
 pose, in drawing up the contract, the clerk had 
 made his error the other way. Suppose, that in- 
 stead of writing fifty for two hundred and fifty, 
 he had written twenty-five hundred. It would 
 have been a perfectly good contract." 
 
 "But I would have let you off." 
 
 "Of course you would. I know that. And 
 in the same way I'll make things right for you. 
 For the present, though, the contract will have 
 to stand. Later, after the play has been run- 
 
 211 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 ning a while, I'll tell my associates that in jus- 
 tice to you it must be cancelled, and a more 
 favorable one drawn. In the meanwhile. Silver, 
 I'll take the liberty of paying you the difference 
 out of my own pocket. It was my mistake, and 
 it's my privilege to right it." 
 
 "It all makes me feel so stingy, and sordid 
 and mean," said Silver; "but you did encourage 
 me to spend on a two-fifty scale, didn't you ? 
 And," she broke into a laugh, "I've done it." 
 
 "I will give you," he said "five hundred dollars 
 a week. Two hundred is for your expenses, and 
 three hundred is for you to make payments with 
 to the company for what they have advanced. 
 Then when we draw the new contract, we'll ar- 
 range it so that everything between you and me 
 will come right automatically. Silver," he looked 
 very mischievous, "I wouldn't have my partner 
 know what a mess I made of this contract for 
 anything under the sun ! Now then, is every- 
 thing satisfactory?" 
 
 "Of course it is ! I knew there'd been some 
 mistake somewhere. But I just couldn't believe 
 that you had done anything sharp. And I didn't — 
 really." 
 
 "Thank you. Silver," he said frankly. "And 
 now about payments. If I write you a check 
 
 ZI2 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 every week, it will get known and talked about. 
 That wouldn't do. You'll have to come to 
 me, here, every Monday, and I'll give you the 
 money in cash. You'll give me a receipt just so 
 we won't get all mixed up again. Then you'll 
 go down two flights to the treasurer, pay him 
 three hundred dollars on what you owe the com- 
 pany, and then you'll go to the bank and deposit 
 the other two hundred or else you'll go to the 
 nearest department store and spend it out of 
 hand. And meanwhile, as the contract still stands, 
 the company is still paying you fifty dollars a 
 week, and that will also go to wipe out your 
 debts " 
 
 He leaned back, chuckling, and clapping his 
 hands together. 
 
 "Silver," said he, "let's you and I get out of 
 this theatrical business, and go in for high 
 finance!" 
 
 And she laughed, too, and she thought that 
 for all his oddities and eccentricities, and for 
 all the stories that were circulated against him, 
 he was at heart chivalrous and honorable. And 
 from her own heart she felt that a great load of 
 oppression and perplexity had been lifted. 
 
 As she was waiting for the elevator, he came 
 to the outer door of his office and called to her: 
 
 313 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Miss Rockefeller— oh. Miss Rockefeller." 
 "Mr, Rothschild, I believe?" returned Silver 
 with complete gravity. 
 
 "Don't forget — every Monday." 
 
 "Here?" 
 
 "No, in the gold vault of the subtreasury." 
 
 Then they both laughed aloud. 
 
 214. 
 
XXVIII 
 
 RELIEVED about money matters, Silver 
 felt that nothing was wanting to complete 
 her happiness but a successful opening of the 
 play and the return from Mexico of Paul Henley. 
 That Henley was alive, loved her, and would 
 come back safe and sound, was continually dinned 
 into her by Sam Waring. He gave out such an 
 atmosphere of courage and optimism that she 
 could not but be infected. And she caught these 
 good states of mind from him as a child catches 
 the measles from a playmate. 
 
 But the thought of the play gave her awful 
 sinking spells at times. Some tactless person was 
 always (so it seemed) telling her frightful anecdotes 
 of stage fright; that sudden devastation of the 
 reason from which no actor is ever quite proof. 
 She was told of Bonner, who had played highly 
 finished comedy parts for fifty years from the 
 age of seven as calmly as the cook makes up the 
 morning fire in the kitchen range, and then, at 
 the opening night of a new play, in the most 
 important scene (by which it would succeed or 
 
 2i's 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 fail), completely forgot his part, lost his presence 
 of mind, and was finally escorted from the stage 
 in a sort of epileptic fit. She was told of a vener- 
 able bishop who, at a fashionable wedding, when 
 about to marry the happy pair, was seized with 
 stage fright and began to bury them. 
 
 Her sleep became troubled with nightmares, 
 in which she forgot her lines, in which her vocal 
 chords became suddenly paralyzed, in which her 
 feet became cemented to the floor. In one very 
 awful and recurring nightmare, the audience would 
 rise to her first entrance with howls and screams of 
 laughter, and she, catching sight of herself in a 
 mirror, would perceive that she was not the hero- 
 ine of the piece, but a Uttle donkey with very long 
 ears. 
 
 Waring didn't laugh at her, but he comforted 
 her. 
 
 "Any worth-while person," he said, "feels the 
 way you do about tackling something new and im- 
 portant. It isn't fear. It's just a process the 
 nerves go through, getting ready for a great ordeal. 
 I've known football players — great players — ^who 
 five minutes before play began could have been 
 bullied, knocked down, and trampled on by a ten- 
 year-old child. They've some reason to be scared. 
 Because eleven other strong men and fifteen or 
 
 216 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 twenty thousand people are hoping to see them 
 make a complete failure. But everybody wants 
 to see you succeed; every actor in the cast and 
 every man, woman, and child in the audience. 
 And besides, Paul will be back, and you won't be 
 able to think about anything but him." 
 
 "I wonder where the messengers are now?" 
 
 "We'll hear something soon. Don't worry 
 about that." 
 
 Every morning when she wakened, Silver's first 
 act was to reach for the telephone and give War- 
 ing's number. And though sometimes, having 
 been up late, she waked late, the faithful fellow 
 never left home until he had heard from her. 
 
 "Good morning. Silver. Are you awake?" 
 
 "Not yet. Is there any news?" 
 
 "Not so far. Had breakfast?" 
 
 "Just going to ring for it." 
 
 "When'll you be visible?" 
 
 "'Bout an hour and a half." 
 
 "Does it really take a girl that long to get 
 dressed ? " 
 
 " It takes longer unless she hurries ! " 
 
 But one morning saw a great change in this 
 daily exchange. 
 
 "Good morning, Silver. Are you awake ?" 
 
 "Not yet. Is there any news?" 
 217 
 
"T' 
 
 When My Ship Comes In 
 
 'Yes, there is. Have you had breakfast ?" 
 
 'Don't frighten me !" 
 
 'I'm not. I'm teasing you." 
 
 "Have you heard from Paul ?" 
 
 "Yes. I'll bring the telegram round as soon as 
 you're dressed — say, in about an hour and a half. " 
 
 "Sam," she cried, "I'll be dressed in five minutes 
 and if you keep me waiting a second, I'll never 
 forgive. " 
 
 "Can a girl really get dressed in five minutes .'"' 
 
 "Unless she's all alone and it hooks up the back. 
 Please — please hurry. " 
 
 Five minutes later, Mr. Waring, having broken 
 the speed regulations and escaped arrest, rang the 
 bell of Silver's apartment. She was not only 
 dressed and waiting, but was half through break- 
 fast. 
 
 "Is he on his way, Sam ?" 
 
 Sam began to feel in his pockets. 
 
 "I must have forgotten the telegram." 
 
 "No, you haven't." 
 
 " By Jove, I wish some young woman would get 
 as excited as this about me. Here's your old tele- 
 gram." And she read almost at a glance: 
 
 Country pretty quiet around here. Think all right 
 to come to New York for a few days. Thanks for 
 friendly interest. Can the thing be stopped ? 
 
 218 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Can what thing be stopped, Sam ?" 
 
 "I knew you'd want to see the whole message, 
 but that last sentence is just between Paul and me. 
 He'll tell you about it himself — or else " 
 
 "Or else what?" 
 
 "Or else he won't." 
 
 " But there isn't anything about me in the tele- 
 gram. " 
 
 "Why should there be ? He doesn't know that 
 we even know each other. And probably he's 
 sent a telegram to you in Hanleytown. You 
 ought to get it some time to-day." 
 
 "But if it's so easy for him to come to New York, 
 why hasn't he sent me any word before now ?" 
 
 "Perhaps until one of my messages reached him, 
 he didn't know that the country was quiet. Per- 
 haps he felt that he had no right to risk one of his 
 own men. But what does all that matter ? The 
 important thing to think of is just this: He's 
 coming. He's on his way!" 
 
 219 
 
XXIX 
 
 A WEEK passed, ten days. The delight of 
 feeling that Henley was on his way, and that 
 the country through which he must pass to reach 
 the border was comparatively quiet, changed to 
 anxiety and then to downright fear. 
 
 "Sam," said Silver one day, and she was looking 
 very white and tired; "I can't sleep. If I don't 
 hear from him that he's all right, it will kill me. " 
 
 "That's not fair," said Sam; "wait till you hear 
 that something's wrong, before you talk like that. 
 Did you ever travel through wild country ? Thou- 
 sands of things, not in the least dangerous, can 
 delay you. A mule gets sick and has to be nursed 
 back to health and good humor. You run short of 
 food and have to hunt for a day or so in the op- 
 posite direction from which you want to go. If 
 you are travelling on foot, perhaps you get a blister 
 on your heel, and no man loves a girl enough to 
 walk a hundred miles for her on a blistered heel. 
 Of course, if the going was good he could hop " 
 
 "I know that something has happened to 
 him." 
 
 220 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "You don't know anything of the kind. Did he 
 say when he was going to start ? No. He implied 
 that he would start as soon as he could " 
 
 "I tell you, Sam, women have intuition about 
 the people they love, and I know that something 
 has happened to him. " 
 
 In the street far below a newsboy suddenly 
 began to make ambitious efforts to turn himself 
 inside out with great cries of " Yux — tra ! Yux — 
 tra ! " And with these cries he mingled others that 
 had a faint sound of "War" and of "Mexico." 
 
 "Something about Mexico, anyhow," said Sam; 
 " I'll slip down and get a copy. " 
 
 He returned jn five minutes, a newspaper with 
 red head-lines in his hand, and upon his face a 
 smile at once amused and tender. 
 
 "That," said he, "for your woman's intuition." 
 And he read aloud: 
 
 "Rich American mine owner succeeds in reaching 
 El Paso after a series of desperate adventures. Re- 
 ports the whole of Northern Mexico in a state of an- 
 archy. Mr. Paul Henley of this city " 
 
 With a strange little cry Silver snatched the 
 extra from Waring's hands, and having with her 
 own eyes read Paul's name and assured herself 
 that he was safe, she folded the inky sheets to her 
 heart and began to cry. Then Waring, just as a 
 
 221 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 big brother might, folded Silver to his heart (news- 
 paper and all) and patted her clumsily on the back. 
 And Silver's April mood passed, and she became 
 preternaturally gay, and began to laugh and talk 
 about two hundred words to the minute. And 
 Miss Reeves came in and was told that she, too, 
 must be beside herself with joy and excitement 
 (and at once pleased) or Silver would know the 
 reason why. 
 
 Then Mr. Waring said that he would go to his 
 house and see if a telegram hadn't come from Paul. 
 And he left, very smiling and gay, and reached the 
 street very grave and sad. 
 
 "Oh, Silver !" exclaimed Miss Reeves, "how can 
 you r 
 
 "How can I what ?" 
 
 "Carry on this way about Mr. Henley right 
 under poor Sam Waring's nose." 
 
 "Why, he's as glad as I am. Paul is his best, 
 best friend." 
 
 "Yes, and he's Paul's best friend, and he's des- 
 perately in love with the girl Paul's going to marry. 
 And some young woman, whom I won't mention by 
 name, is as blind as a mole and as self-centred as 
 an actor-manager." 
 
 "Oh," cried Silver, all the smiles and gladness 
 gone, and a look of the greatest concern in her eyes; 
 
 222 
 
Miss Reeves came in and was told that she, too, must be beside 
 herself with joy and excitement ... or Silver would know 
 the reason why 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "it's not true. He never said or did anything 
 that — that " 
 
 Miss Reeves yawned, and admonished Silver: 
 "No. He never said or did anything that — that — • 
 He never — after seeing you just once — came to see 
 you every day. He never sent you flowers every 
 day. He never made all his influential friends 
 come to see you; he never spent hour after hour at 
 the theatre watching you rehearse; he never gath- 
 ered all his resources for giving people good times 
 into a ball and laid them at your feet. . . . Silver, 
 didn't you know that he was in love with you ?" 
 
 "I never thought about it at all. I just ac- 
 cepted the good times " 
 
 "You just encouraged him, you mean." 
 
 " I wanted to be amused because I was unhappy. 
 And he never so much as said one word that could 
 make me think " 
 
 "Either you're telling the truth, or you're an 
 outrageous flirt. " 
 
 Silver looked Miss Reeves for a moment in the 
 eyes, then went to her swiftly, and took her by the 
 shoulders, and she said: 
 
 "I certainly have been blind !" 
 
 Miss Reeves turned her face away and sniflFed 
 quite audibly. Silver shook her gently by the 
 shoulders, and smiling a little wanly: 
 
 223 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Yes, I have encouraged him. I see that now — 
 outrageously. It's as if I'd borrowed a great deal 
 of money from him, and had to pay him back. I 
 do have to pay him back— -don't I ? It'll be a little 
 hard to explain to Paul, biit it's the right thing to 
 do — obviously. If Sam feels the way you say he 
 does — ^why, it'll be what he wants me to do. And 
 it's evidently what you want me to do. " 
 
 "You mean you'll marry Sam ?" 
 
 Silver still smiled. 
 
 "That's your idea of what I ought to do — isn't 
 it?" 
 
 "Oh, no — Silver, not if you don't love him." 
 
 "Truly?" 
 
 "That would be wickeder than flirting with 
 him." 
 
 "Then I'm not to marry him ?" 
 
 Silver turned away and walked to the nearest 
 window. Miss Reeves followed and slid an arm 
 round her waist. 
 
 "It's a funny world. Silver !" 
 
 "Have you always cared about him?" 
 
 "Always." 
 
 "How you must hate me!" 
 
 "I don't. Not a little bit. If it weren't for 
 you, I wouldn't see him so often. , . . It's a 
 silly mess, isn't it ? Sam loves you and I love 
 
 224 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 Sam; and Sam can't have you and I can't have 
 Sam. . . . And pretty soon he'll go away again 
 to forget about you and when he comes back I'll 
 be a little older than I am now — and I never^was 
 a beauty, or a success. ..." 
 
 "If Sam had any sense at all !" 
 
 Somehow Miss Reeves felt a little comforted by 
 this strong partisan outbreak. 
 
 "Has Sam ever told you that he cared about 
 me?" 
 
 "Never." 
 
 "Then how do you know ?" 
 
 "I can't help knowing. If you were in my 
 boots, you'd understand. " 
 
 " Make him tell you in so many words. " 
 
 "Why ? I don't know that that would add to 
 my pleasure in life. " 
 
 "I don't mean just to make him tell you once. 
 Make him tell you every time you're together. 
 Make him talk about nothing but me " 
 
 "But why?" 
 
 " Because in time he will get so tired of the sub- 
 ject that he will want to talk about something 
 else. ..." 
 
 Again Miss Reeves found herself a little com- 
 forted by Silver's words. The color came brightly 
 into her cheeks and she looked very pretty. 
 
 225 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Suppose we ought to be moving toward re- 
 hearsal. " 
 
 "Suppose so." 
 
 Then they kissed each other. 
 
 226 
 
XXX 
 
 MR. CRAWLEY, white-faced, furtive-eyed, 
 one shoulder higher than the other, slipped 
 noiselessly into McKay Hedden's office and laid 
 the morning paper under his master's nose. 
 
 "Thank you," said Hedden. "Anything I 
 ought to read ? " 
 
 "Unless you might be interested to know that 
 Mr. Henley has returned from Mexico. " 
 
 "What Mr. Henley?" 
 
 "You remember, sir, we returned him a play in 
 manuscript after taking a copy of it. You con- 
 sidered it such a humorous example of play-writing 
 that you wished to be able to read it aloud to your 
 friends. " 
 
 " I indistinctly remember something of the sort, " 
 said Hedden. 
 
 "Of course I am no judge of dramatic art; but it 
 seemed to me, while making the copy of Mr. Hen- 
 ley's production, that it had possibilities. " 
 
 "We are still living in the age of miracles," said 
 Hedden, "and all things are possible." 
 
 Then he picked up the newspaper, and began to 
 227 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 run his eyes over the head-lines. Mr. Crawley 
 . stepped back two paces, intertwined his long fin- 
 gers and waited. Now in the ordinary course oiF a 
 day's work, Mr. Crawley, after bringing in the 
 paper, would have passed out of the office upon 
 some other of his multitudinous duties. Presently 
 McKay Hedden cleared his throat. 
 
 "You wish to see me about something, Mr. 
 Crawley?" 
 
 "Any other time would do as well." 
 
 McKay Hedden for some moments continued his 
 perusal of head-lines, then turned over several 
 sheets at once and began to study the columns de- 
 voted to dramatic advertisement. Mr. Crawley 
 blew his nose. 
 
 Hedden laid the paper down and turned so as to 
 face his confidential clerk. 
 
 "Well?" said he. 
 
 "I dropped in at a rehearsal the other afternoon, 
 sir," said Mr. Crawley. 
 
 "Mrs. Michelin's play, or Miss Sands's ?" 
 
 "'When My Ship Comes In,'" said Mr. Crawley. 
 
 "What did you think of it?" 
 
 " Beautiful, Mr. Hedden. A knock-out ! " 
 
 "It's unusual, at least." 
 
 "Oh, sir, I could hear the sea in a storm; the 
 very lines are salty in the mouth. It has a beauty, 
 
 228 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 a freshness. I did not believe that such a drama 
 existed even in your mind, Mr. Hedden. " 
 
 "I am very much gratified to hear this." 
 
 "But I cannot help wondering, sir, what Mr. 
 Henley will think of it all. " 
 
 "What has Mr. Henley to do with it ?" 
 
 Mr. Crawley shrugged his shoulders — the high 
 one, all the way to its adjacent ear. 
 
 "I have often observed," said he, "that a 
 thought which a man imagines to be original with 
 himself is nearly always traceable to the thinking 
 processes of some other man. It has occurred to 
 me that certain ideas of Mr. Henley's play, which 
 you rejected, have lain dormant in your brain, to 
 blossom all at once into full flower-like beauty." 
 
 "Pull up a chair," said Hedden, and when Mr. 
 Crawley was seated: "You think Henley has a 
 case against us ?" 
 
 "We have beaten cases as good in the courts." 
 
 "Then what's worrying you ?" 
 
 "Once before, you remember, there was some 
 talk of calling me as a witness. I am a nervous 
 man, Mr. Hedden, and I dread to think what effect 
 the ordeal of a cross-examination might have upon 
 me." 
 
 "On that occasion we arranged a little holiday 
 for you in Europe. " 
 
 229 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Yes, sir, and the talk of calling me to the wit- 
 ness-chair ended in smoke." 
 
 "There is no pressing need for you to take a va- 
 cation, Mr. Crawley. We will cross that bridge 
 when we come to it. " 
 
 "And besides that," said Mr. Crawley, "I did 
 not enjoy Europe. I have given the best years of 
 my life to office work. It has always been my 
 ambition to retire, and devote my remaining years 
 to pomology. " 
 
 "To what.?" 
 
 "The culture of pomes — apples — pears." 
 
 "I should be sorry to lose you, Mr. Crawley. " 
 
 "It is hardly a question of that, as yet. For I 
 have no money to retire upon. " 
 
 "Mr. Crawley, you aren't, after all these years 
 of mutual confidence — you aren't, I say, going to 
 make an effort to extort money from me by 
 threats?" 
 
 "Even if that were the case, I could not expose 
 you without exposing myself. On the other hand, 
 if I should ever be subjected to the ordeal of a 
 cross-examination, I might do both. " 
 
 "You want to be staked to a fruit farm — is 
 that it ? Well, my dear fellow, speak of this 
 again — in the spring. This is no time to plant 
 apples ! " 
 
 230 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I beg pardon, sir, but I have read that Pro- 
 fessor Snowly, the great authority, receives daily 
 letters from persons desirous of starting orchards, 
 and asking him when they should plant the trees. 
 For such queries he has a printed answer; simply 
 the word: 'To-day.'" 
 
 "I have a great many calls upon me just now, 
 Mr. Crawley. But after the new play has been 
 running a month or so " 
 
 "I could negotiate your note, Mr. Hedden." 
 
 "This is blackmail, Mr. Crawley!" 
 
 "I have done your dirty work for years, Mr. 
 Hedden; and I have nothing to show for it — noth- 
 ing. Any other rich man would have seen to it 
 that I got my deserts. I have only to go to Mr. 
 Henley, sir, with what I know " 
 
 The desk telephone rang sharply, and both the 
 men jumped as if some one had suddenly taken 
 a shot at them. 
 
 Mr. Hedden put the receiver to his ear, listened 
 and turned an agitated countenance to Mr. 
 Crawley. 
 
 "It's Henley — ^wants to see me. This is your 
 doing." 
 
 "No, sir, it is not." 
 
 "Then what does he want ?" 
 
 " Better see him, sir. He has probably talked to 
 231 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Miss Sands; she has probably given him some 
 account of the play. ..." 
 
 "Trouble! Trouble!" exclaimed Mr. Hedden. 
 "You'll stick by me, Crawley, in case he's ugly? 
 It'll be all right about the orchard, I promise. " 
 
 "Then I'll stick by you." 
 
 Hedden sighed his relief, and spoke into the 
 telephone. 
 
 "I will see Mr. Henley." 
 
 He hung up the receiver. 
 
 "And now, the promise, Mr. Hedden." 
 
 "It's all right; I've promised." 
 
 "There is just time to put it in writing, sir. 
 Ten thousand will see me through. " 
 
 " Ten thousand! " 
 
 "Mr. Henley is on his way up in the elevator. 
 He will be here in a minute . . . you have just 
 time. . . . The check-book is in the little drawer 
 on the right. Date it two months ahead, if you 
 prefer. ..." 
 
 "This is robbery!" 
 
 " I am a soldier of fortune, sir. Better buy me 
 before the enemy charges and I desert to his 
 colors. " 
 
 "If necessary, Mr. Crawley, you will perjure 
 yourself for me ? " 
 
 "Of course, sir. I might almost say, as usual." 
 232 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Mr.Hedden drew, signed, and blotted the check. 
 Mr. Crawley blotted it, after observing that it was 
 correctly drawn. There then followed that awk- 
 ward silence which always obtains when money is 
 given and taken. Mr. Crawley broke it. 
 
 "It is my intention," said he, "to plant nothing 
 but Newtown pippins. ..." 
 
 233 
 
XXXI 
 
 WHEN Hedden had first determined to 
 appropriate Henley's ideas, all eventuali- 
 ties except the pleasant and profitable ones had 
 seemed negligibly remote. But with Henley, a 
 strong, resolute, injured man, swiftly approaching, 
 the outcome seemed as likely to be violence as any- 
 thing else. That certain men could not set eyes 
 on him, even for the first time, without wanting to 
 punch his head, was a fact not unknown to McKay 
 Hedden; and that he had once been horsewhipped 
 and kicked by another whom the courts had 
 allowed him to despoil, was one of his freshest and 
 least tolerable memories. 
 
 A small boy opened a large door, and Paul Hen- 
 ley, very thin and brown, came forward, limping 
 slightly and smiling. 
 
 Hedden, studying the young man's approach 
 as a mouse may study that of a cat, saw nothing 
 very reassuring in the fact that the young man 
 smiled. Men lifting a gun to down a rabbit 
 smile. Prize-fighters smile; bandits, surgeons, 
 and hostile lawyers. One's own lawyer always 
 pulls a long face. 
 
 234 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Still McKay Hedden was able to manage a smile 
 himself, to hold out his hand, and to exclaim 
 histrionically: "The man from Mexico !" 
 
 "I am very anxious," said Henley, "to see a re- 
 hearsal of Miss Sands's play. And I was told that 
 I must come to you for a pass. " 
 
 "My dear Mr. Henley," exclaimed Hedden,"the 
 thing is impossible. The rules of my theatre . . .'^' 
 
 Mr. Crawley, standing in the background, at- 
 tentive, cringing, bold, cynical, lifted his hand to 
 his mouth and hid a smile. 
 
 "I am asking you to make an exception of me, " 
 said Henley; "because, as you know. Miss Sands 
 and I are engaged to be married, and anything so 
 vitally interesting to her as her first play must be 
 equally interesting and important to me. . . . 
 I should disturb no one. Mr. Waring, who seems 
 to be an exception to your rules, has promised to 
 go with me, and keep me in order. " 
 
 McKay Hedden's thinking processes were very 
 quick. If the matter ever came into the courts, 
 it would not look well for him to have blocked 
 Henley's wish to attend rehearsals. Also, if the 
 pass were granted at once, courteously and ingen- 
 uously, it might have a disarming effect. So he 
 gave a pleasant laugh and tossed up his hands 
 with the gesture of a man surrendering. 
 
 235 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "No use trying to resist a desperado from over 
 the border, " he said. "Your engagement to Miss 
 Sands, to tell the truth I had forgotten all about 
 it, is like a pistol at my head. . . . Mr. Crawley, 
 write out a pass for Mr. Henley and bring it to me 
 to sign. . . . And how did you leave Mexico?" 
 
 "At night and in a hurry," said Henley. 
 "There were fireworks, but I didn't wait to see 
 them." 
 
 "I noticed as you came in that you limped. 
 I hope ..." 
 
 Mr. Henley blushed under his tan. 
 
 "Nobody but Achilles was ever shot in the 
 heel," he said; "my wound is a blister produced by 
 sharp sand in a wet boot. " 
 
 At this moment Mr. Crawley brought the pass 
 for Hedden to sign. 
 
 "I hope," said he, "that Mr. Henley will like 
 the plot — so fresh — so original — so full of things 
 that no one has ever thought of before. " 
 
 Hedden bit his lips and Crawley retired very 
 quietly, his high shoulder twitching, and his tongue 
 in his cheek. 
 
 "Crawley is right," said Hedden. "I hope you 
 will like the play. We have all grown very fond 
 of Silver, and if the play were to fail, I think it 
 would almost break her heart. At first I was am- 
 
 236 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 bitious to make a success with it for my own sake; 
 but latterly I have been thinking only of her. " 
 
 "You have been wonderfully kind to her, and 
 considerate of her, " said Henley. " She told me. " 
 
 "Then you've seen her ?" 
 
 Henley regarded the manager with amazement. 
 
 " On my way to New York, " he said, " I received 
 her address by telegram. I reached here at six 
 o'clock this morning. And it seems that she and 
 my friend Waring are always up and about at six 
 o'clock, because there they were in the station to 
 meet me ! And then Waring vanished. Yes. . . . 
 I've seen her. " 
 
 Five minutes later, Henley stepped into a taxi- 
 cab which contained Sam Waring. 
 
 "Well," said the latter. 
 
 "He made no bones about the pass. " 
 
 "Wise man. He wants you to think that his 
 conscience is as free and innocent as a summer 
 zephyr. But it's your play, Paul — body and 
 soul. " 
 
 "We must think of that," said Henley gently, 
 "and of other things. But first, last, and all the 
 time, we must think about Silver. " 
 
 "I'd block the thing now, if I were you — I'd get 
 Silver off the stage before she's had a taste of suc- 
 cess. And I'd run off with her. " 
 
 237 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "She's gone too far now," said Henley. "It 
 would be cruel not to let her have her chance. . . . 
 Besides, though the Lost Mines will stand me in 
 something handsome some day, sure, just now 
 I'm not in a position to talk high and mighty." 
 
 " My dear fellow, " began Waring. 
 
 But Henley interrupted with an affectionate 
 gesture of protest. 
 
 "A man's friend," he said, "can blow him to a 
 sable-lined coat, to a black pearl pin, or even an 
 automobile, if he so desires, but he can't blow him 
 to a wife. But, don't worry about me. If Hed- 
 den thought that play was good enough to steal, 
 wait till he reads the one I've been doing in 
 Mexico. ..." 
 
 "Here we are. No, I won't come up. Give 
 her my best ! See you later — at rehearsal. " 
 
 Paul Henley entered the elevator. 
 
 "What floor?" 
 
 "The heaventh," said the jocose youth. 
 
 Sam Waring drove to a Fifth Avenue jeweller's 
 and bought a very large solitaire black pearl pin; 
 then he drove to a furrier's and bought a sable- 
 lined coat. And then, because he was always 
 thoughtful, he drove to a toy-shop. 
 
 "Paul," he argued, "has no place to put a real 
 car, and he can't afford a chauffeur. ..." 
 
 238 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Anything especial you wish to look at, sir?" 
 Waring smiled. 
 
 "An automobile, please," he said; "one of yxjuf 
 best. It's for a very good boy." 
 
 239 
 
XXXII 
 
 BUT I never got that letter," said Silver, 
 "if I had, I wouldn't be here." 
 
 "Then I'm glad you didn't get it." His arm 
 tightened, and she laughed happily. 
 
 "I was all over being stage-struck; and then no 
 word came from you. And I had to do something. 
 And Mr. Hedden talked with father and mum 
 and somehow or other persuaded them. And first 
 thing I knew here was little me doing high life and 
 stage life — " 
 
 "And forgetting all about big me. " 
 
 "I forgot about you as much as that " 
 
 A short and very sweet silence. 
 
 " But, Silver, dear, I want you to be my wife. " 
 
 "Aren't I going to be ?" 
 
 "I mean I don't want to see you billed in elec- 
 tric letters, seven feet high, as Silver Sands when 
 you're really Mrs. Paul Henley. I want you to 
 leave the stage. " 
 
 "But I will as soon as I can. It wouldn't be 
 fair to Mr. Hedden to leave him in the lurch, after 
 all the money he's spent on the play. I've simply 
 got to wait till it dies a natural death. " 
 
 240 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "But if it weren't for Hedden, and your sense 
 of obligation ?" 
 
 "Then I'd do just whatever you wanted me to 
 do." 
 
 "But after working so hard, wouldn't you be 
 disappointed at not appearing in the play at all ?" 
 
 She thought this over seriously, and said: 
 "Yes. You see I feel sometimes as if the play was 
 a ship, and that I was one of the crew, and that 
 it would be wicked to leave her till she was safe in 
 the home port. You see, a play that you're in, if 
 it's the right sort of a play, grows very dear to you 
 and you get to feel a great loyalty to it. If it 
 should be a failure, I'd feel, not how unhappy and 
 humiliated I was, but how unhappy the poor play 
 itself must be, after trying so hard to be nice and 
 well-behaved and to get itself liked. And then it's 
 been a comfort to me; because one of the char- 
 acters says things that are exactly like you. " 
 
 "That's the lover, of course," said he. 
 
 "One of them, " she said demurely. "It's the 
 figurehead that comes to life. ..." 
 
 "Oh ! There's a figurehead that comes to 
 life!" 
 
 "At first he's all painted up to look like an 1812 
 commodore, and then he turns out to be the dearest 
 boy!" 
 
 241 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "And he reminds you of me !" 
 
 "Most awfully. And we have the nicest scene 
 together in the whole play, except maybe the last 
 scene with the poor cabin-boy. ..." 
 
 "Oh ! there's a small boy in love with the 
 heroine, too, is there ? And does his love turn out 
 to be about the best kind, after all ?" 
 
 "Why, yes. But how do you know ?" 
 
 "I don't. I thought it would be nice to have it 
 that way. " 
 
 "But you'll see it all for yourself this afternoon. 
 We're going to run through the whole thing. 
 You'll love the blind captain who never goes any- 
 where without his spy-glass. ..." 
 
 "You are fond of this play, aren't you ?" 
 
 "Just as if it was a nice, friendly, and very 
 touching person, I'd cry my eyes out if anything 
 happened to it ! It's so honest and so kind. ..." 
 
 His arm tightened again and he rubbed his 
 cheek against hers. 
 
 "I guess nothing much will happen to it," he 
 said, "except that it will be a tremendous hit, and 
 everybody connected with it will be tremendously 
 proud. Why, I dare say even I'll be proud of it !" 
 
 "I hope you'll be proud of me. " 
 
 "Why, Silver, if you came on the stage and for- 
 got all your lines, and couldn't act a bit, I'd still 
 
 242 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 be so proud of you that the chances are, ten to one, 
 I'd burst with it. . . . " 
 
 "How's your poor, sick heel ?" 
 
 " If it makes you feel the least bit of extra ten- 
 derness for me, it's going to be sick all the rest of 
 my life." 
 
 143 
 
XXXIII 
 
 ON the top floor of his father's home Sam 
 Waring had a delightful room full of sun- 
 shine and books. It was not his sleeping-room, 
 but a place in which he could be very private in 
 the execution of good deeds. It was here that he 
 tied up Christmas presents (with his own million- 
 aire fingers) and wrote those painstaking, punc- 
 tiUous, and affectionate letters which his friends in 
 all parts of the world were always so glad to get. 
 And here, or rather in an attic adjoining, he had a 
 carpenter's bench and a turning-lathe, and enough 
 bright tools to build a house. He was always try- 
 ing to make something, and abandoning each 
 magnum opus in its early youth to begin some- 
 thing else. 
 
 He sat now with his back to the hght, and a 
 thick bundle of typewritten sheets on his knees. 
 He seemed to have finished reading. The faces 
 of his friends looked at him from all parts of the 
 room, from wooden frames, and silver, and leather; 
 even Silver Sands looked at him with half a dozen 
 different expressions, from half a dozen advan- 
 tageous situations, from half a dozen silver frames. 
 
 244 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 But he did not return any of her looks. He 
 was studying affectionately the photograph (full 
 length) of a very beautiful young woman, with a 
 delicate, white hand laid caressingly on the head 
 of a huge Russian wolfhound. 
 
 I was going to say that he had never seen her in 
 his life. But that wouldn't be true. He had seen 
 her often — many times a day from the first open- 
 ing of his eyes till her sudden death six months 
 later; but of course he couldn't remember. Nor 
 could he remember any term of that astounding 
 intimacy which had existed between them, that 
 still more astounding understanding and affection. 
 
 But her milk was in his blood, and something 
 of her kindness and graciousness was in his heart. 
 And every day of his life he missed her. He 
 missed her more especially on those occasions 
 when he was unhappy, and had lost faith for a 
 moment in the goodness of this world, and, as now, 
 was troubled a little with bitterness and envy. 
 
 He tossed the manuscript of Henley's new play 
 onto the blotter of the writing-table, rose and 
 stretched himself. Then he had a closer look at 
 his mother, then he had six different looks at Silver 
 Sands. And to the picture of her which he liked 
 the best (he always kept it for the last — like the 
 raisins in a pudding) he added a few remarks: 
 
 H5 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I'm not jealous of Paul," he said, "so there! 
 And I'm glad he wrote it. And it doesn't make 
 me a bit unhappy to realize that I can't write 
 anything or be anything, except the commonest 
 thing in God's world, a good business man. But 
 I think Paul is a fool if he doesn"'t give Hedden a 
 thrashing, and sue him for damages, and run ofF 
 with you, and break your contract all to smither- 
 eens, and borrow all the money he needs from 
 me. . . . So there!" 
 
 After that he recovered his collar and necktie 
 from the writing-table, and while putting them on 
 sang himself back into good humor with one of 
 Paul's earliest literary efforts; the title to which 
 was: 
 
 "A Horrible Thought Following a Beautiful." 
 It went something like this : 
 
 " Tis beautiful to climb and cull 
 Ripe fruit, and eat one's belly full. 
 But oh, how horrible to be 
 A schoolboy in a far countree ! 
 Adoring idols on his knees 
 And learning Greek in Japanese." 
 
 And then he marched gayly out of the room, and 
 down the stairs, keeping time with his feet, and 
 singing at the top of his lungs still another of 
 
 746 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 Paul's early compositions, and one of even greater 
 Hterary merit (if that is possible) : 
 
 "I can have anything 
 
 That my father has got; 
 I have only to ask him 
 
 And specify what. 
 But the thing I most want, 
 
 Is a thing my mamma 
 When not using, keeps locked 
 
 By advice of papa. 
 It's the sewing-machine. 
 
 As you surely have guessed, 
 By which little children 
 
 Are tempted and dressed." 
 
 He found Paul in the semidarkness, and slid 
 quietly into the next seat. 
 
 "I've read it," he whispered, "and it's got even 
 this show skinned to a frazzle. Have they be- 
 gun?" 
 
 "Not yet. Hedden's been shooting off his 
 mouth — for my benefit, I suppose. They are wait- 
 ing while he writes a new opening speech. " 
 
 "Struck from above with one of his sudden 
 inspirations ?" 
 
 "On which he's been laboring for a week. Yes. " 
 
 McKay Hedden appeared on the stage and read 
 the new lines with which he had been so suddenly 
 
 247 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 inspired; then about to give the stage over to the 
 company, he perceived that a flower-pot (it would 
 contain geraniums on the opening night) had been 
 moved some three inches askew from the circle 
 which he had chalked for it, and he seized the 
 occasion to make first a row and then a speech. 
 
 He addressed the company, and the stage hands, 
 and the carpenter, and the electrician, and Mrs. 
 O'Mally, the wardrobe woman, who was very 
 drunk indeed, upon the importance of detail. It 
 was a very edifying speech. He even likened his 
 position to that of a great general on the eve of 
 a major engagement — and all of a sudden he 
 apologized for his temper (Silver had just come 
 on the stage to see what the row was about), at- 
 tributing it to his nerves, to his insomnia, to the 
 Herculean tasks which he accomplished every day. 
 and to his many and heavy disappointments. 
 
 Waring and Henley were chuckling behind a 
 pair of grave and courteous countenances. 
 
 But at last the rehearsal actually began, and 
 Paul Henley leaning forward, chin on hands, began 
 to check off mentally a long list of property that 
 Hedden had stolen from him. Sometimes the 
 stealing was very subtle; sometimes so barefaced 
 that the young man wanted to rise in his place and 
 denounce the criminal. . . . Then came Silver's 
 
 248 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 entrance, with that exquisitely spoken, "I'm so 
 sorry" of hers; and his rage and indignation 
 vanished like smoke. And he followed his love 
 with delightful eyes and delighted ears. 
 
 For she shone in a new light and with new 
 brightness. Could it be that he had never known 
 her .? It was as if in some jewel-box with whose 
 pretty but humble contents he was well acquainted 
 he had suddenly found a secret compartment con- 
 taining the rarest and most ravishing pearls. 
 
 Could this be Silver Sands ? — his Silver, the 
 shy, the beseeching, the greedy eater of humble 
 pie .? This lithe and lovely creature now silent 
 and motionless yet ubiquitous, and now exercising 
 her God-given authority upon a man's laughter 
 and his tears ? 
 
 During one of Hedden's interruptions (he had a 
 number of inspirations that afternoon) Henley 
 whispered to Waring, his voice catching in the 
 middle: "Is it because I'm in love with her that I— 
 I think she's so wonderful ? " 
 
 "Oh, no," said Waring, with a little shiver of 
 self-pity, " she seems just as wonderful to me. " 
 
 During the first entr'acte McKay Hedden crept 
 upon them from behind like a ghost, and stood 
 leaning on the back of Paul's seat and talked with 
 them for a little while. 
 
 249 
 
Missing Page 
 
Missing Page 
 
XXXIV 
 
 *'TT7HAT do you propose to do about it, 
 
 VV Paul?" 
 
 Silver had been detained by Hedden, and the 
 young men were waiting for her at the stage door. 
 
 " I want to hurt Hedden, " said Henley, " and I 
 don't want to hurt Silver. . . . Are you sure 
 about Hedden's calling for the mail the day after I 
 left Hanleytown ? The day Silver ought to have 
 received the letter from me, that she never did 
 receive ?" 
 
 "Yes, I am sure," said Waring; "we can trust 
 Silver to remember everything that happened on 
 the day when she was expecting her first letter from 
 you. It might be worth while to see my friend the 
 Hanleytown postmaster. No letter goes out of 
 his office without being thoroughly examined; no 
 post-card without being read. It's a ten to one 
 shot that if a letter passed through his hands ad- 
 dressed to Silver Sands, and having the New York 
 Yacht Club ensign crossed with Van Brunt's 
 private signal on the flap of the envelope, he would 
 remember it. " 
 
 252 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "If Hedden took that letter and didn't give it to 
 Silver," Henley began threateningly. "How can 
 we get at the postmaster ? " 
 
 "I'll send Dorking," said Waring simply. "He 
 shall go to-night. " 
 
 "Sure you can spare him ?" 
 
 " How to spare them is the only thing I have ever 
 learned about servants," said Waring. 
 
 Just then Silver, nestled among furs, for it had 
 turned very cold, came swiftly out of the theatre. 
 
 "Say you liked it, Paul," she exclaimed. 
 " Please say you liked it. " 
 
 "I liked you," he smiled; "I like, and shall like 
 you better every time I see you. " 
 
 "But the play: I want you to like the play." 
 
 "I do. I love it." 
 
 "Then that' szll right." 
 
 And she smiled upon them both in turn. 
 
 "Are you going to take us home and give us 
 tea?" 
 
 She shook her head dismally. 
 
 " But Mabel will. Mr. Hedden has ordered me 
 and the figurehead to his office to run through 
 our part in the last act. He wants to make some 
 change and he doesn't know just what. " 
 
 "Don't forget that we're all dining together, 
 and going to the movies. " 
 
 253 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "You told Mabel?" 
 
 "Miss Reeves said she would go with pleasure." 
 
 "Then that' sail light." 
 
 She slipped into the taxi and, smiling back her 
 broad, friendly smile at them, drove off. 
 
 "Now, " said Henley, "it really does seem cold. " 
 
 "And drafty," laughed Waring. 
 
 "And deserted. Makes me sick to think that 
 Hedden has the right to order her about like that. 
 No. . . . Let's walk. ... If Hedden took that 
 letter! ..." 
 
 "Let's not think about that till Dorking comes 
 back. It's such a rotten thing to think about 
 any one — even about McKay Hedden. . , . By 
 the way, Paul, what are you going to do about your 
 new play ?" 
 
 " I'm trying to think it out. I don't want to get 
 in wrong this time. " 
 
 "I hope that this time you've had more than one 
 copy made. " 
 
 "You bet I have." 
 
 "Then there's no hurry about returning the 
 copy you loaned me." 
 
 "Not a bit." 
 
 "I'm glad. I've been worried ever since I got 
 the thing, because I didn't have an envelope big 
 enough to send it back in. " 
 
 254 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "What are you going to do between now and 
 dressing time ?" 
 
 "Aren't we on our way to Silver's to make Miss 
 Reeves pour tea ?" 
 
 "I'm not. I've got three letters to write. And 
 I won't be happy till they're written. " 
 
 A block or two farther the young men parted. 
 Waring walked on irresolute. He was trying to 
 decide whether he would get a real drink from a 
 bartender, or tea from Miss Reeves. And the 
 idea that Silver might return a minute or two 
 before he had to go leaned the balance of his mind 
 finally upon tea. 
 
 "There's nobody here but me," said Miss 
 Reeves. 
 
 "I know that. I've just left them. Silver said 
 you were here, and could be persuaded to pour 
 tea. 
 
 Miss Reeves gave the necessary orders. She 
 was a little flustered by Waring's call. It was a 
 long time since she had had him all to herself, 
 except for moments and then by accident. Now 
 he seemed to have sought her out, knowing that 
 she would be alone, and the thought made her very 
 happy. 
 
 "You know Silver pretty well," Waring began. 
 
 "I'm beginning to. But where there's so much 
 255 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 sweetness and kindness, you can't find it out all at 
 once. " 
 
 "Do you remember once I told you a great 
 secret about some mutual friends ? " 
 
 She nodded. 
 
 "You never said a word, and you helped to set 
 the matter right. The nicest thing in this world 
 is a girl you can trust not to talk." 
 
 "Are you leading up to another great secret, 
 Sam?" 
 
 "Yes. This play that you are in — ^you and 
 Silver, although in many ways McKay Hedden's 
 work, is actually stolen, all the soul and a lot of the 
 body, from a play written by another man. " 
 
 "Just so Hedden has written all his plays." 
 
 "To the real author he proposes to give neither 
 money nor credit. That's a shame. " 
 
 "Why doesn't the real author do something, 
 then?" 
 
 "He's in a difficult position. . . . The play and 
 her probable success in it mean so much to Silver. 
 . . . You see, Paul really wrote the play." 
 
 Tea was brought, and after the maid had gone. 
 Miss Reeves turned steady, inquiring eyes upon 
 Waring. 
 
 "Truly?" 
 
 "A jury might not see the truth. But there's 
 256 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 no doubt at all. Of course Paul is furious. But 
 he won't do an3rthing that might make Silver un- 
 comfortable." 
 
 "If she knew Paul had written it, and wasn't 
 getting his deserts, she'd refuse to act in it, natu- 
 rally; and that would just about break her heart. 
 She loves the play as if it was a person. Is that 
 the idea?" 
 
 "In a nutshell of very small capacity." 
 
 She smiled in a queer, hurt way. 
 
 "What's the matter, Mabel ?" 
 
 "Matter.? Why, that nobody seems to worry 
 about how / might feel at acting in a play that had 
 been stolen from a good friend. But everybody 
 worries about Silver. " 
 
 "Of course," said Waring, "it's only natural 
 that Paul should only think of Silver; but I ought 
 not to have been so stupid. " 
 
 "Why oughtn't you, Sam ? If Paul thinks only 
 of Silver, why shouldn't you ?" 
 
 Perceiving that his fancied secret was perfectly 
 well known to his old friend. Waring made no 
 evasion. 
 
 "He has the right to think only of Silver, Mabel. 
 I haven't." 
 
 257 
 
XXXV 
 
 "TT7HAT are you going to do about it?" 
 
 V ▼ Miss Reeves asked him after a short 
 pause. 
 
 "Oh," said he, "stay around till I find that I 
 can't be of any use to them; and then go away 
 somewhere and get very busy about something 
 else, and forget about it." 
 
 " It isn't always easy to forget about things that 
 matter. " 
 
 "No; when you get up with the one thought and 
 carry it about all day, and go to bed with it, it's 
 not easy. But if you want something to happen, 
 and it's absolutely out of the question that it 
 should happen, why you've just got to get over 
 wanting, that's all. " 
 
 "When you first met Silver, she ought to have 
 told you that she was engaged to Paul. " 
 
 "Why, bless her," said Waring; "it never oc- 
 curred to her that she was dangerous to the peace 
 and happiness of every young man she met. " 
 
 "I don't believe it ever did." 
 
 And for the next half-hour they exchanged 
 praises of Silver. It may have been a tr)nng ex- 
 
 258 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 perience for Mabel Reeves; at the same time it 
 brought her closer to Waring's mind and habits 
 of thought, and deeper into his confidence than 
 she had ever been before. 
 
 Neither of them drank any tea at all. And 
 when Sam rose to go he was more at peace with 
 the world than he had been for a long time. 
 
 "It's splendid," he said, holding out his hand, 
 "to talk to a girl that understands. I feel ever 
 so much more courageous, thanks to you. But 
 I'm afraid I've bored you with my troubles. " 
 
 "You couldn't bore me, Sam. I hope you 
 know that. " 
 
 "Then I'll come again," said Sam smiling, "to 
 weep on your shoulder. You will have to have a 
 special dress made of rough towelling. I'm one 
 of the wettest weepers. ..." 
 
 "All right," she said with a laugh. And she 
 had really spoken with complete sincerity. It 
 would have given her immense pleasure to have 
 had him pu' his head on her shoulder, and cry — 
 or laugh. 
 
 When he had gone she went to the nearest mir- 
 ror and looked at herself. Because she had had a 
 hard life she had formed the habit of thinking of 
 herself as old. As a matter of fact, she was only a 
 few years older than Silver. Her hair grew as 
 
 259 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 strongly and brightly, and sometimes, as when she 
 was with Waring, she vied with her in coloring. 
 
 "I'm not in Silver's class," she thought, "but 
 I've been in love longer than she has, and that's 
 something. " 
 
 Sam met Silver just coming in from the street. 
 It gave her pleasure to learn that he had been with 
 Mabel, and she smiled bewitchingly and with a 
 certain mischief. " If I can only make it happen, " 
 she thought. 
 
 "I suppose it's Hedden's fault," Sam reproached 
 her; "but you're going to be late. And it's the 
 first film in the new movies that I 'specially want 
 you to see." 
 
 "Sam," said Silver, "I'll hurry." And she 
 crossed her heart. 
 
 He put her into the elevator and stood bare- 
 headed untu she had vanished upward. And 
 then he left the building hurriedly; but he could 
 not have felt as unhappy as he usually did, for 
 once in the cold air of the street he began to whistle 
 " Haste to the Wedding, " which is, as everybody 
 knows, about the liveliest and most engaging tune 
 that ever came out of Ireland. 
 
 "How did the scene go?" asked Miss Reeves. 
 
 "It didn't go," said Silver. "The figurehead 
 
 never came." 
 
 260 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Hedden must have been furious." 
 
 Silver did not at once answer. Then she said: 
 "Hedden wasn't angry. But he made me wait and 
 wait, and " — ^her voice became plaintive — "just be- 
 cause a girl is in a man's pay, I don't think he 
 has any right to order her about, and " 
 
 Sudden tears came into her eyes. 
 
 "Why, what happened. Silver?" 
 
 "Oh, nothing. . . . But I don't think he'd 
 even told the figurehead to come. And finally 
 when I wouldn't wait any more and was coming 
 away, the elevator boy whispered something to 
 the janitor, and they both — ^laughed. " 
 
 "If Hedden ordered me to his rooms," said 
 Miss Reeves, "I simply wouldn't go." 
 
 "I won't," said Silver. "Not again." 
 
 Having dressed. Waring hurried to the res- 
 taurant where he had ordered dinner. Here he 
 found Paul Henley waiting for him. 
 
 Henley came forward with a reproachful smile. 
 He had not yet checked his coat. Waring noticed 
 that it was lined with sable — remembered — and 
 burst out laughing. 
 
 "It's no laughing matter," said Henley. "I 
 can't possibly live up to it. . . . But I like it so 
 much that I refuse to take it off. I'm going to 
 wear it to dinner. ... As for the pearl, Sam, 
 
 261 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 nobody can afford to give anybody a thing like 
 that. . . . I've put it in the hotel safe, and to- 
 morrow I'll take it back to the jewdkr's. ..." 
 ""Xo you don't," said Waring; "you told me a 
 friend could give a friend anything except a wife. 
 
 "I know, but ..." 
 
 "K we stop quarrelling, there's time to drink 
 a cocktail before the ladies arrive. And if we 
 don't, there isn't." 
 
 "(M»," said Henley, "if you're going to make a 
 serious issue out of it, why I'll keep the pearl . . . 
 and the automobile too. Can't I even wear my 
 new coat into the cafe ?" 
 
 "No, you can't. You dieck it in the coat 
 room." 
 
 "But it's so new and sably and all," he pro- 
 tested; "somebody is sure to steal it !" 
 
 The}' leaned upon the bar waiting (or their 
 cocktail. 
 
 "Sam, '" said Henley 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "What a brick j'ou are l" 
 
 "Get out!" said Waring, with emodon. 
 
 »6x 
 
XXXVI 
 
 "'T^HE postmaster remembers the letter very 
 1 well, Paul." 
 
 Waring had just found his friend in the library 
 of the Tennis Club, There was a notice in evi- 
 dence that members were requested not to talk, 
 but the room being unoccupied except by them- 
 selves, there seemed no good reason for complying 
 with the request. 
 
 "AndHedden?" 
 
 "He took it with the rest of the Sands family 
 mail, and Silver never got it." 
 
 Henley could not find words to express his 
 anger. But Sam smiled a little cynically. 
 
 "All things are supposed to be fair," he said, 
 "in love and war." 
 
 "You don't think?" 
 
 " In a way, yes. I think he is. I think he would 
 marry Silver to-morrow if she would have him. " 
 
 Henley thought this over for a moment and the 
 tense expression of his face relaxed gradually. 
 
 "Of course," he said, "a man like that hasn't 
 the slightest idea how decent people behave either 
 in love or war. But if he really cares for Silver, 
 
 263 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 I'm sorry for him. Why," he cried with enthu- 
 siasm, "it must be simply awful to care for her and 
 feel you haven't a ghost of a show. " 
 
 Waring appeared to be interested in a prize- 
 fighting print which hung on the wall just above 
 Henley's head. As a matter of fact, he wasp't in 
 the least interested in it. 
 
 "I should say it must be!" he exclaimed sym- 
 pathetically. 
 
 "Why," continued Henley, "if I thought she 
 wasn't going to belong to me I wouldn't want to 
 live. " 
 
 "Really?" 
 
 "Really." 
 
 "But you would live and you'd end by recon- 
 ciling yourself to life and enjoying it, much as 
 usual." 
 
 "A lot you know about it ! You've never been 
 in love." 
 
 "Sometimes," said Waring, "when I consider 
 how many other sides there are to life I am inclined 
 to agree with you. And now about all this mix-up 
 with Hedden. . . . Sometimes I think you are 
 wrong to think so much about Silver's feelings. 
 Why not tell her the whole story .? Between us, 
 perhaps we can persuade Hedden to give you 
 the proper acknowledgments and royalties. . . . 
 
 264 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 Then when the play has run its course, Silver can 
 retire from the stage. . . . Meanwhile we'll find 
 a producer for your new play. " 
 
 "Hedden, you know," Henley interrupted, "has 
 got Silver on a five-year contract. " 
 
 "I didn't know. That's bad." 
 
 "And of course he's got to be thrashed for that 
 letter business. Are we sure he took the letter ?" 
 
 Remembering the Hanleytown postmaster, War- 
 ing smiled, and said: "We are." 
 
 "Suppose I have a talk with Hedden and ..." 
 
 "You cant fight with him, Paul." 
 
 "Oh, but it wouldn't be a fight." 
 
 "You know what I mean." 
 
 "I know this: that before anything is straight- 
 ened out I'll be packed off to Mexico. " 
 
 Waring shook his head. 
 
 "Van gave me the chance out of the goodness 
 of his heart; and I've got to make good if it's in me. 
 It was mighty white of him to let me come away 
 for a vacation; but I ought not to have done it." 
 
 "You left a good man in charge.^' 
 
 "A better man than I am; but it's my job. . . . 
 Van . . ." 
 
 "Van is no longer interested in the Lost Mines. 
 He has sold out his interest. " 
 
 "I'll be hanged! When.? ..." 
 26s 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Recently." 
 
 "And what," exclaimed Henley, "has he done 
 with the quarter interest that was to have been 
 mine, if I made good ? " 
 
 "The purchaser considers that you have made 
 good. It's come out, Paul, that you and your 
 men fought a three days' battle with the Federal- 
 ists. How about that ? And that as a result they 
 moved their operations farther east." 
 
 Henley was blushing hotly. 
 
 "But . . ." he protested. 
 
 "The country in which the Lost Mines are 
 situated is now in the hands of the rebels. " 
 
 " Between the rebels and the Federalists there is 
 absolutely no difference when it comes to loot!" 
 
 "In this case there is. The rebel general — ^who 
 will be the next President of Mexico, has given my 
 father personal assurances that the Lost Mines 
 will be protected." 
 
 "But " 
 
 "That may not satisfy you, my boy, but it 
 satisfies my father." 
 
 "He's bought 'em?" 
 
 Waring nodded. 
 
 "All but your quarter interest. He will either 
 buy that at the same price per share that he bought 
 Van's interest, or you can hold it. " 
 
 266 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 'But I haven't earned- 
 
 "It boils down to this; did the presence of you 
 and your men prevent the destruction of the plant 
 or didn't it?" 
 
 Henley was silent. He looked very much 
 ashamed of himself. He didn't wish to boast, and 
 he didn't propose to lie. He remembered shooting 
 a rifle for so many hours that he was absolutely 
 sick from the recoil and the jar. And he could 
 not deny that it was he who had sprinkled the 
 slope up which the Federals must advance with 
 cans of dynamite and had directed his men to fire 
 not at the Federals but at the dynamite. . . . 
 No, of course he hadn't earned his interest in the 
 Lost Mines, but he had made a beginning, so he 
 blushed and looked ashamed. 
 
 "There's not an earthly thing for you to do in 
 Mexico now, Paul. You saved the property when 
 it was in danger. And now it isn't any more, and 
 won't be." 
 
 "And on whose advice," cried Henley, "did 
 your father make this sudden purchase I " 
 
 It was Sam's turn to blush and look ashamed. 
 
 Henley was very much moved. 
 
 "I only advised him," said Sam presently, "to 
 look into the proposition. This he did with his 
 usual care, and it looked good to him, that's all. 
 
 267 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 And besides — " here he smiled upon his friend 
 with great affection, "all's fair in love and war." 
 
 "By God," exclaimed Henley, "you do love 
 your friends, don't you !" 
 
 "Whom else would you have me love, Paul?" 
 
 268 
 
XXXVII 
 
 WHEN Mr. Crawley had said that it was 
 his sole ambition to retire from active par- 
 ticipation in theatrical affairs, he had not stated 
 the whole truth. In short, he wished to retire; 
 but not alone. That was why, the ink scarce dry 
 upon it, he laid the check which he had extorted 
 from McKay Hedden, face up upon a typewriting 
 table that was just under a very pretty nose and 
 a pair of steadfast, green eyes. 
 
 The eyes noted the amount for which the check 
 was drawn, noted the date upon which it would 
 mature, and then looked up from the check until 
 they had left in a state of inviting unprotectedness 
 a very pretty mouth, which disclosed a hint of very 
 pretty teeth. 
 
 Mr. Crawley never said a word. And a certain 
 look of manliness which you would never have sus- 
 pected him of possessing crept into his face as he 
 bent tenderly and kissed her. 
 
 "It's a fresh start," he said then, "in the 
 country. " 
 
 "But," she exclaimed, "what made him do it? 
 Has the sky fallen down ? " 
 
 269 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Miss Eva Carley examined the check once 
 more, and said: 
 
 "Two months from to-day." 
 
 "It's a long time to wait, dear. Couldn't we 
 discount this_ check? We wouldn't have to tell 
 anybody that we were married ?" 
 
 She considered this for some moments, and then 
 once more tilted her face upward. 
 
 "To-day?" 
 
 His voice shook with a great shaking. 
 
 "All right." 
 
 "Now?" He could hardly articulate. 
 
 She laughed : 
 
 "Instead of lunch ? No. After the oflSce closes. 
 You haven't lost our license ?" 
 
 " It's crumpled, because I put it under my pillow 
 every night; but it's good. " 
 
 She rose, put on her hat and coat, and they went 
 out. As they ate lunch at the little basement 
 cafe just around the corner, she reverted once more 
 to Hedden's check, and Crawley told her just how 
 he had obtained it. 
 
 Her honest face became more and more troubled. 
 At last she shook her pretty head, and said: "That 
 kind of money is no good . . . you frightened him 
 into giving it to you. ..." 
 
 Mr. Crawley hung his head. 
 270 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I want my husband to be the squarest man in 
 the world." she said. 
 
 If it had not been withheld from so doing by his 
 neck, Mr. Crawley's head must have rolled down 
 his body to the floor. "Then, " he said finally in a 
 dim voice, "you don't want me for a husband." 
 
 Her eyes swam with love and trouble. 
 
 "You've got it in you to be square," she said 
 radiantly, "and I love you." 
 
 Somebody at a near-by table must have over- 
 heard this, because there was a subdued titter 
 followed by a kissing noise. Mr. Crawley paid the 
 score, and the young couple left the restaurant with 
 considerable haughtiness. 
 
 "When I'm with you," said the young man, 
 "I'm square. I feel square. But before I met 
 you I'd taken such a bad start that this — this is the 
 result. " 
 
 "Well," said she, "tell me everything there is to 
 tell." 
 
 "You won't have any more use for me." 
 
 "Why not ? I love you. And I want to be mar- 
 ried to you, and mean to be — after confession 
 and expiation." 
 
 As they walked along, Crawley spread out for 
 her to examine the shabby, dusty fabric of his life; 
 how he had fought against the first meanness that 
 
 271 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Hedden had required of him, and after had fought 
 less and less, until it had become his second nature 
 to do what he was told, no matter what it was. He 
 told her dozens of unsavory incidents; the story of 
 Paul Henley's play and others like it, culminating 
 with the turning upon Hedden and using his evil 
 knowledge of him to extract a large sum of money. 
 
 "But I wouldn't have done that," he pleaded, 
 "if I hadn't been just blind to the wrongness of it 
 by wanting you so much. " 
 
 "You'll give it back to him, of course. " 
 
 He nodded, but without enthusiasm. It is pleas- 
 ant to reform. But ten thousand dollars are as 
 surely ten thousand dollars as apples are apples. 
 
 "And you must tell Mr. Henley about the play, 
 and your part in — in " 
 
 "Yes," he said hastily. 
 
 "That play," she said, "must be stopped unless 
 Mr. Hedden does the right thing by the author." 
 
 " But how about us, and our orchard ?" 
 
 "You'll get a job with some one else, and so'U I, 
 and we'll pool our savings." 
 
 "Two," pleaded Mr. Crawley, "can live as 
 cheap as one " 
 
 "Anyway they can try," she said stoutly; "and 
 when you've given back the check, and told Mr. 
 Henley about the play, they will try. " 
 
 272 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Silence for a block. 
 
 "I wish I had the gift of language," said Mr. 
 Crawley, "to go on top of the Woolworth building 
 and tell all the world the kind of girl you are. " 
 
 "The world," said Miss Carley, "would be 
 bored stiff. " 
 
 They reached the offices of the McKay Hedden 
 Theatre Company, and, having taken leave of 
 each other in a secluded spot, Mr. Crawley as- 
 cended to his master's private suite. 
 
 He gave the check into his master's hands and 
 said: 
 
 "Thank you very much, but it isn't good enough 
 — the way I got it — and I'd like to resign if you 
 please, when my month is up." 
 
 Without another word, Mr. Crawley turned 
 his back (almost straight, for a wonder) and 
 marched out of the room. And he, who but a 
 moment before had been a rich man for his age and 
 station in life, and who was now very poor indeed, 
 felt in his breast a strong warm feeling, as of 
 courage being kindled therein, and hope and self- 
 respect. 
 
 He peeped into the office where Miss Carley 
 worked with three other girls, on the chance that 
 these three others might not yet have returned 
 from lunch. Unfortunately one of them had re- 
 
 273 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 turned, and he was obliged to postpone the kiss 
 that he had promised himself. 
 
 But in nodding to her and smiling through the 
 crack in the door, and thus announcing that the 
 check had been returned, he took a certain com- 
 fort. 
 
 Mr. Hedden, having torn the check into minute 
 pieces, remarked to himself: 
 
 "There's something back of this. " 
 
 274 
 
XXXVIII 
 
 AFTER hours, having by much subtle tele- 
 . phoning discovered the name of the hotel at 
 which Mr. Henley was stopping, Mr. Crawley 
 called upon that gentleman and learned that he 
 was out. 
 
 He lingered about the hotel ofl&ce for an hour, 
 and while he lingered a messenger boy entered and 
 gave the girl in charge of the books and magazines 
 a large package. 
 
 Mr. Crawley watched her open it. It appeared 
 to contain only a large piece of white bristol-board, 
 with a brass ring to hang it by. But this white 
 board had printing upon the other side, as Mr. 
 Crawley perceived when the girl hung it against 
 the back wall of the book-stall by passing the brass 
 ring over a brass hook. The printing was like this. 
 
 First in enormous type the name 
 
 McKAY HEDDEN 
 in small type presents 
 
 a good sized type silver sands 
 
 in 
 a better sized type His New Play 
 
 once more enormous WHEN MY SHIP 
 
 COMES IN 
 275 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Good God," exclaimed Mr. Crawley, "I 
 hadn't realized that we opened to-morrow night !" 
 
 And he continued for a long time to loiter ner- 
 vously about this office, remarking to himself now 
 and then: "Only twenty-four hours in which to get 
 justice done. " 
 
 He felt as you might feel if you were bearing 
 a reprieve to a man about to be hanged for a crime 
 he had not committed, and got stuck in a snow- 
 drift. 
 
 Two hours had passed, and Mr. Henley had not 
 come in. Mr. Crawley ate a little something with 
 a glass of beer in the barroom. Another hour 
 passed and no Henley. It never occurred to him 
 that the man he sought was undoubtedly attending 
 the dress rehearsal of the play in which the girl 
 he loved was to star. . . . 
 
 At about midnight. Silver Sands and Mabel 
 Reeves stepped out of the elevator, and entered 
 their apartment. A man literally sprang at them. 
 Neither of them screamed. 
 
 "Oh, Miss Sands, I've got to see you," he cried. 
 "I waited and waited for Mr. Henley, but he never 
 came, and it's urgent, very urgent. Indeed it is." 
 
 "Why," said Silver, "it's Mr. Crawley." 
 
 "ril say good night," said Miss Reeves, still 
 startled, but smiling. 
 
 276 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Yes, please," ejaculated Mr. Crawley ner- 
 vously. And he followed Silver Sands into the 
 living-room. 
 
 "Why did you want to see Mr. Henley so par- 
 ticularly ?" she called anxiously. 
 
 "Because he's being robbed and hoodwinked," 
 said Mr. Crawley. "And I couldn't find him to 
 tell him — so I've come to you. You wouldn't want 
 to see him robbed, would you. Miss Sands?" 
 
 "Certainly not," 
 
 "Have you seen the bills of 'When My Ship 
 Comes In'?" 
 
 She nodded. 
 
 "They say it's by him, Miss Sands; but it isn't. " 
 
 "Who says it's by whom ?" 
 
 "The bills — the bills say McKay Hedden wrote 
 the play; but he didn't. He stole it. " 
 
 "Stole it ? What makes you think that ?" 
 
 "Because I made a copy for him of the play 
 he stole it from. ..." 
 
 "And that play was written by Mr. Henley?" 
 
 "Then you know?" 
 
 "No. I just guessed. I don't know how or 
 why. I think it'd been dawning on me for a long 
 time that something was wrong somewhere. Sit 
 down, Mr. Crawley, and tell me all about every- 
 thing." 
 
 277 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 And as the saying is, Mr. Crawley did just that 
 and more too. 
 
 "And you'll tell IMr. Henley first thing in the 
 morning, so"s he can get an injunction or some- 
 thing." 
 
 "Wouldn't it be fairest to go to Mr. Hedden 
 first ? He's been a good friend to me. ..." 
 
 Mr. Crawley made a gesture of despair. 
 
 "Hasn't he?" 
 
 "Oh, maybe he has. Miss Sands; maybe he 
 has." 
 
 "Well, I think he has. And so it will be fair to 
 go to him and to tell him what you have said, and 
 see what he has to say. " 
 
 "Don't 3'ou believe me. Miss Sands ?" 
 
 "Well," she said gently, "Mr. Henley has seen 
 several rehearsals, and he hasn't said anything 
 about any of the ideas being taken from him." 
 
 "I know that," said Mr. Crawley, "and yet I'm 
 telling you God's truth. Miss Sands." 
 
 "But it's curious that Mr. Henley shouldn't 
 have said an)thing. " 
 
 For some moments Mr. Crawley could not think 
 of any explanation. At last he said: "I haven't 
 always told the truth, Miss Sands, but this time 
 I am telling it. " 
 
 And then because he was in love himself an ex- 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 planation of Henley's conduct flashed into his 
 mind. His face brightened, and he cried: 
 
 "I know why he hasn't spoken. I know now. 
 It's because he doesn't want you to be unhappy 
 or disappointed. He's sacrificing his interests and 
 everything so that — so that you can have your doll 
 and play with it. Why, that's too easy. It's just 
 what any real man would do for the girl he loved. " 
 
 And during this utterance Mr. Crawley himself 
 actually looked like a real man; so that Silver, 
 though in great mental perturbation and distress, 
 managed to smile a little mischievously and to say : 
 
 "I think you must be in love yourself, Mr. 
 Crawley. " 
 
 "I am," cried the young man; "indeed I am. 
 And I wish I could do for her what he's doing for 
 you. 
 
 "It's splendid to be in love !" said Silver. 
 
 "It is splendid. Miss Sands. It's like standing 
 on the top of a mountain with your hat off and a 
 gale of wind blowing through your hair. " 
 
 "Now," said Silver Sands, "I believe you, Mr. 
 Crawley. But I must give Mr. Hedden a chance 
 to say what he has to say. Don't you think that's 
 the square thing to do .?" 
 
 "I think that that is what she'd do," said Mr. 
 Crawley; "so it must be right." 
 
 279 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 She held out her hand to him. 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Crawley. Give the young 
 lady my love. And good night." 
 
 " I hope you're not going to take this too much to 
 heart. Miss Sands. " 
 
 "Oh, no," she said. "Good night, Mr. Craw- 
 ley." 
 
 She went with him to the door of the apartment, 
 and showed him out. 
 
 "Thank you again. And don't worry if the 
 elevator doesn't start the moment you ring. The 
 boy is probably asleep again. He was when we 
 came in. " 
 
 "Then I'll walk and not disturb him," said Mr. 
 Crawley. "Goodnight." 
 
 "Can I come in, Mabel ?" 
 
 Miss Reeves, eager to hear the news, had not 
 even made a beginning of undressing. 
 
 "It seems," said Silver, "that 'When My Ship 
 Comes In' is really Paul's property." 
 
 "Well," said Miss Reeves, "I'm glad some one 
 has told you at last ! " 
 
 "You knew?" 
 
 Miss Reeves nodded. 
 
 " But I promised not to tell. It's a rotten busi- 
 ness all around. What are you going to do ?" 
 
 "I'm going to give Mr. Hedden a chance to do 
 280 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 right, and if he won't — but he will surely — ^why, of 
 course I won't act in the thing — and — and I'm so 
 disappointed and tired I could cry. " 
 
 Which she forthwith did in Miss Reeves's arms 
 and on her shoulder, and at great length. 
 
 "Silver," said this one after a while; "you've 
 got Paul, anjrway, and people to take care of you. " 
 
 "I know, but — but " 
 
 "If the play is called off," said Miss Reeves, 
 "some people will be out of a job — people who 
 haven't any lover to turn to " 
 
 " Oh, what a beast I am," moaned Silver; "just 
 a miserable, thoughtless beast. Of course, I've got 
 to act in the thing." 
 
 "No," said Miss Reeves, "you must do what's 
 right — no matter who is hurt." 
 
 "Oh," said Silver, "the heart's all gone out of 
 the thing now — it's all gone — ^that was so full of 
 joy and heart. ..." 
 
 An hour later she was sound asleep, and to look 
 at her you would have thought that she had never 
 had a sorrow in her life. 
 
 It was Mabel Reeves who did not sleep a wink 
 that night, and who would have spent the whole 
 of it in tears if she had been one of those to whom 
 the good things of this life come easily — love, and 
 success, and laughter, and tears. 
 
 281 
 
XXXIX 
 
 IT is remarkable how people lying awake, their 
 minds pretematurally active, come to no con- 
 clusion upon a given difficulty: while people sleep- 
 ing soundly, through the same period of time, will 
 change their minds completely for better or worse 
 and, rising, begin a way out of their troubles or 
 deeper into them. 
 
 Silver woke calm and refreshed; for, right or 
 wrong, she had determined upon a course of action. 
 To a question put by Mabel Reeves, she answered : 
 "I can't tell you anything until I've talked with 
 Hedden. The first thing to do is to give him a 
 chance to square himself." 
 
 "And if he can't?" 
 
 "I think I know what to do." 
 
 "And if he can?" 
 
 "Why then all's well, isn't it?" 
 
 She departed, smiling, like a very young sphinx, 
 and twenty minutes later met Hedden, by ap- 
 pointment, at his office. 
 
 The man was sitting with his face between his 
 hands, contemplating a solitary white rosebud in 
 a narrow bronze vase. He literally appeared to 
 
 282 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 wrench himself from this agreeable occupation; 
 and for a moment he looked dazed and surprised, 
 as if, in spite of their appointment to meet at that 
 precise moment, Silver Sands was the last person 
 in the world he expected to see. Slowly, and it 
 must be confessed rather winningly, the surprise in 
 his face yielded first to pleasure and then to rap- 
 ture. 
 
 "Oh, Silver!" he exclaimed. "I have been 
 dreaming. If only things could be different. I 
 have been dreaming that at the last curtain call, 
 you and I come together and tell the audience that 
 we are engaged to be married. . . . We have been 
 through a great deal together. Silver; we have 
 built up this play from nothing to what it is now. 
 You and I are alone responsible. It seems flying 
 in the face of dramatic justice if things are to go no 
 further with us. But I won't say any more. . . . 
 After to-night, when you have made your great hit 
 with the public, you will soon see for yourself how 
 impossible it would be for you to marry any one 
 not connected with the stage." 
 
 " But I am thinking of leaving the stage before 
 to-night," said Silver simply and earnestly. 
 
 McKay Hedden looked at her in a dazed sort of 
 way. Then he reached for his desk calendar, con- 
 sulted it, and shook his head with inquiring energy. 
 
 283 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "No," he said, "it's not the first of April." 
 
 Silver said nothing further until Hedden had 
 quite finished with the calendar. Then she said: 
 "I'm terribly unhappy and disappointed." 
 
 "Now look here," said Hedden, "you are more 
 than half in earnest. Tell me everything from the 
 beginning. " 
 
 "But you know everything from the beginning 
 better than I do," she said. "The important 
 thing that you haven't known is that I know, too !" 
 
 He smiled amiably, and shook his head. 
 
 "A phrase like that. Silver, is worth good money 
 for purposes of mystification. For the benefit of a 
 mediocre understanding couldn't you, as a personal 
 favor, couch the idea in words of two syllables ?" 
 
 "Very well," said Silver, and she asked point- 
 blank: "Why shouldn't Mr. Henley's name be on 
 the programme to-night, instead of yours ? " 
 
 The manager had a rare control of his facial 
 muscles. His lawyers boasted of his gifts as a 
 witness. 
 
 "Why should it ?" he asked blandly. "Just be- 
 cause a girl fancies herself in love with a man is no 
 reason for ascribing to him the authorship of the 
 play in which she is to appear, is it ? " 
 
 "Why, no," said Silver. "Not even a ghost of 
 a reason. If a man produces another man's play, 
 
 284 
 
not the first of April" 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 surely there's reason for putting the other man's 
 name on the programme, and paying him the 
 royalties that he deserves, isn't there ?" 
 
 "Would you mind coming over here to the win- 
 dow a moment ? " 
 
 She followed him somewhat puzzled. 
 
 A panel in one of the stained-glass windows 
 stood wide open, and through this the light of day 
 came and fell full on Silver's face. His eyes puck- 
 ered. Hedden studied that lovely face gravely 
 and then drew a long sigh of relief. 
 
 " My dear child, " he said. " I thought you had 
 gone crazy with excitement and worry. But your 
 eyes are perfectly sane and — " here he laid his 
 hand on his heart "perfectly beautiful." 
 
 "Mr. Hedden," she said, "if Paul Henley had 
 never been born, would you ever have produced a 
 play like 'When My Ship Comes In ' ?" 
 
 "Of course," he said simply. 
 
 "It's the hardest thing in the world not to be- 
 lieve you," said Silver. "You've seemed to be so 
 good to me, and all, and yet " 
 
 " But the play was written in your father's house, 
 you were there all the time. You saw it develop 
 from the first germs " 
 
 "That's it," said Silver. "The first germs! 
 Where did they come from?" 
 
 285 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Why, some from one place, some from an- 
 other," said Hedden; "and though men say there 
 is no new thing under the sun, some of them are 
 new. 
 
 "And a play which Mr. Henley once sent you 
 supplied none of them ?" 
 
 " How should I know ? " said Hedden disarm- 
 ingly. " Every jot of a man's experience, his read- 
 ings, his talks with other men go into the filling 
 of that vast and complex storehouse from which 
 he draws his ideas and his inventions. I read a 
 play once by Mr. Henley, " he shrugged his shoul- 
 ders pointedly. "It is one of my managerial 
 duties to read all plays that are submitted to me. 
 I read this play then, and sent it back to him. " 
 
 "Wasn't it any good ?" 
 
 "I told you once that I would never say any- 
 thing derogatory to a rival. And now I tell you 
 so again. " 
 
 "It was pretty bad ?" 
 
 Hedden merely smiled. 
 
 "Then why," said Silver, "did you have a copy 
 of it made before you returned it ? Why did 
 
 you ?" 
 
 "Once," said Hedden glibly, "a man sent me 
 a play. I returned it to him and he claimed that 
 he never received it and demanded damages. 
 
 286 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Since that experience I have had a copy made of 
 every play that comes into this oflEce — ^merely to 
 guard myself against annoyance. " 
 
 "Then you could show me the copy of Mr. Hen- 
 ley's play ? " 
 
 "No. Because directly I learn that an author 
 has received his original I have the copy de- 
 stroyed. It has never been a passion of mine to 
 collect trash." 
 
 "And you don't consciously owe anything to 
 Mr. Henley's play .?" 
 
 "My dear child!" 
 
 Silver Sands shrugged her shoulders a hair's- 
 breadth and turned toward the door. 
 
 "I hope you believe me, Silver." 
 
 She faced him once more. 
 
 "If the play's a failure," she said, "it won't 
 matter one way or the other." 
 
 "Silver! On a mere suspicion, don't tell me 
 that you are going to make the play fail ! For its 
 failure or its success are in your hands !" 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Hedden," she exclaimed, "it isn't a 
 mere suspicion ! " 
 
 " Mr. Henley has seen a rehearsal of the piece. 
 If he has any complaint to make why doesn't he 
 come forward and make it like a man ? . . . But 
 perhaps he has to you." 
 
 287 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 The color deepened in Silver's cheeks. 
 
 "He hasn't complained because he doesn't want 
 to spoil my fun. " 
 
 "He seems to have explained his attitude very 
 clearly, at least. " 
 
 "Oh, no," said Silver. "One just puts two and 
 two together, and guesses why he hasn't com- 
 plained. But it will be different when I tell him 
 that I know already." 
 
 "But you don't know." 
 
 She made no comment. 
 
 "You can't know. Did you ever read the play 
 which you accuse me of having stolen ? Did 
 you?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "And just because a miserable little blackmailer 
 in my office runs to you with a tale of woe, you 
 believe that I am a crook." 
 
 Again Silver made no comment. 
 
 "Are you," he went on, "willing to put your 
 accusation in writing, to sign it and give it to the 
 papers ? Do you know that if you couldn't prove 
 what you allege you would be guilty of slander ? 
 Can you prove it ?" 
 
 "Why— "began Silver. 
 
 "Not to your own satisfaction," said Hedden 
 quickly, "but to a jury — to zj'ury ? What is the 
 
 288 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 case ? Crawley's word against mine. Can you 
 even produce Mr. Henley's original play ? . . . 
 My dear Silver, you are doing a foolish thing. 
 Believe me, I know all there is to know about 
 plagiarism. Suppose I had written a play upon 
 the same plot as Mr. Henley's; had indeed deliber- 
 ately done so — still the two pieces would be as 
 different as light and darkness; the one suited to 
 the waste-paper basket, the other to the stage. 
 Who accuses Shakespeare of plagiarism ? Yet not 
 one of his plots was original with him, except 
 that of ' Much Ado About Nothing,' which has 
 no plot. And in this case, I give you my word 
 of honor ..." 
 
 " I can't follow arguments very well, " said Silver 
 quietly. " But I've given you a chance to square 
 yourself, and somehow you haven't done it. " 
 
 "You will end by angering me." 
 
 "Why do you want the credit of a thing that 
 isn't yours ? " 
 
 "But it is mine ! And it's the best that I have 
 done. That is why I am jealous of my credit. 
 But, by the great jumping Judas ! I didn't think 
 you would turn against me. And I tell you, Sil- 
 •ver, if you weren't you, I'd throw you over, for 
 treating me like this. The play is mine, I tell you. 
 Mine." 
 
 289 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Couldn't we send for Mr. Crawley and Mr. 
 Henley and hear what they have to say ?" 
 
 McKay Hedden began to rake his hair upward 
 with his long fingers. 
 
 "My God!" he cried. "But this child is ob- 
 stinate. Yes ! Send for them, send for them ! 
 But not here. Bring them into court with their 
 lawyers and their indictment. . . . Look here. 
 Silver: Suppose just for the sake of argument that 
 you are doing me an injustice. Suppose just for 
 the sake of argument you found out that Crawley 
 had lied to you. How, my dear child, would you 
 square yourself with me ? Remember, I have 
 offered you my word of honor, and you have 
 refused to accept it. If it should suddenly dawn 
 on you that the truth is in me and not in the other, 
 how will you square yourself — not with me, my 
 dear, that is too easy, but with your own con- 
 science ?" 
 
 Silver's eyes began to fill with tears. 
 
 "I don't understand law and arguments and 
 things," she said, "but somehow, Mr. Hedden, I 
 just know that I'm right about this " 
 
 "You are hurting me very cruelly. Silver." 
 
 "We are all being hurt. But we have to do 
 right when we think we know how. " 
 
 "May I ask just what your idea of right is, 
 under the circumstances?" 
 
 290 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Why, I can't act in a play that is robbing a 
 man of what belongs to him, so " 
 
 "You want to break your contract?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "It will throw a lot of deserving people out of 
 work." 
 
 "You can find something else for them to do." 
 
 "In half a day ? I'm no magician. " 
 
 "What do I have to do to break my contract ?" 
 
 "There are two ways. You either beg the other 
 party to the contract to let you ofF or you just 
 break it and then sit around and see what happens 
 to you ! 
 
 There was a veiled threat in his voice. 
 
 "Then I just beg you to let me off. " 
 
 He sighed and walked away from her and back 
 to her several times, debating in his mind which of 
 the many high cards he held should be played 
 next. 
 
 "I shouldn't consider letting you off," he said 
 at length, "except that of late I have begun to lose 
 confidence in 'When My Ship Comes In.' And I 
 have begun to think that I have been hypnotized 
 by your beauty and charm into the belief that, ab- 
 solutely without experience, you could be starred 
 on Broadway. But that is against reason and ex- 
 perience. " 
 
 This new turn not only bewildered Silver but 
 291 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 hurt her pride, and set her up in arms. Utterly 
 without conceit or boastfulness, she had learned 
 through the long weeks of rehearsal to know her 
 power over laughter and tears. 
 
 "I have been terribly anxious," he went on, 
 " and in a sense it would be a relief to take the 
 piece off." 
 
 "You've never confessed any doubts before." 
 
 "If a leader confesses that he is afraid, where 
 will you find courage ? " 
 
 "And all your enthusiasm has been just acting !" 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "I am afraid," he said, "the part is a little big 
 and complex for you, after all. Silver. It's not an 
 easy part. And still, feeling this way — I've gone 
 on and on, deeper and deeper, spending more and 
 more money to insure against failure. Why ? 
 Because I said, 'She is trying so hard, she deserves 
 this chance. And if the play fails it won't be be- 
 cause she didn't at least try with all her heart and 
 soul.' But now — she isn't even going to try. " 
 
 He smiled in her face. 
 
 "You've been expensive. Silver. You've cost 
 me a broken heart, and altogether too many 
 thousands of dollars to mention in polite society. 
 ... Of course, with you trying your level best 
 the play still has a chance !" 
 
 292 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 He tossed his hands in a gesture of abandon- 
 ment. 
 
 "If you were a man," he said, "it would occur 
 to you to try and make good with the play. Grant 
 for the sake of argument that it isn't my play ; still 
 I am the one who is taking all the risks, and putting 
 up all the money. It would take a long, successful 
 run to make me square with the game. But I am 
 to be thrown over, and my money — not that that 
 matters — ^burned alive by the thousand, because 
 you think I am trying to cheat some one. For the 
 play to be profitable it must have a phenomenal 
 run. Silver. It must be a genuine success even for 
 me to come out even. Which is worse, for a man 
 to take an idea from another man, supposing that 
 I had, or for a girl to take a small fortune from a 
 man who has trusted her and believed in her and 
 made sacrifices for her ? " 
 
 Silver had done no thinking along these lines. 
 
 "Suppose," said Hedden, "that you first square 
 the game. Silver, and then talk about breaking 
 your contract ? But there is no time to lose, you 
 must come to some decision at once. " 
 
 Curiously enough, the thing uppermost in her 
 mind was the knowledge that Hedden doubted her 
 ability to make the play succeed. So much of the 
 poison of Broadway she had absorbed in her short 
 
 293 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 contact with the stage. And it seemed more 
 necessary to show him that she could than to see 
 justice done. 
 
 "The curtain," said Hedden, "either goes up 
 to-night at 8.15 or it doesn't. I am wilHng to 
 waive what I have sunk personally in the produc- 
 tion. But the company, of course, will expect to be 
 reimbursed for whatever your sudden fit of nerves 
 will have cost them to date, in addition to such 
 advances as they have made to your personal 
 account. When you have paid the company what 
 you owe them, they will undoubtedly be willing 
 to cancel your contract " 
 
 Silver burst suddenly into tears. "You see," 
 said Hedden, "you are trying to do what you think 
 is right, but you have only thought of a few of the 
 trifles which complicate the situation. Come now, 
 what are you going to do ? Are you going to throw 
 us over and take the consequences, or are you 
 going to pay back into the treasury such sums as 
 have been advanced to you and get the company 
 to let you off?" 
 
 "I will pay back every penny," said Silver, "if 
 only you will give me time. I can get another 
 engagement . . . why couldn't I ?" 
 
 "Because," said Hedden, who had interrupted 
 her with a short, ugly laugh, "no manager would 
 
 294 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 give you a contract after hearing how you've re- 
 spected the one you have with us. I doubt if you 
 could even get a job in a chorus. And besides, 
 you have as yet no reputation — no record. You'll 
 have to think of some other way of earning 
 money. " 
 
 "Oh," she cried. "It's like being buried alive ! 
 I'm helpless. I can't move in any direction. " 
 
 He nodded with cynicism. And suddenly she 
 laid her hands on his shoulders and looked him 
 appealingly in the face. 
 
 "I cant do right, can I ?" she said. "Because 
 I'm all caught and tied and involved; so that any 
 right I do, makes something else wrong. But you 
 are free. You are great and powerful. You can 
 do anything you please. You can even do right if 
 you want to. Won't you do right \ Won't you, 
 Mr. Hedden ? If you will do right, I — I will — I 
 will make the play go. I can do that. I know 
 I can do that. So won't you 1 Won't you, Mr. 
 Hedden.?" 
 
 So great was the appeal in her voice, and so 
 moving the fire and pathos in the great eyes turned 
 upward to his, that for a moment McKay Hedden 
 was almost stampeded from his position. It was 
 on the tip of his tongue to confess his plagiarism, 
 and to offer every reparation in his power. But 
 
 295 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 the impulse to confession brought the image of 
 Henley into his mind's eye, and a sudden passion 
 of jealousy blazed up in him, so that instead of 
 confession and restitution there burst from him: 
 "Silver. I want you so! I want you so!" 
 
 And he tried to take her in his arms. Silver, 
 however, stepped backward so swiftly that he em- 
 braced only the empty air. And here the man did 
 a thing that was very characteristic of him. In- 
 stead of stopping in mid-gesture and looking ut- 
 terly fooled and foolish, he carried his sweeping 
 arms onward until they met, until they passed 
 each other, and until they lay superbly crossed 
 upon his chest. 
 
 Silver continued to retreat until her hand rested 
 on the knob of the door by which she had entered. 
 
 " I will let you know about to-night, " she said, 
 "as soon as I have talked with Mr. Henley. I 
 shall ask him what I ought to do, and he will tell 
 me. 
 
 McKay Hedden laughed a short, ugly laugh. 
 
 "The curtain," he said, "will go up at 8.15, 
 and if you're not on hand to do your best. Silver, 
 all I can say is : I'm sorry for you. " 
 
 296 
 
XL 
 
 MCKAY HEDDEN tried again and again 
 during the course of the day to communi- 
 cate with Silver. For all his bluster he was badly 
 frightened. It was not difficult to bully a woman 
 and get the better of her — face to face; but left to 
 themselves he had small faith in the sex. Was she 
 simply going to disappear until the time for raising 
 the curtain on " When My Ship Comes In " had 
 come and gone ? Or were she and Henley per- 
 haps busy getting out an injunction restraining 
 him from producing the piece at all ? 
 
 "But she can't throw me over like that," he 
 told himself a hundred times. "If she wasn't 
 going to appear she'd let me know definitely in 
 time to do something about it. " 
 
 This, however, was not perfect comfort. He 
 lashed himself into a fury. He threatened and 
 stormed. He also became Hmp and weak from 
 sheer nervousness and self-pity. And toward dusk 
 such was his state of mind that to be spared any 
 further worry he was even ready to eat humble-pie 
 and do justice. 
 
 At seven o'clock he stood just within the stage 
 297 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 door of his theatre watching the street. He had 
 already prepared a statement for the papers, saying 
 that the performance had been indefinitely post- 
 poned owing to the sudden illness of Miss Sands; 
 and he had also prepared a little speech of explana- 
 tion which he himself should deliver to a dis- 
 gruntled audience. He may be compared to a 
 bridegroom waiting at the altar for the bride that 
 does not come. He was possessed in turn by rage, 
 jealousy, or panic, and sometimes by all the three 
 at once. 
 
 It had been Silver's plan on leaving Hedden's 
 office to go straight to Henley and tell him the 
 whole story and abide by his advice. But even 
 while she was telephoning to him from the nearest 
 public booth, and saying she must see him at once, 
 a new light dawned for her, and she had changed 
 her mind, not about seeing him but about telling 
 him. 
 
 They met at a certain flower store on Fifth 
 Avenue because it was just half-way between 
 Henley's club, and the telephone which Silver 
 had used. They dismissed one taxi and told the 
 driver of the other to go up the Avenue and round 
 the park. 
 
 "You frightened me," said Henley. "What 
 has happened ? " 
 
 298 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 It was not altogether truthful to say that noth- 
 ing had happened, but it was truthful enough. 
 
 "I 'spect I'm silly and nervous about to-night," 
 said Silver. "And I just wanted to be with you 
 from now till then. Couldn't you take me out to 
 the Country Club for lunch, and afterward we 
 could watch them shoot clay pigeons .? " 
 
 His hand dropped lightly on hers, and there 
 remained for the next forty-two minutes. And it 
 annoyed him very much to realize that taxicabs 
 have windows through which inquisitive people 
 may see those who are riding in them, and com- 
 ment upon their behavior. 
 
 "When I'm with you," she said, "I'm not ner- 
 vous or frightened about anything. And if I'm 
 going to make good to-night I ought to have a 
 peaceful and happy day." 
 
 "You are going to have a tremendous success," 
 said Henley. "And if you were anybody but you 
 I'd be terribly worried. Most girls would get 
 their heads turned, and possibly sacrifice their 
 best young men upon the altar ©f art. " 
 
 "I can't help longing to have the audience like 
 me," said Silver. "I can't help longing to have 
 the biggest success that ever was. But I'd much 
 rather be driving around in a taxi holding hands 
 with you. See, I'm not a bit nervous any more. " 
 
 299 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 She suddenly thrust her free arm through the 
 open window, and waved to Mabel Reeves and 
 Sam Waring. They were strolling slowly down 
 the Avenue, Sam talking a blue streak. 
 
 "Looks as if Mabel had gone to school for 
 nervousness, too, " said Henley. " Is she worried 
 about to-night?" 
 
 Of course," said Silver, "but it isn't her first ap- 
 pearance. She'll have lots of friends in the audi- 
 ence already made. And I've got to make mine. " 
 
 "All of them.?" 
 
 "Oh, I've got you and Sam " 
 
 "I don't count for much, but with Sam for a 
 friend " 
 
 "I suppose just you two together can make a 
 noise like a large audience of people clapping their 
 hands and shouting bravo. . . . Oh what shall I 
 do, Paul, if I forget my part ?" 
 
 "What put that idea in your head?" 
 
 "It's teen hanging round like a hungry stray 
 kitten for days, trying to get in — ^and I just let it 
 in that's all, and it's grown to be a great big terri- 
 fying miawly cat." 
 
 Henley did not propose to aid and abet her in 
 self-torture. 
 
 "Are your father and mother coming?" he 
 asked. 
 
 300 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "They've said not," Silver smiled, "so often, 
 that I'm beginning to think they are. It would be 
 the image of the captain to see the show and if he 
 didn't like it and me in it, to trot right back to Han- 
 leytown without letting on that he'd been here." 
 
 " I wouldn't wonder if there were a lot of Hanley- 
 town people in front to-night. All the boys that 
 are in love with you. Silver ! They'll all have come 
 on together by the New Bedford boat. They'll 
 have sung close harmony all night, and about now 
 they are putting their heads and funds together 
 to offer you a floral tribute. I think it will take 
 the form of a horseshoe, or possibly an anchor. " 
 
 "I hope none of the old captains will come," 
 said Silver. "One mistake about a ship spoils 
 a whole play for an old captain. And there are 
 mistakes. I've pointed out some of them to Mr. 
 Hedden — ^just little simple obvious things — ^but 
 he says he's writing for a New York audience, and 
 that they don't even mind mistakes about New 
 York, let alone ships." 
 
 "Except that he won't take advice," said Hen- 
 ley, "Hedden seems to have been pretty white to 
 you. Silver?" 
 
 She gave him a doubtful little "yes." 
 
 "Anything wrong? — ^what has happened?" 
 
 "Only that I've just found out about the play," 
 
 iJOI 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 she said impulsively, "and I don't know what to 
 do. Mr. Hedden says that it's his, every word of 
 it, and we've had a row about that. I said I 
 wouldn't play in it, unless he did the right thing, 
 and he won't." 
 
 "You think he borrowed the play from some 
 ffther fellow and won't give credit f Is that it ?" 
 
 "/j that it, Paul.?" 
 
 "Well," he said, "this play seems to have a lot 
 of stuff in it that was in a play I once offered to 
 Hedden. Sam read that play and he thinks so too. 
 On the other hand, Hedden has a touch of genius, 
 and he's done a whole lot with those ideas, that I 
 didn't do. I hardly know what to claim and what 
 not to claim. Sam and I have thrashed the whole 
 thing over dozens of times, and we've concluded 
 to accept the situation as a joke. " 
 
 "Tell me one thing, Paul. If I wasn't mixed up 
 with it, would you have interfered ? Tell me 
 honestly. " 
 
 "Yes, dear," he said gravely. "I think so." 
 
 "I'll do anything you say, Paul. Do you want 
 me to chuck the thing ?" 
 
 "I'll tell you what I want you to do. I've got 
 some money coming to me from my share in the 
 mines, and I want you to drive with me first to the 
 City Hall, and then to the nearest clergyman, and 
 
 302 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 then we'll jump on a boat and go to Jamaica, or 
 Barbadoes, and have a look at the canal and loaf 
 around till spring. That's what I want you to 
 do! 
 
 "And wouldn't I love to !" he went on. "And 
 yet you've gone so far now that it would be a pity 
 not to make your hit first. And it would be selfish 
 of me if I deprived New York of the chance to see 
 you ... what were you yourself thinking of do- 
 ing about this mix-up ? " 
 
 " I'll tell you, " she said, " and you'll tell me if it's 
 too silly and conceited. " She talked very fast an4 
 apologetically for a long time, and Henley watched 
 her all the time with amused and adoring eyes. 
 
 "And you see," she finished, "if by any possi- 
 bility that did happen, why I'd have the whip- 
 hand, wouldn't I ? Whereas now, any value that 
 I may represent is sheer guesswork. What do 
 you think ? " 
 
 " Seriously ? " 
 
 "Seriously." 
 
 "I think you are sublime. And I love you so 
 much that I'm going to take a chance of being 
 seen by a policeman," 
 
 ^03 
 
XLI 
 
 JUST when McKay Hedden, watch in hand, 
 had made up his mind that she was not com- 
 ing, she came. Henley was with her. Waring, and 
 Miss Reeves. The quartet parted at the stage 
 door, the gentlemen supplying the ladies with 
 facetious advice and making light of the ordeal 
 that was before them all. That it was an ordeal 
 for Henley and Waring too was proved by the 
 direction which they took immediately Silver and 
 Mabel had left them. This direction was diago- 
 nally across the street to a certain Broadway cor- 
 ner, where above a revolving door of mahogany 
 and plate glass was blazoned in electric lights the 
 word "Cafe." 
 
 The young gentlemen ordered something, and 
 Henley laid his watch face up on the bar. Waring, 
 more accustomed to arriving at the last moment 
 without being late, smiled. 
 
 "Opening performances are always the deuce 
 of a while getting started, " he said. " If we are in 
 our seats at 8 :25 we'll have hours to wait. " 
 
 "It's supposed to begin at 8:15," said Henley 
 304 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 nervously. He set down his long glass so that it 
 rattled upon the bar. 
 
 "I've got the shakes," he said. 
 
 It was ten minutes before eight and he looked 
 appealingly at Waring. 
 
 "Don't you think," he said, "that it's rather 
 fun to get to theatres early and watch the people 
 come in ? " 
 
 "Especially first-nighters," said Sam dryly. 
 "No, I don't." 
 
 "It makes me sick," said Henley, "to think 
 of poor little Silver going through what she's going 
 through, and nobody to talk to." 
 
 "She's got her maid," said Waring. "And the 
 women in the company will be running in and out 
 of the dressing-room, borrowing things and wishing 
 her luck. And besides, she's got her make-up to 
 think about. Turn a girl loose with half a dozen 
 sticks of grease-paints and a mirror, and she isn't 
 going to worry about trifles. " 
 
 "I think my watch is slow," said Henley. 
 
 "What makes you think that?" 
 
 "It looks slow to me. Don't you think it looks 
 slow, Sam. " 
 
 "This bar," said Waring, "has a bell that rings 
 five minutes before the curtains go up in Hedden's 
 theatre. " 
 
 30s 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "But maybe the wire is down." 
 
 "Why should it be?" 
 
 "There was a very high wind last night, wasn't 
 there?" 
 
 Waring thrust his tongue into his cheek. 
 
 "If you were going to be hanged, personally," 
 he said, "you'd give a better exhibition than you're 
 giving now. " 
 
 Henley smiled, but he also shivered. 
 
 "If it's any comfort to you, Paul, I'm just as 
 scared as you are. So, if you like, we'll go across. " 
 
 They paid their shot, bought some cigarettes 
 for the entr'actes, and returned to the theatre. Ex- 
 cept for the ushers, and one man in the last row of 
 the balcony immediately behind a post, the place 
 was empty. It was just eight o'clock. 
 
 They did not at once go to their seats, but 
 strolled about or stood and leaned. Another gen- 
 tleman appeared in the balcony, and was shown 
 to another seat behind another post. Even with 
 the curtain down this appeared to inconvenience 
 him, and he could be seen craning his neck first to 
 one side of it, then to the other, for all the world 
 like a turtle. Presently he took up his hat and 
 coat and marched out. They could hear him 
 expostulating with the powers in the box-office; 
 presently, however, he returned to his seat, and 
 
 306 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 took up the work of craning where he had left ofF. 
 At this point a very small boy, filled to the brim 
 with very bad language, staggered in with an 
 enormous bundle of programmes. These, the 
 outer covering of heavy Manila paper being re- 
 moved, gave out the strong smell of printers' ink. 
 
 The programmes were a diversion not to be de- 
 spised. Henley and Waring pounced upon them, 
 and Waring got himself into a mess of repartee 
 with the small boy who had brought them. 
 
 McKay Hedden suddenly appeared. 
 
 He walked swiftly down an aisle, halted, turned, 
 folded his arms and looked the empty house over. 
 He resembled Napoleon in the act of choosing a 
 battle-field. He was joined presently by a harassed 
 attendant who carried a glass-and-rubber atomizer, 
 the reservoir half filled with a dark-brown liquid. 
 
 Upon a nod from the master, the man pressed 
 the rubber bulb, and a dustlike spray shot from 
 the nozzle. 
 
 McKay Hedden sniffed critically. Then nodded 
 approval. And then waved his right arm in a half 
 circle. At this the attendant dashed about the 
 theatre shooting random sprays from the atomizer. 
 He suggested a frenzied amateur orchardist whose 
 favorite trees have extended hospitality to the San 
 Jose scale. 
 
 307 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Hedden caught sight of Henley and Waring, 
 and approached them. He gave Henley a look 
 half defiant, half beseeching — as much as to say: 
 "You can't possibly make any trouble for me; 
 but please don't try." 
 
 "You have seen the programmes ?" 
 
 "Capital!" said Waring. 
 
 "You hke them ? I sat up all of one night with 
 the types. " 
 
 "Tell me one thing, Mr. Hedden," said Hen- 
 ley, "is that man disinfecting the theatre — or 
 what ?" 
 
 "What man ? Oh, the man with the atomizer ! 
 He is sprinkling the atmosphere with a special 
 spray that I have had prepared by one of New 
 York's most expert chemists. We call it Marine 
 emulsion. It has a tar-and-turpentine basis. It 
 prepares the audience through the olfactory 
 nerves for the wharfs and shipping which they 
 are to see. It's hke a Wagnerian morif. . . . 
 There, did you get a whiff then ? . . . " 
 
 They did. And indeed the theatre had begun 
 to smell like a ship. 
 
 "Oh," cried Hedden, "if some fool of a pa- 
 tchouhed woman doesn't drown it out." 
 
 He turned and drifted from them; occasionally 
 snapping his right thumb and forefinger. 
 
 308 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 In the meanwhile some tens of people had 
 arrived. It was seven minutes past eight. 
 
 Waring caught Henley in the act of filling his 
 lungs with air to their utmost capacity and letting 
 it almost fiercely out again. He laughed. And a 
 moment later was doing the same thing himself. 
 
 "My Grod 1" exclaimed Henley. "I wish it was 
 over. " 
 
 "Let's sit down else we'll begin to see people we 
 know and have to talk to them. " 
 
 As their seats were on an aisle they did not 
 occupy them long in peace. Every now and then 
 they had to tumble out into the aisle to let people 
 pass through to the seats beyond them. A lady 
 stabbed Henley in the right eye with a stiff hat 
 feather. He begged her pardon most humbly. 
 She turned to beg his, and in so doing stabbed her 
 own escort in the left eye. A stout gentleman 
 stepped on Waring's foot, and there remained, with- 
 out apology, while divesting himself of his coat. 
 A stout gentleman in the front row suddenly turned 
 a congested purple and sneezed frightfully. He 
 sneezed twenty-one times. Some automatic ma- 
 chinery in the back of Henley's head kept count. 
 The stout lady with the stout gentleman kept 
 thumping him on the back. 
 
 The theatre was practically full now. There 
 309 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 was what the newspapers sometimes call a very 
 brilliant audience. Society was unusually well 
 represented, for Silver Sands had made many 
 friends. There was a sprinkling of women with 
 short hair and massive oriental jewelry. There 
 were critics of all sorts of shapes and sizes who wore 
 all sorts of eye-glasses and all shapes and varieties 
 of dress suits. Many of them were accompanied 
 by artistic women, very long from the hip to the 
 knee, having bends instead of joints and immense 
 wads of hair. And there were many, both men and 
 women, who had not paid for their seats; you 
 could spot these by their proud and contemptuous 
 expression. 
 
 The fifth row centre from aisle to aisle was 
 empty. This worried Henley terribly. He nudged 
 Waring. 
 
 "Theatre-party," he whispered hoarsely. 
 "They'll be late." 
 
 And he was furious with them. His eyes kept 
 roving from the empty seats to the back of the 
 theatre. If they were going to make a disturbance 
 that should injure Silver's success, he wished he 
 had them on a cannibal isle before the Christians 
 came, so he did. 
 
 Meanwhile there had been a muffled tuning of 
 instruments, and now a hidden orchestra, mostly 
 
 310 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 strings, began to whisper forth old songs from its 
 hiding-place. 
 
 "The Fairy Tempter." 
 
 "Twere Vain to Tell Thee All I Feel." 
 
 "The True Heart of Woman." 
 
 "Kind, Kind and Gentle She," etc., etc., all 
 woven in and out of each other with strictly mod- 
 ern harmonies and modulations and sounding won- 
 derfully eerie and sweet. 
 
 Then there was quite a long silence. 
 
 During this the theatre-party made its entrance. 
 They were mostly boys and girls in the late teens, 
 and seeing this, Henley's anger vanished. One of 
 the girls was so gentle and sweet and eager-looking 
 that she reminded him of Silver. And the boys 
 were nice clean gentlemanly boys. Any one could 
 see that. What a remarkable feat, he thought, to 
 get so many young people to a given place at a 
 given time. 
 
 Without warning, the orchestra literally leaped 
 from hiding with the most stirring and rollicking 
 of all the topsail-halyard chanties that have ever 
 ibeen made in the world. 
 
 "As I was walking down Paradise Street, 
 To me, way hay, blow the man down, 
 A flash looking Packet I chanced for to meet, 
 Give us some time to blow the man down. 
 
 3" 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I tailed her my flipper and took her in tow. 
 To me, way hay, blow the man down. 
 And yard-arm to yard-arm away we did go, 
 Give us some time to blow the man down." 
 
 And the curtain went up, and there drifted 
 across the footlights the smell of shipping and 
 wharfs and salt wind. . . . And Henley began to 
 shake and shiver inside. To the outward view, 
 however, he appeared pale and a little bored. 
 
 Until Silver's first entrance the audience was a 
 little puzzled. They liked the extraordinary salt 
 atmosphere that Hedden and his chemists had 
 managed to create. But either the acoustics 
 weren't very good or that little knot of seamen 
 weren't talking English. As a matter of fact, they 
 weren't. Three of them were talking frank, fra- 
 grant, utterly technical ship talk, and the two 
 others, the very brown seamen with gold rings in 
 their ears, were talking pure Portuguese, or it may 
 not have been pure; I don't know. Furthermore, 
 the old sea-captain, who looked as if he had 
 stepped out of a daguerreotype, puzzled them. 
 He is "discovered" at the edge of the wharf look- 
 ing through an old tarry telescope of canvas and 
 brass. He takes it down and wipes the lenses with 
 a red handkerchief. Then he lifts it to his eye 
 again. Then takes it down, shuts it, and starts 
 
 312 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 to walk away. He stumbles against something, 
 swears a round oath, and turns toward the au- 
 dience; and one look at his eyes shows that he is 
 stone blind. It was at this moment that one of 
 the jointless women said loudly to her escort: 
 "But what is the precise significance of it all ?" 
 
 And then the audience was puzzled by a sudden 
 soft disordered music as of harp-strings picked at 
 random, and was not happy until it began to be 
 whispered from seat to seat that that was the wind 
 in the rigging of the whale-ship whose blunt nose 
 and uptowering bowsprit occupied the centre of the 
 ship — the whale-ship whose figurehead comes to 
 life, later on in the act. And a small boy saw the 
 figurehead wriggle as if it itched, and so told his 
 mother in a shrill voice, and she told him in a still 
 shriller voice to keep quiet. 
 
 Then Silver came, and the audience forgot that 
 it had been puzzled and allowed to think for itself, 
 and forgave. "I'm so sorry," she said. And it 
 was right and fitting that she should say just that, 
 neither more nor less at that very moment, and in 
 precisely the way she said it. And I think that 
 voice pierced every heart in that theatre with its 
 sweetness and tenderness. The most critical eyes 
 softened. The most experienced playgoers settled 
 themselves to uncritical enjoyment. She had ap- . 
 
 313 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 peared, she had spoken once, she had cast a 
 spell. 
 
 As the act flashed along from humor to pathos, 
 to tenderness, to hints of the tragical, and from one 
 surprise to the next, it dawned upon Henley and 
 Waring that Silver was acting as she had never 
 acted before. From the charm and feeling and 
 poise that she had shown at rehearsals she had 
 soared upward to dizzy heights of mastery and 
 power. There was magic in her. 
 
 Even when the real live sea-gull lights on the 
 stage and flies off (left) with a dead mouse, the 
 audience was not as delighted as it should have 
 been. 
 
 They wanted Silver to come back to them. 
 Why the devil had the author taken her away even 
 for a minute ? Everybody knows that a live sea- 
 gull and a dead mouse aren't enough to fill a stage ! 
 
 The man didn't know his business ! 
 
 But she came back and stayed till the curtain 
 went down. And this was no sooner down than it 
 went up again. And so on, for many times; almost 
 like a ball bouncing. And at last Silver came out 
 all alone, covered with confusion now, and tingling 
 with delight. New York has not seen many such 
 ovations as the people whose hearts and minds she 
 had stormed now gave her. And she couldn't help 
 
 314 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 being so happy about it that for a while she forgot 
 all about Hedden and the wrong he was doing 
 Paul and almost everything else in the world that 
 made for trouble and uncertainty. 
 
 They loved her, all those people down there and 
 she loved them back. . . . 
 
 Henley and Waring, almost in tears with excite- 
 ment, delight, and relief, went out to smoke and to 
 listen. "What a treasure McKay Hedden has 
 discovered ! How like him ! And zvhat a play 
 he had written ! And wasn't that the image of 
 him ! Oh, no, of course it might be only a first 
 act; but he knew his business if anybody did ! 
 Who else in this world would have thought of 
 bringing that figurehead to life ? And yet it was 
 the only possible thing to do, a fool could see that ! " 
 
 The young men were absorbed in their eaves- 
 dropping. Somehow it did not offend them to 
 hear people's efforts at dissecting Silver's beauty 
 and charm into their component parts. 
 
 They found themselves liking people of repellent 
 aspect whom they could not have liked on any 
 other occasion or for any other reason. And from 
 Henley, even the praises of Hedden fell as water 
 from a duck's back. 
 
 "The most original playwright we have ever 
 produced," said one critic to a number. "And 
 
 315 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 he named as proof half a dozen inventions in that 
 first act for which Henley himself was entirely re^ 
 sponsible. 
 
 "Run?" said another critic. "It'll run like 
 shad in spring; but that isn't the question. Will 
 it ever stop running? Will the public ever let that 
 girl play anything else ? " 
 
 Henley nudged Waring. 
 
 "Didn't I tell you she had the right notion of 
 how to manage?" he asked boastfully. "Didn't 
 I tell you?" 
 
 "You did," said Waring. "And if after to- 
 night Hedden isn't ready and willing to eat out of 
 her hand, we'll have him committed for lunacy !" 
 
 A sharply whirring bell admonished them to 
 return to their seats for the second act. 
 
 316 
 
XLII 
 
 WHOEVER had the privilege of seeing the 
 first performance of "When My Ship 
 Comes In " was raving about it the next day. And 
 that is the kind of advertising that counts. Silver 
 Sands, after a late delightful supper-party given 
 in her honor by Sam Waring — a very large affair 
 in a beautiful private room, slept the sleep of happy 
 exhaustion and woke at eleven o'clock to find her- 
 self famous. Some of the papers said she was 
 great; others said that she wasn't exactly great but 
 that she was going to be. One critic talked about 
 the early days of Miss Ellen Terry, and made com- 
 parisons. Another recalled Miss Maude Adams 
 in the "Masked Ball." The line of Miss Sands's 
 lower jaw, and her intense reserve in a scene where 
 another might have discovered an excuse for 
 screams and violence, reminded the Morning 
 Gazette of Duse. The Chronotype made much 
 of her voice, inflection and accents. Everyday 
 headed its critique : " Something more that we owe 
 to New England. " 
 To say that the immense pile of newspapers on 
 317 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 her bed gave Silver Sands no pleasure would be 
 absurd. Your true artist, I know very well, dis- 
 dains criticism and is far above it — except when it 
 is pleasant. But Silver Sands wasn't all artist yet. 
 WTien she grew warmly loquacious, which was not 
 often, it was not about art, but about boats, and 
 swimming, and pretty clothes, and good times. 
 She was very young, she was very much in love, 
 and by the grace of God with a young man who 
 was also very much in love with her, and she had 
 made a very big hit and she was very happj'. 
 After herself, the papers gave the most praise to 
 Miss Reeves. She had outdone herself, thej' said. 
 One had learned to look to her for a competent, 
 finished but not precisel}- inspired performance. 
 It seemed that one had been wrong. One grace- 
 fully acknowledged it. Not a little of the pla3's 
 tremendous success was owing to her. One took 
 oflF one's hat to a rising star. If one knew an}^ing 
 at all, she would soon be given a play and a com- 
 pany of her own. She had earned them. 
 
 And all this praise of her friend added immensely 
 to Silver's enjoyment of the morning papers. 
 
 She had read about three criticisms when she 
 leaped out of bed, ran to Miss Reeves's room and 
 waked her with jovous alarms. 
 
 "Mabel! Mabel!" she cried. "Wake up. 
 <5i8 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 We've made an awful hit. You've made an awful 
 hit and I've made an awful hit. Come into my 
 room and read the papers. Paul's sent 'em all in, 
 all the papers in the world." 
 
 It was a newsy morning. In southern Europe a 
 potentate had been assassinated in mediaeval fash- 
 ion. A couple of Americans had been butchered 
 in Mexico. Lives had been lost in a Chicago 
 fire. The administration had thought up some- 
 thing new and splendid, properly calculated to 
 complete the ruin of business — and what was 
 all this to Mabel Reeves and to Silver Sands ? 
 With jubilant cries they pored over the papers un- 
 til they came to the dramatic reviews, and among 
 these there would be only the one that interested 
 them the least bit in the world. If the entire popu- 
 lation of China had been boiled in oil overnight 
 those selfish girls wouldn't have cared a hang. 
 
 "You're making up as you go along. Does he 
 really say that — Silver ? Really ? " 
 
 " Here, read it yourself. You've got your elbow 
 on the Sun. I want the Sun. The Sun ! The 
 Sun!" Did she read that fulminating editorial 
 about the secretary of state } And what if he 
 should die .? One could at least convert him into 
 glue. Or does one only make glue from horses ? 
 . . . No, she skipped that. 
 
 319 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Oh, Mabel, here's another says I've got a chin 
 like Duse. Did you ever see Duse ? What sort 
 of a chin has she got ? Is it a nice sort of a chin to 
 have?" 
 
 Miss Reev» answered with a shout of joy. 
 *'This man says: 'Not only that, but she looked as 
 pretty as a picture, and much too young to be out 
 so late.' — ^That's me — me — ^me!" 
 
 And they read and read aloud, to themselves, 
 both at once, and they commented and exulted, 
 and presently they got into such high spirits that 
 they began to illustrate the criticisms for each 
 other's benefit; as: "In this scene Miss Sands 
 showed infinite reserve." And here Silver thrust 
 her chin very far forward (to resemble Duse) and 
 turned up her nose very high to indicate reserve, 
 and wrapped herself so tightly in her own arms 
 that Mabel Reeves almost died of laughing. 
 
 And after they had had enough buffoonery to 
 last them all day, and had read all the criticisms 
 more than once, and not a line of anything else, 
 they deigned to remember that even the most 
 famous persons bathe, and brush their teeth, and 
 dress to go out, and do their hair, and eat breakfast. 
 
 320 
 
XLIII 
 
 THE four young people had lunch at their 
 favorite restaurant. Silver and Mabel, hav- 
 ing just breakfasted, could not, of course, eat 
 anything. But they fooled with grapefruit and 
 turned two very modest helpings of salad upside 
 down with their forks. This lack of appetite and 
 the fact that almost everybody in the room spent 
 seven-eighths of the time looking at them, did not, 
 however, make them unhappy. Silver's good 
 looks had always attracted attention. She was so 
 used to this that she no longer noticed it. But to- 
 day the attention which she attracted could not 
 pass unnoticed. And she was amused by it and 
 elated. 
 
 Head waiters could be seen bending discreetly 
 forward from the waist, cocking alert bird-like 
 heads to one side and discreetly answering in- 
 discreet questions. Who was that young lady 
 that everybody was looking at ? That was the 
 famous Miss Silver Sands. Dear me, he didn't 
 mean to say so ! And which of the gentlemen was 
 her husband ? She was not married. Heavens ! 
 Would he be so good as to ask the man in the office 
 
 321 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 to telephone for two seats for to-night, down in 
 front on an aisle ? He was very sorry, unless from 
 a speculator, at an enormous premium, there were 
 no seats to be had. The theatre had been sold out 
 at an early hour that morning, sold out for that 
 night — for many nights, etc., etc. 
 
 "What does being famous feel like?" Henley 
 asked her. 
 
 "It feels like being on top of a high mountain, no 
 hat on your head, and the wind blowing." 
 
 " But you've never been on top of a high moun- 
 tain. Where she comes from — " he explained to 
 the others, "the highest thing is a lighthouse, and 
 the next highest is an ant-heap." 
 
 "Just the same," said Silver, "that's the way it 
 feels. Ask Mabel." 
 
 "Oh, but I'm not famous." 
 
 "We'll get Mr. Hedden to introduce some 
 marines in the last act and you can make that 
 statement to them. " 
 
 "Were you frightened at any time?" Waring 
 asked. "You said you were going to be." 
 
 "I was frightened when I had to sing," said 
 Silver. "I tried to try the song over while I was 
 powdering my nose, and I couldn't make a sound. 
 I couldn't do anything but swallow. It was aw- 
 ful." 
 
 322 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Have you seen Hedden since last night ?" 
 
 "Yes. He wanted us to have lunch with him. 
 But I think he was pleased when we said we 
 couldn't." 
 
 "I think," said Mabel, "that he wanted to 
 lunch at the Players — all by himself. So that his 
 fellow managers and play-writers could have a 
 good look at him, and where later, when they in- 
 sisted upon knowing, he could tell them just how 
 he came to write the play. " 
 
 She looked directly at Henley. 
 
 " How did you come to write it ? " she asked. 
 
 "If Hedden has borrowed something," said 
 Henley gravely, " and either he has or all the laws 
 of coincidence have been put out of business, he 
 deserves great mental, if not moral, credit. As it 
 stands it's a rattling good play. And I'm quite 
 ready to take off my hat to one side of the man, 
 while I kick the other. " 
 
 "When you've got your hat off," said Waring, 
 "I'll be very glad to hold it for you while you do 
 the kicking. Only if I do, you must promise not 
 to take the shoe off your kicking foot. " 
 
 Waring had been unusually silent. And this 
 was his first long speech. 
 
 "Please," said Silver, "don't let's talk about 
 him. Couldn't Mabel and I just be allowed for 
 
 323 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 one day, maybe two days, to think about the hit 
 we've made and nothing else ?" 
 
 She pushed back her chair a little. 
 
 "We're through, aren't we?" she asked gayly. 
 "Because Paul is going to drive me to Riverside 
 and we're to walk back. I'm to be exercised like 
 ahorse. As if being famous wasn't enough to 
 keep one fit. Want to come ?" 
 
 The invitation was honest. But Mabel Reeves 
 and Waring were unanimous in declining. 
 
 "Don't worry about us !" said Waring manfully. 
 "You're not the only young couple in New YorL 
 Others when left to themselves don't find time 
 hanging heavily on their hands. Do they ?" 
 
 He put the question directly to Miss Reeves, 
 but she did not give him the playfully enthusiastic 
 answer which his intonation called for. Instead, 
 she smiled, a little vaguely, a little as if it hurt her 
 perhaps, and nodded. 
 
 "Why, " she asked him a little later, having seen 
 Silver and Henley into a taxi and turned slowly 
 toward the Avenue, "do you always pretend when 
 they are around, that we're just another couple? 
 You play about a lot with me, and you're sweet 
 to me, but your heart is with her all the time. 
 And I don't think you ought to joke about 
 things." 
 
 324 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 They reached the corner of that street and 
 Fifth Avenue. 
 
 "Up or down ?" asked Waring. 
 
 "Home, I think," she said. "It's blowing too 
 hard to be any fun walking. " 
 
 He lifted the forefinger of his right hand and 
 secured a taxi. 
 
 "May I come, too?" 
 
 "Do you want to?" 
 
 "Ofcourseldo." 
 
 He sat down beside her and closed the door. 
 
 "Listen," he said, "I'm no good. I can't stick 
 to anything. When I said that others left to them- 
 selves didn't find time hanging heavily, I spoke for 
 myself and I meant it. Do you know that if you 
 try very hard not to want a thing, all of a sudden 
 you stop wanting it ?" 
 
 "Do you?" 
 
 "Yes, and you get to wanting something else." 
 
 He blushed a little and hung his head. 
 
 "I've always wanted some girl or other," he 
 said, "and I've always been thrown down, and 
 had to stop wanting. My father guessed about 
 Silver, seein' how glum I was getting. And I told 
 him it wasn't the first time I'd been miserable 
 about a girl and I hoped to heaven it wouldn't be 
 the last." 
 
 32s 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Do you mean — ^that you're not in love with 
 Silver any more?" 
 
 "It would have had to stop some time. A 
 man might be in love with his own girl all 
 his life, but not with somebody else's g;irl. I 
 wanted and wanted to stop loving her. And I've 
 stopped. " 
 
 Miss Reeves laughed, but not mirthfully. 
 
 "Here we are," she said. 
 
 "Do I come up or do I go away ?" 
 
 "You come up if you want to, and if you don't, 
 you don't. " 
 
 "I hoped you were interested in what I was 
 saying and wanted me to go on. " 
 
 "Well," she said, "to be quite honest, I do." 
 
 So he went up with her to the pretty little draw- 
 ing-room which she shared with Silver, and there 
 seated himself in a narrow window-seat between 
 two white muslin curtains which he began at once 
 to twist and muss. 
 
 "Did it ever strike you ?" he said, "that you and 
 I get along first-rate together ? Do you hke being 
 with me ? I love being with you. And last night 
 I was so worried and frightened for fear you 
 wouldn't do yourself justice, I was almost as bad 
 as Paul was about Silver. 
 
 "And afterward, when it was all over, I was so 
 326 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 proud of you. Because I've always said you had 
 it in you ! Haven't I ?" 
 
 "Yes," she said, "always. And that's been one 
 of the things that's kept me trying. " 
 
 "Honestly?" 
 
 "Honestly." 
 
 "And now Hedden will be wanting to star you. 
 Will you stand for it ? " 
 
 "Of course. Standing for things is my bread 
 and butter. " 
 
 " Do you like acting any better now that you've 
 made a big hit?" 
 
 "Yes, of course. But not enough." 
 
 "You'd do most anything if you could quit, 
 wouldn't you ? " 
 
 She nodded and said: 
 
 "Almost anything." 
 
 " But you wouldn't many a rich man you didn't 
 love?" 
 
 "I said 'almost' anything. I didn't say 'abso- 
 lutely everything', did I ?" 
 
 "But suppose he was a nice sort of fellow, whom 
 you'd always liked in a sort of way. And suppose 
 he was very crazy about you ?" 
 
 At this moment the mushn curtains came down, 
 brass rod and all. Waring disentangled himself 
 from the wreck. 
 
 327 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "That proves I'm nervous I" he exclaimed. 
 "But just the same there's something I vant to 
 say and I'm going to say it." 
 
 He came toward her, a kind of playful liquid fire 
 in his eyes. 
 
 "Look here," he said, "ever since I was a kiddie, 
 I've wanted some girl or other, and now it's you. 
 It came over me last night like a thunderclap. 
 I've loved you ever since you tied the blind cap- 
 tain's necktie for him after he'd been knocked 
 down and run over. And you may think I'm just 
 a faithless, no-account person — ^but if I knew you 
 were going to belong to me, then I could love you 
 all I wanted to and never stop. I've stopped 
 lovin' people, not because I'm fickle, but because 
 I had to stop. It's up to you, Mabel." 
 
 "And I'm to say whether I'll take a love that's 
 lasted since last night, and that belonged to lots of 
 other girls before me " 
 
 "Only theoretically, Mabel. Never practically. 
 That makes a difference, doesn't it ?" 
 
 "Not to me," she said. 
 
 "Don't be mean, Mabel!" 
 
 "Mean? I'm not mean. I'm telling the truth. 
 It doesn't make any diff^erence to me how many 
 girls you've loved if you love me now. But do 
 you? Sure?" 
 
 328 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "You just bet I do," he said, and came closer. 
 " It began when you tied that poor blind captain's 
 necktie for him, and it's lasted ever since, and if 
 you'll only make it right, it'll last always. " 
 
 "Sam," she said, "have you never guessed that 
 I've always been in love with you ?" 
 
 "You— with me ? Oh, for God's sake !" 
 
 And he caught her, half sobbing, half laughing, 
 in his strong arms, and hugged her for all she was 
 worth. 
 
 329 
 
XLIV 
 
 MEANWHILE Captain Sands, unknown to 
 Silver, had received long telegrams from 
 Henley and Waring telling him of his daughter's 
 success. And he and his wife, oblivious of the fear 
 that away from Hanleytown they might be recog- 
 nized, and the captain held on a charge of mur- 
 der for a very justifiable and partially accidental 
 homicide, were on their way to New York. 
 
 And their visit was to be a surprise to Silver. 
 Henley and Waring had arranged everything. The 
 proud parents should see a performance of the 
 play. And Silver should know nothing of their 
 presence in New York until she left the theatre and 
 found them waiting in her taxicab. That cab 
 would proceed at once to a famous supper place, 
 where the gentlemen and Miss Reeves, having as 
 usual secured an excellent table by bribery, would 
 meet them. 
 
 And all these secret plans were carried out with- 
 out a hitch. Those who had been moved by Silver 
 earlier in the evening and had gone away saying 
 that charm and delightfulness could go no further, 
 should have seen her, when she stepped into what 
 
 330 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 she supposed was an empty taxicab and found her 
 father and mother. These were already dissolved 
 into tears of joy, and at once Silver with the most 
 loving little exclamations and inarticulations 
 melted too. And they reached for her as two fond 
 old bears may be supposed to reach for a long-lost 
 cub, and she went down between them and was 
 kissed and pawed and praised. And every now 
 and then Captain Sands would say as gruffly as he 
 could : 
 
 "We thought we'd just run down and see the 
 show. " 
 
 There was in the ladies' dressing-room at the 
 famous supper place a very clever maid who could 
 make a dishevelled old woman and a dishevelled 
 young beauty look like new. And Miss Reeves 
 was there to help. 
 
 As for Captain Sands, that pseudo-navigator 
 found himself taken in hand by two good-natured 
 Brummels who conducted him first to a pair of 
 hair-brushes, and then to a pair of cocktails. 
 
 The party made a triumphant entry into the 
 supper room. I say triumphant, for many girl« 
 would have hesitated at publicly claiming Cap- 
 tain and Mrs. Sands for parents. They were out of 
 date, they were not smart, and they were red with 
 excitement and pleasure and awkwardness and em- 
 
 331 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 barrassment. But Silver did not think of such 
 things. She only thought how happy she was to 
 have them with her, and how much she loved 
 everybody who had had a hand in arranging the 
 surprise for her. The long passage to their table, 
 continually interrupted by men jumping to their 
 feet to exchange friendly words with her, and by 
 her own habit of stopping to speak to every 
 woman who had ever spoken kindly to her was not 
 an ordeal. Whenever she had a chance she intro- 
 duced her friends to her father and mother, and 
 she so shone with joy and pride that she resembled 
 a child on its way to a Christmas tree. 
 
 It began as a supper party, and it ended in the 
 small hours as a reception. Men and women 
 came and went but mostly stayed. The table, 
 magiced by waiters, grew larger and larger. Hed- 
 den, brazen as brass, insinuated himself between 
 Captain and Mrs. Sands, and made himself charm- 
 ing. Van Brunt came and brought a friend, Nellie 
 Michelin, dressed a little like a queen in an opera; 
 and hps were loosened and pleasant, mirthful 
 speech flowed. 
 
 Not even Hedden's presence worried Silver. 
 Her debts, her one-sided contract with him, his 
 theft of the play, the imminent and disagreeable 
 interview in which she hoped once for all to settle 
 
 332 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 these matters, had vanished even from the back 
 of her mind, and she was allowed to love the mo- 
 ments even in their swift passing. 
 
 Silver could not put her parents up for the night. 
 But she put them up till four in the morning, when 
 Henley and Waring drove them to their hotel. 
 
 "Mum," said the now sleepy Captain Sands, 
 "are we starting back for Hanleytown — to-day ?" 
 
 "No, we're not," she said. "There's McKay 
 Hedden's lunch for us to-morrow, and Paul's sup- 
 per, he wouldn't let me off unless I called him 
 Paul, and you just bet your bottom dollar I'm a- 
 going to see Silver act again and then some !" 
 
 "Mum," he said, his voice trembling with 
 eagerness, "if it costs us our bottom dollar let's 
 stay — a week ! " 
 
 Mrs. Sands hurled herself upon her husband's 
 breast and clung to him. 
 
 333 
 
XLV 
 
 THERE was a set look about Silver's face 
 which told McKay Hedden that she was 
 very much in earnest about something. The 
 immense success of "When My Ship Comes In" 
 and the lavish tributes to his genius both from 
 subsidized and independent newspapers had lulled 
 him into a blissful security. The play was going 
 to have a record run and he was going to be once 
 more the most enviable and envied of managers. 
 Silver's rebellion had been short-lived. She was 
 high spirited, he told himself, but not tenacious. 
 Furthermore, she had tasted that most pernicious 
 of habit makers — success. And he assured himself 
 that the ovation of five evening and one afternoon 
 performances must have poisoned her sense of 
 right and wrong. To find that he had misjudged 
 her came then as a great shock. 
 
 "It is a success, isn't it ?" she began. 
 
 "It is the greatest success that New York has 
 seen in ten years, and you, my dear Silver, are — 
 well, I just worship the ground that your feet make 
 artistic merely by stepping on it. And you seem 
 
 334 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 to have inspired a whole company of experienced 
 actors to play better than they ever played be- 
 fore." 
 
 "Will it make lots of money for you?" Silver 
 asked. "But you needn't say, because people 
 who know about such things have told me, and I 
 know that it will. So couldn't you do now what 
 I asked you to the other day ?" 
 
 "And what was that?" 
 
 "I'm sure you haven't forgotten," said Silver 
 gently, "but I'm to ask more now. I've talked 
 with my friends, and they sent out for a lawyer, 
 and we told him all about the play, and how much 
 Mr. Henley had had to do with it, and all about 
 my wretched extravagance, and how you had 
 seemed to be so good to me about money and all 
 about my contract and how you said it couldn't 
 be broken because of your company, but that you 
 personally would see that I didn't suffer. . . . 
 Oh!" she exclaimed, "according to the lawyer 
 I've made an awful mess of things, through igno- 
 rance and foolishness and through believing that 
 everybody was kind and good. But do you know 
 what the lawyer said, Mr. Hedden — about you? 
 He just laughed and said ' So Hedden's been up to 
 his old tricks again!' He said that you trapped 
 me and netted me, and had not given me a fair 
 
 335 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 deal, and," she finished breathlessly, "he advised 
 me to give you till Monday to make everything 
 right, and if you wouldn't, not to make any more 
 money for you. He said he wouldn't bother to 
 take the case into court. So I'll play to-night 
 and you'll have all Sunday to make up your 
 mind, and if you won't do what's right, why 
 then I won't act any more and neither will Miss 
 Reeves. " 
 
 "What in the devil," cried Hedden, "has she 
 got to do with it?" 
 
 "She's a friend of Mr. Henley's and she's a 
 friend of mine and she's going to marry Mr. War- 
 ing " 
 
 "What do you want me to do ?" said Hedden 
 shrilly, "to give Henley credit on the programme 
 for a play he didn't write ? To let you ofF a lot of 
 money that you owe me ? I've got your notes for 
 every cent of it — do you know that ? " 
 
 "Yes, I know. And you'll be paid." 
 
 "Oh, you've arranged that, too." 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "I suppose this everlasting Henley has struck 
 it rich." 
 
 "That's just it," said Silver. 
 
 " Do you know what you're mixed up in, Silver ? 
 Blackmail ! This is blackmail. " 
 
 336 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Nonsense," said Silver. "It isn't anything of 
 the kind, and you know it." 
 
 "You've got no gratitude in you. My God, 
 when I think how I labored over you, taught you 
 step by step. " 
 
 "I'm grateful for many things, Mr. Hedden. 
 And about Mr. Henley's share in the play and the 
 contract and all that, I'm only sorry and I dare say 
 I'd have let things drift along if there had been 
 nothing else. But you've done one thing that I 
 can't forgive. One despicable thing. One day 
 there was a letter for me at the Hanleytown post- 
 office. You called for the mail, and I never got 
 that letter. I can't forgive that. . . . Please 
 don't protest and say you didn't . . . it's no use. 
 The postmaster remembers perfectly well. I tried 
 to stand up for you and believe in you till I learned 
 about that, and — and so you have till Monday 
 morning." She finished somewhat lamely. There 
 was a long silence. Then Hedden cried: 
 
 "I did take that letter. I loved you. I love 
 you. And all is fair in love and war. " 
 
 Silver shook her head. 
 
 "Only what is fair in hatred and peace," she 
 said, "or at any other time, is fair in love and war. 
 There aren't any exceptions at all." 
 
 At this moment the telephone rang and Hedden 
 337 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 seized the receiver with a kind of impatient 
 cage. 
 
 "Mrs. Michelin wants to see me? Tell her I 
 don't want to see her." 
 
 He was about to hang up the receiver. 
 
 "Wait !" he cried. "Let her come up at once. 
 She wants money. I remember now. She shall 
 have it. " 
 
 "So," Silver repeated, "you have till Monday 
 to think things over." 
 
 "You're giving me a rotten deal. Silver." 
 
 "Nonsense. I am giving you a chance to act 
 like a real man. And if you will act like a real man, 
 why Mabel Reeves and I will keep on doing our 
 kvel best until the play dies a natural death. " 
 
 "Silver, one minute " 
 
 But she had gone, and he could hear her ex- 
 changing greetings with Nellie Michelin in the hall. 
 A moment later, the latter, harassed and tired, 
 swept into the room. 
 
 "Mac," she said, "if I can't raise fifteen hundred 
 they'll put me in jail." 
 
 "People don't go to jail for debt." 
 
 " If I can't stop being hounded and harassed I'll 
 just about cut my throat one of these days. Won't 
 you please help me, Mac ? You're making loads 
 of money out of your new play, and it don't seem 
 
 338 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 fair when I've worked so hard and faithfully I 
 should be miserable all the time — all the time — 
 about money." 
 
 He smiled pleasantly. 
 
 "Nellie," he said, "I'll help you this time— if 
 you'll help me. I'm in a hole, too. How much 
 do you owe altogether?" 
 
 She named a sum that caused him to blink and 
 frown. Nevertheless, he reached for his check- 
 book and began to write in it. When he had 
 finished he tore out the check and showed it to her. 
 
 "Oh, Mac 1" she cried, reaching for it, "you're a 
 darling ! " 
 
 He did not at once give her the check. 
 
 "Now," he said, "I've written something for 
 you and I want you to write something for 
 me." 
 
 "One of those tiresome notes." 
 
 "A different kind of a note, two notes. No, 
 take a sheet that hasn't the ofl&ce heading. And 
 I want one other thing. " 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 "The use of your apartment for twenty-four 
 hours. " 
 
 This request did not seem pleasant to her. She 
 looked at him a little pityingly, a little contemp- 
 tuously, but she said: "All right. If you must." 
 
 339 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "This is the first note," he dictated and she 
 wrote: 
 
 "You Dear Thing: 
 
 "Mac has just given me a lot of money. He says 
 I am to thank you for softening his heart. I do a 
 million times. God bless you. 
 
 " Nellie Michelin." 
 
 "Put in a few crosses for kisses," said Hedden 
 grimly, " and confess that the whole note is charac- 
 teristic. Now write Silver's name on the envelope, 
 no address." 
 
 Mrs. Michelin did this and was about to fold the 
 note and seal it in the envelope, when Hedden, 
 somewhat roughly snatched it away, and placed 
 another sheet before her. 
 
 "Now write," he said, "write this: If you 
 have any friendship for me, please come to my 
 flat at once. I am in terrible trouble and must 
 see you. Please, please do this for me. 
 
 "Nellie Michelin." 
 
 "Who's that to go to ?" asked Mrs. Michelin in 
 a hard knowing voice. 
 
 • "Oh," he said carelessly, "you wouldn't re- 
 member. You've befriended a good many people 
 in your time. " 
 
 This was true. In her big-hearted foolish way 
 340 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 Nellie Michelin had been always lending and lend- 
 ing to those who were even less fortunate than she 
 was. 
 
 "It's a dirty sort of trap, Mac." 
 
 "It's a biggish sort of check, Nellie. And don't 
 fret. There won't be any row. I give you my 
 word. It's only that I've got to see a certain 
 person without interruption. This isn't a trap for 
 innocence. I'm no spider and she's no fly. It's 
 business. " 
 
 " I wish I could believe you. " 
 
 "Shall I tear up this check?" 
 
 She took the check and burst into foolish tears. 
 
 When at last she had gone, McKay Hedden 
 took the second note and placed it in the envelope 
 addressed to Silver Sands. The first note he 
 merely tore across and across and tossed into a 
 waste-paper basket. 
 
 Nellie Michelin was a very slow thinker. But 
 she was very persistent. All day as she drove 
 about town settling old bills and contracting new 
 ones, she kept thinking. And about half past five 
 her long concentration began to be rewarded with 
 a little gleam of light. 
 
 She drove to her apartment and told her maid 
 that if she wished she could go to Brooklyn and 
 spend the night with her family. 
 
 341 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "I shan't need you," said Mrs. Michelin, "be- 
 cause after the theatre, I am going to the country 
 with the McTavitts' for over Sunday. You may 
 pack my bag and small steamer trunk before you 
 
 go." 
 
 Mrs. Michelin's maid was delighted. She was 
 always longing for the delights of home life in 
 Brooklyn. Her family consisted of a sportily 
 dressed young clerk in the dry-goods way, and she 
 used to come back from the pies like mother used 
 to make smelling vaguely of beer. 
 
 342 
 
XLVI 
 
 THE note was handed to Silver during the 
 last intermission. She had just taken a cur- 
 tain call; she read the note to a loud accompani- 
 ment of handclapping, and once more stepped 
 shyly and sweetly before the curtain to thank her 
 admirers for their enthusiasm. 
 
 Then she ran for her dressing-room to make her 
 last change; on the way she passed McKay Hed- 
 den. There was a peculiar smile on his face, 
 nervous and triumphant. 
 
 "You think I'll come to time, Monday," he 
 seemed to say, "but I won't, and you will. " 
 
 For once she felt afraid of him. 
 
 While she was changing an usher brought her a 
 note from Henley. He couldn't see her right after 
 the performance, he said, something very im- 
 portant had turned up which he and Sam must 
 attend to. He would see her the first thing in the 
 morning, though, and explain. 
 
 So her poor little head was full of things, of 
 Nellie Michelin's sudden trouble and what it could 
 be, of that sinister terrible triumphant look in 
 
 343 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Hedden's eyes, and of Henley finding something 
 more important than waiting for her after the play 
 and taking her to supper. For all that, she gave 
 during that long last act, bristhng with emotions, 
 the most charming and moving performance she 
 had yet given, and she had to go before the cur- 
 tain so many times that when they finally let her 
 off there was hardly anybody left behind the scenes 
 but her maid and the electrician. Mabel Reeves 
 had not waited to speak to her or left any message. 
 
 Not long after Silver rang the bell of NeUie 
 Michelin's front door. The door opened and Sil- 
 ver stepped into the famiUar little mirrored halL 
 She could not at once see who had opened the door 
 for her. 
 
 It was McKay Hedden. 
 
 "I had a note from Nellie asking me to come," 
 said Silver, not pleased at seeing Hedden, "where 
 is she?" 
 
 "She wants us to wait," said Hedden. And he 
 closed the door. 
 
 "She asked you to come, too?" 
 
 "Here I am." 
 
 "What does she want ?" 
 
 "Didn't she teU you?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "Nor me." 
 
 344 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Well," said Silver, a little pettishly, "I sup- 
 pose we must wait." 
 
 And she walked into the little drawing-room up- 
 on which Mrs. Michelin had spent so much money, 
 in which she wrote so many notes, telephoned so 
 often, and begun so many pieces on the piano- 
 forte. There was a bright fire burning. 
 
 "I'd like a glass of water," said Silver. "Will 
 you please ring?" 
 
 Hedden shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "There is no one to answer the bell," he said, 
 and he closed the door by which they had entered 
 the room. 
 
 "Why shut the door ?" asked Silver. 
 
 He made no answer, but stood looking at her 
 and trying to smile. His obvious nervousness was 
 contagious. 
 
 "If it was so important for Nellie to see me," 
 said Silver, "she ought to have been here. It's 
 late and I'm tired. I think I won't wait any 
 longer. " 
 
 "Oh, you'd better wait a little while," said 
 Hedden, "I want to talk to you about that ulti- 
 matum of yours." 
 
 "Yes ?" said Silver. 
 
 "It's no good. Silver," he said, "no good. You 
 know what Mahomet did about the mountain ? I 
 
 34S 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 find that I can't meet your wishes, and so I have 
 decided that you must meet mine." 
 
 He advanced a step toward her. She stood with 
 her back to the fire, her hands behind her. She 
 looked very tall, for her, and a little pale and 
 fragile. 
 
 "That is a foolish speech," she said. 
 
 "No, it isn't. Silver. New York is a very large 
 city and none of your friends knows where you are 
 at this minute. I watched you from the time you 
 received Nellie's note until you left the theatre. 
 You told no one where you were going. I arrived 
 here only a mintue or two ahead of you. And, " 
 he concluded, rubbing his hands as if he was wash- 
 ing them, "here we are. " 
 
 Silver was frightened, but she did not show it. 
 
 "What difference does it make," she said, 
 "whether my friends know where I am or not. / 
 know. And I know where I am going. " 
 
 She started for the door, but Hedden blocked 
 the way. 
 
 "I wouldn't go if I were you, " he said. " Don't 
 be afraid. I won't touch you. I want you to 
 listen to what I have to say calmly. Then, if you 
 still want to go, I won't try to detain you. But 
 you won't want to go." 
 
 " I don't want to listen to you, " said Silver. 
 346 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 "You'd better. Not for your own sake, per- 
 haps, but for your father's." 
 
 "What has he to do with this ?" 
 
 " Before you were born, Silver, your father killed 
 a man — murdered him. The police have been 
 looking for him ever since. I know where he is. " 
 
 "And you," she said, "are such an unmitigated 
 liar that " 
 
 He stepped humbly to one side, and waved his 
 hand toward the door. 
 
 "While you are waiting for the elevator," he 
 said, "I shall be telephoning to the Central 
 Office." 
 
 She came close to him, and he shrank from her a 
 little, still he met her blazing look without flinch- 
 ing, and with a sudden dreadful shrinking of her 
 heart, she knew that for once he had not lied. 
 
 "It accounts, doesn't it," he said, "for the way 
 he's clung to Hanleytown these many years, never 
 venturing as far as the mainland for fear of being 
 taken?" 
 
 And it did account for many things, which 
 hitherto had never needed to be accounted for. 
 And as these things passed in review through her 
 mind, one after another, she was silent, and almost 
 oblivious of her whereabouts and of Hedden's 
 threatening presence. At last she spoke. 
 
 347 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "What," she said, "must I do, to keep you from 
 telling?" 
 
 "Well, at least," he said, "you must stay here 
 a while and talk it over with me. " 
 
 "You have a piece of knowledge that you wish 
 to sell, isn't that it?" She drew a long breath. 
 "WeU, how much ?" 
 
 "A great deal. Silver." 
 
 "I know that. How much?" 
 
 "All that you have to give. Silver: Faith, 
 constancy, obedience — ^love. " 
 
 She appeared to consider this price which she 
 was to pay as if it were so many dollars and cents. 
 
 "You must promise to marry me," he said, 
 "and you must make that promise good within 
 twenty-four hours. And in the meanwhile — you 
 see if I let you go you would tell your father and 
 give him a chance to get out of the country, and 
 then you would go back on your promise — so in the 
 meanwhile we — ^we mustn't separate. " 
 
 If he had known her better he would have seen 
 a storm gathering in her eyes. She backed slowly 
 toward the fire, as if she were cold. 
 
 "Nobody need know for a time that we were 
 married," said Hedden. "Nobody need ever know 
 that we were here together to-night." 
 
 He came slowly toward her. 
 348 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 "Silver," he pleaded, "I will be a good husband 
 to you. " 
 
 "How could you be," she said gently, "you 
 haven't even been a good friend. You're not even 
 a good man. And I couldn't be a good wife to 
 you. I couldn't possibly give you faith, con- 
 stancy, obedience, and love. " Her voice rose and 
 strengthened. "I could only," she said, "give 
 you possession and — contempt." 
 
 She turned her back on him, and bending over 
 deliberately as if to rearrange the logs, caught up a 
 heavy brass poker and once more, swift as thought, 
 faced him. 
 
 Her eyes were blazing with outrage and fury. 
 He shrank from them. 
 
 "The only thing," she said, "to do with a thing 
 like you is to kill it. If you think you've trapped 
 a weak, fainting sort of girl, you've made a sad mis- 
 take. You've trapped a girl who's spent her life 
 swimming and boating and doing chores, and 
 wishing she was a boy so she could wrestle and 
 fight " 
 
 McKay Hedden's left elbow shot up to guard 
 his head, and the poker descended with an awful 
 despairing force apon his funny-bone. The man 
 screamed aloud and went down in a writhing heap 
 like a spider touched by fire. 
 
 349 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 Death itself is seldom so painful as a blow on the 
 funny-bone. McKay Hedden was as completely 
 out of the combat as if he had been shot through 
 the heart. Nevertheless, in the added fury which 
 a successful blow begets, the meek and gentle 
 Silver Sands was for killing him. 
 
 She felt herself caught from behind in two strong 
 gentle arms. Without even turning her head, she 
 knew that they belonged to Henley. But she did 
 turn her head and buried it on his breast and began 
 to sob. 
 
 The folding doors into the little dining-room 
 stood wide open. Sam Waring, too, had come 
 through them and he stood beside the writhing 
 form of the manager and looked down on it, 
 sternly, very sternly but also with amusement. 
 
 After a little he turned to the others; Silver had 
 stopped sobbing, and was beginning to wonder 
 where the deliverers had sprung from. 
 
 Waring smiled at her, in his happy, good-natured 
 way. 
 
 "You got a note from Mrs. Michelin, Silver?" 
 
 She nodded. 
 
 "She was tricked into writing it; but after 
 thinking it out for some time she actually smelled 
 a rat, bless her, and she told Paul and me to 
 come here and look out for a squall. She gave 
 
 35° 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 us her own latch-key and here we are, bless 
 us!" 
 
 "Did you hear what he said ?" cried Silver, her 
 suddenly vanished rage suddenly returning. 
 
 "We did," said Waring, and he added: "Hold 
 her tight, Paul — very tight. She's a suffragette. " 
 
 Silver burst out laughing. 
 
 "Mabel's waiting down-stairs," said Waring, 
 "to give the affair tone and respectability." He 
 turned to Hedden. 
 
 "For heaven's sake," he said, "can't you stop 
 moaning and writhing ? Don't you realize that 
 Henley and I are going to take you to my own 
 private rooms in my father's house and give you 
 something to cry for ? Save your tears, man, 
 you'll need 'em later. " 
 
 "She's broken my arm," cried Hedden with a 
 sudden squeal of pain. "Damn her !" 
 
 Waring simply kicked him, not hard, but in the 
 right place, and reaching down pulled him to his 
 feet, took one of his hands and pulled it through 
 ithe crook of his arm, took his little finger and 
 doubled it, the old schoolboy trick, and told him 
 to pull himself together and behave himself. 
 
 351 
 
XLVII 
 
 THE elevator boy must have thought that 
 Waring and Hedden were affectionate 
 friends. For they entered the elevator arm in 
 arm, so remained during its svrift descent, and so 
 left it. 
 
 "Does that hurt?" inquired Waring softly, 
 doubling Hedden's little finger sharply upon itself. 
 "Well, if there is a policeman outside the building 
 and you start anything, I'll break your finger dead 
 off. . . . Now, then, we'll just step into this 
 second cab and wait at my house for Henley. 
 He's going to see the ladies home." 
 
 "Let go my finger, " said Hedden in a voice con- 
 vulsed with rage and fear. 
 
 " Shut up, " said Waring, and kept his subduing 
 
 grip- 
 
 "Good night, Mabel," he called to Miss Reeves. 
 "Good night. Silver. Sorry I can't shake hands. 
 See you in the morning, and all will be well. 
 Don't be long, Paul." 
 
 "I won't," said Henley briefly and grimly. 
 
 A moment later the cab containing Hedden 
 352 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 and his captor was speeding toward the Warings' 
 great house. 
 
 "What are you going to do with me?" gasped 
 Hedden. 
 
 "I think it will be pleasanter for you not to 
 know, " said Waring. 
 
 They reached the house, and Hedden was con- 
 ducted to Sam Waring's very own library and 
 workroom annex on the top floor. Waring re- 
 leased the manager's little finger and closed the 
 door. 
 
 The room was brightly lighted, and cheerful in 
 every way, but no smile of comfort or well-being 
 appeared on Hedden's face. He was badly scared. 
 
 "What do you think you're going to do?" he 
 said, with a lame effort at bluster. 
 
 " I don't think, " said Waring, " I know. Mean- 
 while till Henley comes, you'd better sit down and 
 rest. You'll need all your strength. He's a ter- 
 rible fellow when he's roused, and he knows all 
 the tricks." 
 
 Hedden sank into a chair, sheer panic, rather 
 than the wish to rest, having loosened knees. And 
 his imagination, for he had that, we must give him 
 credit, began to torture him. He remembered a 
 passage in Kipling — two sane civilized Englishmen 
 tying a wicked man to a bedstead and then heating 
 
 353 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 a pair of gun-barrels till they were red hot. What 
 they did then could not be printed. ... In one 
 corner of the room Hedden's roving eyes perceived 
 two or three leather gun-cases. He was suffering 
 as much, almost, as if he was actually being tor- 
 tured. And then there was the sound of light 
 footsteps, the door opened and Henley came in, 
 smiling grimly. 
 
 "I telephoned Sparks," he said. "He'd gone 
 to bed, but he's dressing now and will come around 
 as soon as he can to draw up the papers for Mr. 
 Hedden to sign. Hadn't we better move the 
 table against the wall, Sam, so as to have plenty 
 of room ?" 
 
 "Yes, of course," said Waring, "and roll up 
 the rug, too. You'll have to move, Mr. Hedden, 
 your chair is on the rug. And while you're about 
 it you may as well take off your coat. " 
 
 The room being cleared, Henley, with a kind of 
 irrepressible eagerness, took oflF his coat and waist- 
 coat, threw them into a chair, and kicked oflF his 
 pumps. Then he turned to Hedden. 
 
 "Ready if you are." 
 
 But Hedden was not ready. It took them some 
 time to get him out of his coat, onto his feet, and 
 into the middle of the room. 
 
 "There's no use going over what you've done 
 3S4 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 to me and mine," said Henley, "and what 
 you've tried to do. You've earned a good lick- 
 ing and you are going to take it. Put up your 
 hands." 
 
 But Hedden did not put them up. 
 
 "You are famous for your imagination," said 
 Henley sweetly, "imagine that you are a man." 
 
 Hedden's answer was to scream "Help ! Mur- 
 der !" at the top of his lungs, and make a sudden 
 dash for the door. 
 
 Henley, not a bad boxer, and unusually clever 
 with his feet, simply tripped him up. 
 
 The fall lent Hedden some of that courage 
 peculiar to cornered rats. Cursing and blasphem- 
 ing, and swinging his fists wildly, he scrambled to 
 his feet and came at Henley like an impassioned 
 windmill. 
 
 He was met by a loud exclamation of joy and a 
 terrible smash in the mouth. 
 
 Three minutes later he came to his senses in a 
 distant corner of the room. Henley, the joy not 
 yet fled from his countenance, was nursing a broken 
 finger. 
 
 "It's no use," said Waring mournfully, "he's 
 big and strong, but he don't fight. I think it 
 would have been better if you'd spanked him. 
 It's too late for that now. The poor fellow's dying. 
 
 355 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 You're dying, aren't you, poor fellow? Gawd, 
 what a pup!" 
 
 He dragged the manager to his feet, put on his 
 coat for him, and dropped him into a chair. 
 
 "Make yourself at home," he said, "we'll be 
 back when Sparks comes. And, by the way, if 
 you try to make a row^ about anything that's 
 happened or that's going to happen, we'll get 
 you ! One or other of us will get you, and don't 
 forget. " 
 
 Left to himself, locked in, the bruised and di- 
 shevelled manager ground his teeth and for some 
 moments invented the most dreadful threats and 
 vengeances. He looked very hideous, his eyes 
 inflamed with weeping and his lips immensely 
 swollen. Time passed and he began to think. It 
 was a difficult adventure to twist and make over 
 so that he should appear the hero of it. He 
 actually gave up trying. On the whole, it was 
 better that the story shouldn't get out. Who 
 was this Sparks ? A lawyer probably. 
 
 "They'll want me to sign promises, " he thought. 
 "But that won't count; it'll be under compulsion. 
 Still if I make promises and don't keep thena " 
 
 He lifted his fingers to his swollen mouth, and 
 tears ran out of his eyes. 
 
 "Damn them to hell !" he moaned. 
 356 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 A thought of Nellie Michelin came into his 
 head; and his expression brightened. 
 
 "She took my money and then she betrayed 
 me," was his thought. 
 
 Upon her he could be avenged to his heart's 
 content. She wasn't any calm, violent man, but 
 a silly, weak woman. She should learn what 
 suflFering was, damn her ! 
 
 His eye perceived on the table which had been 
 removed from the centre of the room a typewritten 
 manuscript in a blue cover. The reader perhaps 
 will remember that this was a copy of Henley's 
 new play, of which Sam Waring had said that it 
 had "When My Ship Comes In" skinned a mile. 
 
 The manager moved stealthily toward the table, 
 and took the manuscript in his hands. He noticed 
 that the piece was by Henley and he began to 
 read, still standing. 
 
 Gradually the lines of rage, fear, vengeance, and 
 childishness faded from his face. He was reading 
 eagerly now; not word by word, but trained for 
 many years to the art of reading plays, by para- 
 graphs and half pages. His eyes began to brighten 
 with enthusiasm. For as far as he had gone he 
 could find but one fault with the play — somebody 
 other than himself had written it. He wondered 
 if this was the only copy. Probably not. Henley 
 
 357 
 
when My Ship Comes In 
 
 had learned wisdora by experience. Still there 
 was always a chance — besides the thing could be so 
 altered — the scene changed, laid in the country, 
 say, the names of the characters, etc., that a jury 
 of twelve honest men and true would never recog- 
 nize it. 
 
 Footsteps sounded in the hall and voices. With 
 a smile of exquisite triumph McKay Hedden folded 
 the manuscript once lengthwise, thrust it into his 
 inside pocket, and retreated as far from the table 
 as possible. 
 
 358 
 
XLVIII 
 
 GOOD morning, ladies," said Henley. "It's 
 a fine day, isn't it ? " 
 
 "I'm particularly impressed with the blue sky 
 behind the black clouds," said Waring. 
 
 The ladies flew into a rage. 
 
 "Tell us what happened — tell us at once!" 
 they cried. 
 
 So the gentlemen told them all that had hap- 
 pened. 
 
 "The play is to go on," said Henley, "until 
 spring. I'm to have a seven per cent flat royalty 
 but no credit on the programmes. There didn't 
 seem to be any way to manage that, and save 
 Hedden's face." 
 
 "Why save his face ?" cried Silver. 
 
 "You didn't see it after Paul hit him, " said Sam. 
 
 "The money just now," said Henley, "is the 
 main thing. It will pay back what he's tricked 
 you into owing. Then your contract with him has 
 been cancelled. You're to sign one that ends 
 when the play stops running — early in May, 
 that is. " 
 
 359 
 
when My. Ship Comes In 
 
 "Fm glad," said Silver, "that the play isn't to 
 be punished, and it's fun to be praised and ap- 
 plauded every night except Sundays." 
 
 "Don't you get praised Sundays ?" asked Hen- 
 ley plaintively. 
 
 And she smiled with delight at him. Then, her 
 face grave and anxious: 
 
 "I've seen my father," she said; "and it's true 
 about his killing a man. But the man had to be 
 killed, and no jury would do anything to father. 
 They couldn't when they'd heard the story. " 
 
 "No jury will have a chance," said Waring. 
 "Hedden is convinced that if anything comes out 
 through him he won't live to boast about it. 
 We've made that clear. " 
 
 "But you wouldn't." 
 
 "Yes I would — by Jove, I would ! or so close to it 
 that he'd always be sorry I hadn't gone the whole 
 way. Don't worry about your father, Silver. 
 There's nothing to worry about. " 
 
 Just how it came about is unknown. I think 
 Waring asked if he would find a cigarette in the 
 dining-room, and Mabel Reeves went with him to 
 help look. Anyway, they disappeared and were 
 gone some time. 
 
 Henley simply caught Silver Sands up in his 
 arms, and began to kiss and murmur. Presently 
 
 360 
 
When My Ship Comes In 
 
 the murmurs became words, intelligent words, 
 that she was able to answer: 
 
 '"Deed," she said, "and you needn't think I 
 want to wait till May, either." 
 
 And they resolved that they wouldn't. 
 
 "But Paul," said Silver, "there's one thing you 
 ought to know, and maybe when you know you 
 won't want to marry me. I'm proud of it, but 
 other people mightn't be. Poor father killed a 
 man. That's bad enough; but what do you think 
 my mother did ? She used to be shot out of a 
 cannon every afternoon and evening for a living !" 
 
 The young aristocrat folded the lovely girl still 
 closer in his arms and they laughed till they kissed. 
 
 The End