Valentine Williams

“ Sometimes I think it's only men of action like you who know how to grapple with life. Can you imagine me in an emergency, for instance?”
“Yes,” I said, “I believe I can. You've got a brave eye, Miss Garth. I think one can judge people's temperaments, as you judge horses', by the eye.”
She shook her head and laughed.
“What does this sort of life teach anybody? This beautiful ship, these well-trained sailors, the splendid service that Daddy's money can buy? My dear man, it's no good flattering me about my brave eye. Money makes a sordid barrier between my life and any really thrilling crisis! ”

“ What I might have done I cannot say, for what man can account for actions performed under the magic of the tropical moon? But at that moment my nostrils detected the scent of a cigarette quite close.
I glanced quickly round. To all appearances we were alone. Behind us the white smokestack of the Naomi reared itself into the night: on either hand the deck was quite deserted: the only human being visible was the black form of the man at the wheel silhouetted against the faint glow of the binnacle light. ”

“ Caution is second nature to a man who has served his apprenticeship in the silent Corps. In that balmy air, beneath a brilliant moon hanging like some great lamp in the sky, it was hard to refuse a woman's pleading, especially a girl like this, bending forward with sparkling eyes and parted lips so close to me that I could detect the fragrance of her hair. ”