For she had not smiled; there was no flicker of humor in her eyes, when she called him Jeems, an intimate use of the names Jim and James in the far North.

It was not facetiously that she had promised to kiss him.

An almost tragic seriousness had possessed her.

And it was that seriousness that thrilled him--that, and the amazing frankness with which she had coupled the name Jeems with the promise of her lips.

Once before she had called him Jeems.