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wished to. Now I knew who the clothes belonged to.
    "Willie, ah, had a little accident; those are his things drying in the cockpit. Willie this is Mark, and ..." She turned toward the other man and offered her hand.
    "I'm Derek Thrasher," the man said smoothly. Everything about him was impossibly smooth. He was not handsome, he was beautiful. He seemed in his late thirties and was as tall as the other fellow. Mark, but slimmer, gorgeously barbered, exquisitely dressed in a cashmere blazer and white flannel trousers, a yellow silk shirt, and an ascot tied at the throat. I had never seen a man wearing white flannel trousers and an ascot, except in the movies, and he looked perfectly comfortable and unselfconscious in them. He looked as much at home with the soft, glossy loafers in his hand as another man would with them on his feet. His handshake was firm, personal, but his hand was as soft and buttery as the shoes in his hand.
    "He is Derek Thrasher," Mark echoed, "and he thinks he might like to sponsor a large effort in the Singlehanded Transatlantic Race."
    Annie's face was lit by the broadest of smiles.
    "Oh, Mark, that's wonderful! Mr. Thrasher, I can't tell you how delighted I am .. ."
    Thrasher held up a perfectly manicured finger.
    "It's Derek, please."
    "Of course." She began rummaging in the galley icebox and produced a bottle of champagne.
    "I've had this on hand just in case."
    Mark opened the bottle, and we settled ourselves about the cabin settees. I had obviously stumbled into the middle of a very happy event for all these people. Thrasher and Annie immediately launched into a discussion about boats. I leaned toward Mark and said, "Excuse me, I didn't get your last name."
    He flashed a wide smile at me.
    "Pemberton-Robinson," he said.
    "Robinson will do, Willie, if that's a bit of a mouthful for a Yank."
    My anxiety at the news of his name was so keen that I didn't bother to correct him on either my name or regional loyalties.
    "Ah . you and Annie are .. . ?" Brother and sister, I said directly to God. Please let them be brother and sister.
    "Man and wife, old chap." He grinned. There was sympathy in his voice.
    "Sorry."
    "YOU MISSED ALL THE excitement," Mark said to Annie.
    "Derek's boat lost her anchor and bloody nearly went into the Royal Yacht."
    I turned to Thrasher.
    "Was that your boat?"
    He nodded ruefully.
    "I'm afraid so."
    I felt a rush of anger.
    "Well, for Christ's sake .. ."
    "And this.. .." Annie interrupted, pointing to me, "is the fellow who rescued it."
    "Really?" Thrasher exclaimed, "I certainly want to----" "What sort of ground tackle did you have out, anyway?" I persisted, hotly. Now I had the bastard at hand whose negligence had caused all this bother, and I fairly flew at him.
    "Do you have any idea of the damage that could have caused?"
    "Of course," he said placatingly.
    "It certainly could have been much worse, I know. We had out a forty-five-pound Danforth anchor, four fathoms of half-inch chain, and thirty fathoms of two-inch warp in seven fathoms of water."
    "That should have held in anything but a hurricane," Mark chimed in, "but you should have seen the anchor line; sawn right through."
    "You mean somebody cut it deliberately?" I asked.
    "Oh, I think it's more likely that we anchored over some sort of underwater obstruction that chafed through the line," Thrasher said.
    "Some old piece of iron, I should think." He didn't sound very convincing.
    "Looked cut to me," Mark said firmly.
    "Shitty thing to do to somebody."
    "If there'd been a second anchor aboard I could have got that out right away," I persisted, still annoyed.
    "The second anchor was in the forepeak, ready for use," Thrasher said reasonably.
    "But of course, the boat was locked, and you couldn't get to it. I really do apologize for your having to deal with it all, and I really am most grateful to you for what you did.
    I saw the whole thing from the upper deck at the Royal London.
    It was a very brave thing to do, jumping