Three Men and a Maid

tivity going on. Sailors fiddled about with ropes. Junior officers flitted to and fro. White-jacketed stewards wrestled with trunks. Probably the captain, though not visible, was a

re being seen off by detectives, surely the crowning compliment a great nation can bestow. The cavernous customs shed was congested with friends and relatives, and Sam Marlowe, heading for the gang-plank, was only able to make progress by employing all the muscle and energy which Nature had bestowed upon him, and which during the twenty-five years of his life

e had been bitten, and

they may shove and

to face with an extrao

d a catholic taste in feminine eyes. So long as they were large and bright, as were the specimens under his immediate notice, he was not the man to quibble about a point of colour. Her nose was small, and on the very tip of it there was a tiny freckle. H

ettiest. He had an orderly mind, one capable of classifying and docketing girls. But there was a subtle something about her, a sort of how-shall-one-put-it, which he had never encountered before. He swallowed convulsively. His well-developed chest swelled beneath its covering of blue fla

in the arm. That was

, constituted

o sorry!"

, an impulsive girl might bite a man in the arm in the excit

to make Pinky-Boo

a calibre as to be plainly audible over the confused noise of Mamies who were telling Sadies to be sure and write, of Bills who were instructing Dicks to look up old Joe

e tip of his black nose. "Not counting bell-boys, of course," she added. And then she was swept from him in the crowd and he was left thinki

xhibition! Perhaps he would never see this girl again. She looked the sort of girl who comes to see friends off and doesn't sail her

ards, junior officers, and sailors who infested the deck. He proceeded down the main companion-way, through a rich smell o

towing away all your trunks, you will have room left over to do a bit of entertaining-possibly an informal dance or something. When you go on board you find that the place has shrunk to the dimensions of an undersized cupboar

hat he had not been so energetic in having his room changed in order to enjoy the company of his cousin Eustace. It was going to be a tight fit. Eustace's bag was already in the cabin, and it seemed to take up the entir

in the passage outs

ustace!"

ile-looking young man with a pale, intellectual face. Dark hair fell in a sweep over his forehead. H

he had expected something cheerier than this. In fact, he had rather been relying on Eustace to be the life and soul of

h's the matte

art's broken." He eyed with considerable malignity the bottle of water in the rack above his head, a harmless

are to hear the

ah

quite

t's

rived in America

only one in the world that really amounts to anything. It was like thi

my story, or will

rry! Go

the wall informing occupants of the stateroom t

traordinarily

my honest word I never in

ld prefer that I postp

ce co

rry! Ca

traordinarily

was he

ligent. I read her all my poems and she appreciated them immensely. She enjo

t. Now get on with th

me," said Eust

the voyage only t

gotten wh

. What happened? I suppose, when you actually came to p

if he knew, and I was dashed sure my mother would-so we decided to get married without telling anybody. By now," said Eustace, with a morose glance at the por

n you qu

'm telling you. What happened was this: somehow-I can't make out how-mothe

ked his Aunt Adeline, and his cousin's

stace, you mustn't!' and you said, 'Very

a word. As far as that goes she might nev

you mean sh

ched my

your tr

said she had sent them all to be pressed. She said she knew I never went out in the mornings-I don't as a rule-and they would be back at lunch-time. A fat lot of use that was! I had to be at the church at eleven. Well, I told her I had a most important engagement with a man at eleven, and she wanted to know what it was and I tried to think of something, but it sounded pretty feeble and she said I had be

the g

I got a letter from her saying that what had happened was all for the best as she had been thinking it over and had come to the conclusion that she had made a mistake. She said somet

lain about t

. She said that she could forgive a

," said Sam judicially. "She c

e ever written rather went out of its way to boost women, and now I'll have to start all over again and approach the subject from another angle. Women! When I think how

nothing of this. But then he generally confine

ou ass! Anc

long ago

mas Otway's 'Orphan.' I

e was talking about.

ost Marc Antony the wor

ars' war and laid at l

ve, damnable, de

n a way. As regards some women, I m

al exterior of some dashed girl you have been fool enough to get attracted by, go and tell it to the captain or the ship's cat or J. B. Midgeley. Do try to realise that I am a soul

they open the bar directly we pass the t

ook his he

the vessel begins to move I go to bed and stay there. As a matter of fact I think i

een mistaken in thinking that you were goi

pulling a pair of mauve pyjamas out of

*

e. A slight tremor on the boards on which he trod told him that this separation must have already taken place. The ship was moving. He ran lightly up the companion. Was she on board or was she not? The next few minutes would decide. He reached the top o

o stop and stare at a blank window on which were inscribed the words "Watch this space!" In short, he was one of Nature's rubbernecks, and to dash to the rail and shove a fat man in a twe

d in a blue jersey. He wore a Derby hat, and from time to time as he battled with the

had met on the dock. She was standing a few feet away leaning out over the rail w

his girl. What would she not think of a man who, reckless of his own safety, dived in and went boldly to the rescue? And there w

sprang. His full weight took Sam squarely in the spine. There was an instant in which that young man hung, as it were, between sea and sky; then he shot down over the rail

*

er, should, I am aware, go always forward. It should march. It should leap from crag to crag like the chamois of the Alps. If there is one thing I hate, it is a novel which gets you interested in the hero in chapter one and then cuts back in chapter two to tell you all about his gra

he gangway was thronged with friends of passengers returning to land. The crowd on the pier waved flags and handkerchiefs and shouted

had the air of one who was waiting for someone to appear. Her demeanour was that of Mariana at the Moated Gra

Then suddenly her face brightened and she began to wave her arm to attract the attention of an elderly man with a red face

d the shore. It was now that the man on the dock sighted the girl. She gesticulated at him. He gesticulated at her. She appeared helpless and baffled, but he showed himse

up the bills in it, backed to give himself room, and then, with all the strength of his arm, he hurled the bills in the direc

baseball teams. He still retained a fair control but he lacked steam. The handkerchief with its precious contents shot in a graceful arc towards the deck, fell short by a good six feet and dropped into the water, where it unfolded like a

recarious livelihood by rowing dreamily about the waterfront in skiffs. He was doing so now: and, as he sat meditatively in his skiff, having done his best to give the liner a good send-off by paddling round her in circles, the pleading face of a twenty-do

im under again; and, rising for a second time, he observed with not a little chagrin t

vent of this newcomer. He had been getting along fine and had had the situation well in hand. To him Sam Marlowe represented Competition,

cup which he had won at school in the "Saving Life" competition. He knew exactly what to do. You get behind the victim and grab him firmly under his arms, and then you start swimming on your back. A moment later the astonished Mr. Swenson, who, being practically amphibious, had not anticipated that anyone would have the cool impertinence to try and save him from drowning, found himself seized from behind and towed vigorously away from a ten-dollar bill wh

, who is being lugged away from cash which he has been regarding in the light of a legacy. Indeed, it would not be hard to find a respect in which it does not differ. So far from lying inert in Sam's arms and allowing himself to be saved in a quiet and orderly manner, Mr. Swenson betrayed all the symptoms of one who feels that he has fallen among murderers. Mr. Swenson, much as he disliked competition, was ready to put up with it, pro

on, though, if he had known that gentleman more intimately and had been aware that he had the reputation of possessing the thickest head on the water-front he would have realised the magnitude of the task. Friends of Mr. Swenson, in convivial moments, had frequen

his gloomiest apprehensions. Now thoroughly convinced that the only thing to do was to sell his life dearly he wrenched

irritated him unspeakably. This, he felt, was just the silly, contrary way things always happened. Why should it be he who was perishing like this? Why not Eustace

could count seven distinct legs twined round him and at least as many arms. It seemed to him that he was being done to death in his prime by a solid platoon of Swedes. He put his whole soul into one last effort ... something seemed to give ... he was free. Pausin

*

not escaped the notice of these navigators and they had gone to it as one man. First in the race came the tug Reuben S. Watson, the skipper of which, following a famous precedent, had taken his little daughter to bear him company. It was to this fact that Marlowe really owed his rescue. Women have often a vein o

ged in the complicated process of restoring his faculties to the normal. In a sort of dream he perceived Mr. Swenson rise to the surface some feet away, adjust

he wanted to do something, a vague feeling that he had some sort of an appointment which he must keep; but he was unable to think what it wa

her wet?" s

y. Of the rest of the family all he could see was the broad blue seats of t

one so wet! I seen wet guys, but I never seen an

t," admi

the word all right. Good an

clouded; he wished he could remember what that

reed the girl. She looked at him inter

it f

ff'n that ship? I didn't see it myself, but pa says you co

sharp cry. He

e is

re's

lin

guess. She was swinging rou

s not

t over to the other side, ain't she? Cert'nly she's gone." S

ourse

wotcha doin' walloping off'n

g to his feet and looked wildly about him. "I mus

r at quarantine out in the bay. S

ake me to

lly at the seat of the n

ays, and right now he's fishing for dollar bills with the

ty dollars if he'l

her share of sentiment, but she was her father's

et-book. The book was dripping, but

said t

ined where it was-dea

mmere!

onvenient to her hand. It was long, solid, and constructed of one of the harder forms of wood. Deftly extracting this from it

ok aboard the boat at quarantine

had been poor, and so far he had only managed to secure a single two-dollar bill. In a cris

y ber

he girl assured

skipper simply, "y

iner as it lay towering over the tug like a mountain. His

who was smoking a cigar by the

you're very

e and hurried through the door

n wet?" cried the clear

y, leaping do

wet!" said a steward in the

aid a stewardess

the lounge. In the lower berth Eustace Hignett was lyin

said. "I say

*

ed upon him. Happily, at this point, a sudden shivering of the floor and a creaking of woodwork proclaimed the fact that the vessel was under

sudden exclamation caused him to look up, and the scowl was wiped from his brow as with a sponge. For t

u?" asked the g

, thanks,

you get

et a lit

like a parrot. "Directly I saw you go over the side

was a

the girl, "

rlo

e. Mr. Brea

young man. The youn

t behind," said

, ne

etting lef

N

ose a lot of time," said Mr. M

o these intellectual ex

w spok

Bre

el

he saloon and see if it's all r

t. The table st

go and mak

rig

he girl turned to Sa

might have been drowned! But I never saw anything so wonderful. It was l

le vaguely. The resembl

hobby and rough

ng Sir Lancelot or Sir

ve bothered, really!

s all ri

a hurry. Father's head clerk was to have gone to the bank and got some money and met me on board and given it to me, but the silly old man was late, and when he got to th

ever expected to feel grateful to that obese bounder who had shoved him off the

e the bravest

, n

But I suppose all b

at what looked like a chan

o admire presence of mind. You didn't hesitate for a second. You jus

the knack of keeping one's head and acting quickly on th

nk! As Bream

ng suddenly. "I saw a couple of stewards and the

aid the girl.

el

o my stateroom and see if Pinky

nd t

y be feeling lonely. C

irr

o cheer

all r

alo

that he only needs a peaked cap and a uniform two sizes

" resumed the girl, "you m

s the thought that tortured me, the thought

e have never spoken to

rgotten? On

tenment came

e man poor Pink

lucky

ace c

motion of the boat a litt

Pinky who first brought us together.

getting back to my room to finish

By the way, you kn

nny that a person's name is the last thin

nne

ds," she said softly as she t