The Girl on the Boat

c.

ilm scenario, and without consulting him had had the cool cheek to cast him for one of the puppets. He seemed to see Fate as a thin female with a soppy expression and pince-nez, sniffing a little as she worked the thing out. He could picture her glutinous satisfaction as she re-read her scenario and gloated over its sure-fire qualities. There was not a flaw in the construction. It started off splendidly with a romantic meeting, had

gain. Fate, in her interfering way, had forced this meeting on him and was now complacently looking to him to behave in a suitable manner. Well, he would show her! In a few seco

he room became full of

c.

ns seemed to creak beneath the strain of their duties. After him trotted a small, thin, pale, semi-bald individual who wore glasses and carried h

ntroductions, and then Bream got a good sight of Sam

llo!" sa

Mortimer?" s

ow my son?" excl

he boat togethe

e turned to Billie, who had been staring wide-eyed at her late

you do?"

ou do?" s

ve never met m

ding eyes which gave him the appearan

t Sam unconsciously found himself replying to a qu

well,

a single day. Marlowe," he proceeded, swinging ponderously round on Sir Mallaby like a liner turning in the river, "I assure you that at twenty-five minutes past four this afternoon I was very nearly convinced that

d a forced intimacy with the person seated next to him. Billie Bennett and Sam Marlowe, as a consequence, found themselves, if not exactly in a solitude of their own, at least sufficiently cut off from their kind to make silence between them impossible. Westward, Mr. Mortimer had engaged Sir Mallaby in a discussion on the recent ca

meeting you h

Its expression was one of cheerful friendliness. He could not see his own eye, but he imagine

your

you here. I never dreamed S

e self-satisfaction. He had, he considered, given the conversation the right tone from the start. Cool and distant. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Billie bite her lip. He

u like England

ul friendliness. A somewhat feli

ell," she

on't l

has got to realise that in England one is in a savage country, a

savage country?" demanded Sam,

-on-the-cob, or bathrooms? My father and Mr. Mortimer have just taken a house

ly reason for co

has other

ch

shmen in particular. English young men are a

ch nearly startled the old retainer, who had jus

ish young men

l, now that I come to think of it, not many. I

nl

have been rather unjust. I should not have condemned a class simply because ...

are American girl

ple

e that when

gone Marlowes, all noted for their courtesy to the sex, seemed to stand beside his chair, eyeing him reprovingly. His work, t

long stay in Lon

ntry almost immediately. I told you my fath

ll enjo

timer's son Bream will be

id Sam, b

was a

nd ridiculous, eh?

tionately across the table at the heir of the Mortimers, who, finding Mr. Bennett's medical conf

soft and dreamy voice, "we

c.

least upset by the news--just surprised. He happened to be raising his glass at the moment, and he registered a certain a

Sir Mallaby, aghast. His wine gl

red as the stai

ather! Don't know

given you a shock," s

aware of the activities of Bream. That young man, on whose dreamy calm the accident had made no impression whatever, had successfully established the equili

rooping jaw sufficiently to enable him to speak. He was beginning to feel that he woul

He_ isn't clumsy! He is wonderful at that sort of thing, simply wonderful! I think it's so splendid," said Billie, "when me

allaby considered, "from the av

g about it!" She beamed round the table, and there was a note of fresh girlish gaiety in her voice. "This man got up to do an imitation of somebody--nobody knows to this day who it was meant to be--and he came into the saloon and directly he saw the audience he got s

in any audience which does not appreciate a funny story, and there was o

llaby, choking, "the poor i

ing noise," said Billie, "but t

!" chuckled

my life!" gurgled Mr. Bennett,

lf-witted," sugge

set face. He meant to change the conver

a house in the country,

We have at last succeeded in persuading your sister,

llaby

to tell me that my sister

r nodded tr

ung Eustace Hignett, on the street, and he said he was just coming round to see me about that very thing. To cut a long story short, he said that it wou

r. Bennett authoritatively,

ovely place, Sir Mal

ses go. Not a castle, I mean, with hundreds of acres of park la

Mortimer. "We shall be quite a small party

"that you have promised to in

Hubbard. She is coming. That will be

" cried M

tt!" excla

hovered, unseen but present, above the dinner table. Mr. Bennett looked sternly at Billie; Billie turned a shade pink

uring our tenancy. Such a clause in the agreement was, I am quite aware, unusual, and, had the circumstances been other than they were, I would have had a good deal to say about i

reluctantly, "I certainly

therwise," said Mr. Mortimer,

I believe he has a nice singing voice. With that and the juggling of our friend here and my sister's late husband's orchestrion, you will have no difficulty in am

nd returned to the

by pressing a button in the wall," continued Sir Mallaby. "How you stop it, I don't kno

t description happens to be the one thing which jars unendurab

d Sir Mallaby. "I remember o

by," said Mr. Mortimer, "during our occupancy of

l be very much occupied for the next few months. Th

to work," sai

ermination. "Work is the only

y. "At your age I used to think

th a spoon. You could see by the scornful way

c.

s, broke a silence which had lasted a quarter of an hour

, "do you know

said

e. I've known your Aunt Adeline all my life, and I tell you it isn't in that woman to change her infernal pig-headed mind, especially about letting her house. She is a monomaniac on that subject. If you w

id Sam a

what do y

I think a

ce Hignett a

about

itched your brain and left it in the umbrella stand. You hadn't a word to say for yourself all through dinner. You might ha

sor

Mallaby warmly, "that when she told that extremely funny story about the man who made such a fool of himself on board

I'll be going," he

bear jus