I wonder, by the way, what's the connection between sanctity and
a waistcoat put on hind side before. Candish and Edith wouldn't make a
bad pair. She wouldn't mind his ugly mug in the least, and his idiocies
of temperament would be rather pleasing to her. Heaven knows it was an
ill day for her when she fell into my clutches. I can't say that it
seems to have been any great advantage to any woman to be fond of me.
Helen was awfully cut up when I went back on the Pagans, and as for
Ninitta, I've played the very dickens with her. Upon my word I have my
doubts if I could be really respectable without cutting my own
acquaintance."
Fenton retired to his stateroom almost as soon as he went on board the
steamer. He was tired with the strain of the last weeks, he hated the
vulgar crowd one met in travelling, so that to sleep and avoid his
companions seemed the only course desirable under the circumstances.
He was dimly conscious of the progress of the boat, the bustle in the
saloon, which gradually subsided as the evening wore on; and then his
slumber grew deeper. Even the frequent whistling which the ever-
increasing fog made necessary only caused him, now and then, to turn
uneasily in his berth. His stateroom was well aft, and in his drowsy,
half-waking moments, he was conscious that the sea was running heavily.
He remembered that the wind had been east all day, and that he had seen
the danger-signal floating that afternoon.
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