"Doubtful about what?" I asked.

He averted his eyes and did not answer this. It was impossible to make
them out. For instance, his niece was weeping for Falk. Now he (Hermann)
would like to wring his neck--but then... He supposed he had too
tender a heart. "Frankly," he asked at last, "what do you think of what
we heard last night, captain?"

"In all these tales," I observed, "there is always a good deal of
exaggeration."

And not letting him recover from his surprise I assured him that I knew
all the details. He begged me not to repeat them. His heart was too
tender. They made him feel unwell. Then, looking at his feet and
speaking very slowly, he supposed that he need not see much of them
after they were married. For, indeed, he could not bear the sight of
Falk. On the other hand it was ridiculous to take home a girl with her
head turned. A girl that weeps all the time and is of no help to her
aunt.

"Now you will be able to do with one cabin only on your passage home," I
said.

"Yes, I had thought of that," he said brightly, almost. "Yes! Himself,
his wife, four children--one cabin might do. Whereas if his niece
went..."

"And what does Mrs. Hermann say to it?" I inquired.

Mrs. Hermann did not know whether a man of that sort could make a girl
happy--she had been greatly deceived in Captain Falk. She had been very
upset last night.

Those good people did not seem to be able to retain an impression for a
whole twelve hours. I assured him on my own personal knowledge that
Falk possessed in himself all the qualities to make his niece's future
prosperous. He said he was glad to hear this, and that he would tell his
wife. Then the object of the visit came out. He wished me to help him to
resume relations with Falk. His niece, he said, had expressed the hope I
would do so in my kindness. He was evidently anxious that I should,
for though he seemed to have forgotten nine-tenths of his last night's
opinions and the whole of his indignation, yet he evidently feared to
be sent to the right-about. "You told me he was very much in love," he
concluded slyly, and leered in a sort of bucolic way.

As soon as he had left my ship I called Falk on board by signal--the
tug still lying at the anchorage. He took the news with calm gravity,
as though he had all along expected the stars to fight for him in their
courses.

I saw them once more together, and only once--on the quarter-deck of the
Diana. Hermann sat smoking with