we fell back upon."

"Bid me to laugh, and I will laugh," said John.

"Euchre!" she said, looking at him defiantly. "Two-handed euchre! We
have played, as nearly as I can estimate, fifteen hundred games, in
which he has held both bowers and the ace of trumps--or something
equally victorious--I should say fourteen hundred times. Oh!" she
cried, with an expression of loathing, "may I never, never, never see a
card again as long as I live!" John laughed without restraint, and after
a petulant little _moue_ she joined him.

"May I light up my pipe?" he said. "I will get to leeward."

"I shall not mind in the least," she assented.

"By the way," he asked, "does Mr. Carling smoke?"

"He used to," she replied, "and while we were with the Nollises he
smoked every day, but after we left them he fell back into the notion
that it was bad for him."

John filled and lighted his pipe in silence, and after a satisfactory
puff or two said: "Will Mr. Carling go in to dinner to-night?"

"Yes," she replied, "I think he will if it is no rougher than at
present."

"It will probably be smoother," said John. "You must introduce me to
him--"

"Oh," she interrupted, "of course, but it will hardly be necessary, as
Alice and I have spoken so often to him of you--"

"I was going to say," John resumed, "that he may possibly let me take
him off your hands a little, and after dinner will be the best time. I
think if I can get him into the smoking room that a cigar
and--and--something hot with a bit of lemon peel and so forth later on
may induce him to visit with me for a while, and pass the evening, or
part of it."

"You want to be an angel!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I--we--shall be so
obliged. I know it's just what he wants--some _man_ to take him in
hand."

"I'm in no hurry to be an angel," said John, laughing, and, with a bow,
"It's better sometimes to be _near_ the rose than to _be_ the rose, and
you are proposing to overpay me quite. I shall enjoy doing what I
proposed, if it be possible."

Their talk then drifted off into various channels as topics suggested
themselves until the ship's bell sounded the luncheon hour. Miss Blake
went to join her sister and brother-in-law, but John had some bread and
cheese and beer in the smoking room. It appeared that the ladies had
better success than in the morning, for he saw them later on in their
steamer chairs with Mr. Carling, who was huddled in many wraps, with the
flaps of his cap down ov