tell you. No! By and by, Miss Solaris, now her mother marry again, will
be rich. But she's crazy about that feller I told you she had here."

"I don't remember anything about it. I make it a rule to have nothing to
do with passengers. I expect no less," announced Captain Rannie, alert
to hear every word.

"Well, if a woman wants a man, she gets him," observed Mr. Dainopoulos
gravely.

"That's true, I admit," was the unexpected reply.

"And you know well enough she'll find young Lietherthal easy if she
wants him. Me, I think she'll stay round with _him_." And Mr.
Dainopoulos jerked his finger in the direction of the _Kalkis_.

Captain Rannie suddenly reversed himself on his chair and changed legs,
uttering a sound like a snort.

"Yes," said Mr. Dainopoulos. "My wife she thinks maybe he marry her."

Captain Rannie moved his foot up and down and smiled unpleasantly.

"No hope of that," he muttered.

"Yes!" repeated Mr. Dainopoulos, jumping up to change a five-pound note
into excellent Greek drachmas. "Yes! If she wants him to do it, it will
be easy enough. You don't know her."

Captain Rannie was heard to say in a low, hurried tone that he didn't
want to.

Mr. Dainopoulos grinned, which did not improve his appearance. He waved
his fingers at his captain with a gesture indicating his jocular
conviction that he did not believe it.

"If I was single ..." he began, and ended with a loud "H--m!" and smiled
again.

Captain Rannie flushed dark red with annoyance. It was one of the
scourges of his existence that he had to let men imagine he was a
terrible fellow with women. _He!_ And he loathed them. He would strangle
every one of them if he had the power. Blood-sucking harpies! As he
walked the bridge now, keeping a sharp eye upon the buoys of the nets
which were coming into view, he recalled the shameful way his generosity
had been played upon by those women of his own family. Daughters leagued
with mother and aunt against him! But he had paid them out, hadn't he?
Ha-ha! He savoured again, but with a faint flavour of decay, that
often-imagined scene when they realized at last that he was gone and
gone for good. That was the way to treat them. No nonsense. As for this
passenger in the chief officer's cabin, he hadn't seen her, and he hoped
she'd fall overboard in the night, and a good riddance. Good heavens!
Hadn't the master of a ship enough responsibility on a trip like this
without loading him down with a cre