into the saloon. He had the keys of all the
cabins, and stumped in after them. The captain ordered him to open all
the doors, every blessed door; state-rooms, passages, pantry,
fore-cabin--and then sent him away.

"The _Ferndale_ had magnificent accommodation. At the end of a passage
leading from the quarter-deck there was a long saloon, its sumptuosity
slightly tarnished perhaps, but having a grand air of roominess and
comfort. The harbour carpets were down, the swinging lamps hung, and
everything in its place, even to the silver on the sideboard. Two large
stern-cabins opened out of it, one on each side of the rudder casing.
These two cabins communicated through a small bathroom between them, and
one was fitted up as the captain's state-room. The other was vacant,
and furnished with armchairs and a round table, more like a room on
shore, except for the long curved settee following the shape of the
ship's stern. In a dim inclined mirror, Flora caught sight down to the
waist of a pale-faced girl in a white straw hat trimmed with roses,
distant, shadowy, as if immersed in water, and was surprised to
recognise herself in those surroundings. They seemed to her arbitrary,
bizarre, strange. Captain Anthony moved on, and she followed him. He
showed her the other cabins. He talked all the time loudly in a voice
she seemed to have known extremely well for a long time; and yet, she
reflected, she had not heard it often in her life. What he was saying
she did not quite follow. He was speaking of comparatively indifferent
things in a rather moody tone, but she felt it round her like a caress.
And when he stopped she could hear, alarming in the sudden silence, the
precipitated beating of her heart."

The ship-keeper dodged about the quarter-deck, out of hearing, and
trying to keep out of sight. At the same time, taking advantage of the
open doors with skill and prudence, he could see the captain and "that
girl" the captain had brought aboard. The captain was showing her round
very thoroughly. Through the whole length of the passage, far away aft
in the perspective of the saloon the ship-keeper had interesting
glimpses of them as they went in and out of the various cabins, crossing
from side to side, remaining invisible for a time in one or another of
the state-rooms, and then reappearing again in the distance. The girl,
always following the captain, had her sunshade in her hands. Mostly she
would hang her head, b