d the Indian Ocean, I was aware that the gossips
had so far condescended as to link my name with that of one whom I
certainly rated as the most attractive of her sex on board. Indeed, it
was Mrs. Oldcastle herself who drew my attention to this, with a
little _moue_ of contempt and disgust.

'Really, people on board ship are too despicable in this matter of
gossip,' she said. 'It would seem that they are literally incapable of
evolving any other topic than the doings, or supposed doings, of those
about them. And the men seem to me just as bad as the women.'

IV

Naturally, the fact that various idle people chose to use my name in
their gossip in no sense disturbed my peace of mind. Neither had I any
particular occasion to regret it, for Mrs. Oldcastle's sake, since I
fancy that independent and high-spirited little lady took a
mischievous pleasure in spurring the rather sluggish imaginations of
those about her. I found a hint of this in her demeanour occasionally,
and could imagine her saying, as she mentally addressed her
fellow-passengers:

'There! Here's a choice crumb for you, you silly chatterers!'

With some such thought, I am assured, she occasionally took my arm
when we chanced to pace the deck late in the evening. At least, I
noted that such actions on her part came frequently when we happened
to pass a group of lady passengers in the full glare of an electric
lamp, and rarely when we were unobserved.

There is doubtless a certain forceful magic about the combined
influences of propinquity and sea air, as these are enjoyed by the
idle passengers upon a great ocean liner. They do, I think, tend to
advance intimacy and accelerate the various stages of intercourse
leading thereto, and therefrom, as nothing else does; more
particularly as affecting the relations between men and women. Whilst
unlike myself (as in most other respects) in that her social instincts
were I am sure well developed, it happened that Mrs. Oldcastle did not
feel much more drawn toward the majority of her fellow-passengers than
I did. By a more remarkable coincidence, it chanced that she had read
and been interested by several of my books. From such a starting-point,
then, it followed almost inevitably that we walked the decks
together, and sat and talked together a great deal; these being the
normal daily occupations of people so situated, if not indeed the only
available occupations for those not given over to such delights as
dec