s,
as if for some reason she did not wish to meet the speaker's eye, while
her husband rose suddenly and walked to the end of the deck. When he
came back, five minutes later, he remarked to his wife that there was no
depending on weather signals nowadays; at which innocent remark she
laughed so heartily that the friendly old lady instantly put down
hysterics as the probable explanation of her delicate appearance, and
felt a chilling of sympathy. In a few minutes she took herself off to
some other friends, and the husband and wife whispered smilingly
together, and, after the invariable custom on shipboard, fell to
criticising their companions.

Perhaps the most striking figure which met their eyes was that of a
young man some thirty years of age, whose walk and carriage plainly
marked him out as an officer in the army. A certain pallor showing
through his tanned skin made it seem possible that he was returning home
on sick-leave, but he was a handsome fellow all the same with aquiline
features and a heavy moustache, and he scanned the scene around him with
an air of languid patronage, as one who felt that the P and O Company
might feel themselves honoured to have the privilege of accommodating
his noble self, and expected that even the ocean should show its best
aspect for his benefit. Of the passengers by whom he was surrounded the
lordly stranger appeared entirely oblivious, not deigning to throw even
a glance in their direction; and so strange a thing is human nature that
the feminine portion, at least, felt their interest heightened by this
indifference, and were increasingly anxious to make his acquaintance.
It did not seem likely that their desire would be granted on this
occasion, at least, for as the morning wore on and the heat of the sun
grew ever stronger and stronger, the object of their admiration took
counsel with himself, and decided that it would be wisdom to retire
within the shelter of the reading-room, and pass the hour before lunch
in the company of a novel which he had brought on board with his
effects. He had carried the book upstairs earlier in the morning, and
placed it in a corner of the room where he believed it would be safe
from alien hands; but, alas! the best-laid plans "gang aft a-gley," and
when he went in search, he met with a shock of disappointment. The book
had been appropriated, and the thief was seated in the very corner which
he had destined for himself, bending over the pages