begun to feel as if I were
falling into his state, when I was roused from a stupid dream by the
man of the steerage suddenly looming over me.

"I beg your pardon," said he, taking off his hat, and speaking in a
nice American voice, as nice for a man as Sally Woodburn's is for a
woman. "Please don't suppose I mean to be rude or intrusive, but I
wanted to tell you that I think you won't be annoyed again; and--just
one thing more. May I thank you for your goodness on shipboard? It
brightened what would otherwise have been a grim experience."

Blind Mrs. Ess Kay to pronounce this man not a gentleman, just because
some strange circumstances had forced him to travel in the steerage! I
did wish that, without his knowing it, I could have slipped into his
pocket my thirty pounds!

"Oh, I did nothing," I answered. "It was the other people who did
everything--the little that was done. It's I who have to thank you, for
taking that person away. He and the other, who came just before, were
so rude."

"They didn't mean to be rude," he said. "They wanted you to tell them
something which they could put into their papers, and they live by
doing that kind of thing. I did the best I could with them, but I wish
I could have saved you from being annoyed in the beginning. I hesitated
at first, for fear you might misunderstand, and think me as bad as they
were; but I wish I hadn't now."

"After what I saw you do, at sea, I couldn't possibly have
misunderstood," I said.

"Thank you for saying that," he returned, "though for what I did then,
I don't deserve any praise. It was done on the impulse; and I'm used to
salt water. As a child, I lived close to it for a time, in California,
and swimming came almost as natural as walking. But I'm not here to
talk about myself. It was only to tell you how grateful I was, and am,
and shall continue to be, for your kindness on the ship. I couldn't go
without speaking of this; and there's something now I'd like to ask.
You won't be offended?"

"If it's something you want to tell me, I know it isn't the sort of
thing which could offend," I said; but I didn't say it as calmly as it
looks when written. I stammered a little, and got the words tangled up;
and I felt my face growing hotter than ever.

"I thank you again. It's only this. If, while you're over on this side
the water, there's ever any way in which a man--a man who'd be as
respectful as your footman, and loyal as your friend--could possibly