with
the whole day at their disposal, they would do as much work as when they
only met for an hour or two daily to accomplish a set purpose. The
result of their unbounded freedom was that conversation took the place
of reading. Hitherto Margaret had confined Claudius closely to the
matter in hand, some instinct warning her that such an intimacy as had
existed during his daily visits could only continue on the footing of
severe industry she had established from the first. But the sight of the
open deck, the other people constantly moving to and fro, the proper
aspect of the lady-companion, just out of earshot, and altogether the
appearance of publicity which the sea-life lent to their _tete-a-tete_
hours, brought, as a necessary consequence, a certain unbending. It
always seemed such an easy matter to call some third party into the
conversation if it should grow too confidential. And so, insensibly,
Claudius and Margaret wandered into discussions about the feelings,
about love, hate, and friendship, and went deep into those topics which
so often end in practical experiment. Claudius had lived little and
thought much; Margaret had seen a great deal of the world, and being
gifted with fine intuitions and tact, she had reasoned very little about
what she saw, understanding, as she did, the why and wherefore of most
actions by the pure light of feminine genius. The Doctor theorised, and
it interested his companion to find facts she remembered suddenly
brought directly under a neat generalisation; and before long she found
herself trying to remember facts to fit his theories, a mode of going in
double harness which is apt to lead to remarkable but fallacious
results. In the intervals of theorising Claudius indulged in small
experiments. But Barker and the Duke played poker.

Of course the three men saw a good deal of each other--in the early
morning before the ladies came on deck, and late at night when they sat
together in the smoking-room. In these daily meetings the Duke and
Claudius had become better acquainted, and the latter, who was reticent,
but perfectly simple, in speaking of himself, had more than once alluded
to his peculiar position and to the unexpected change of fortune that
had befallen him. One evening they were grouped as usual around the
square table in the brightly-lighted little room that Barker and the
Duke affected most. The fourfold beat of the screw crushed the water
quickly and sent its peculiar vibr