dowy down over her fine, expressive,
twitching lips. Her gestures had the weary grace of a Spaniard. She was
laughing, and her long, slim form stretched on the chair shook. Her
admirer, with a comic expression of seriousness, was again building a
little pile of matches. In her weak condition she was unable to resist
the impulse to laugh, and every now and then hid her face behind a black
lace shawl.

It was an exciting moment when the American, in defiance of the Captain's
presence, again made ready for his dangerous play.

Von Kessel, broad and ponderous and somewhat too short-legged, seemed out
of proportion in the dainty parlour. He was speaking quietly with his
lady. From the expression of his face it was evident that the weather was
giving him cause to be serious. Suddenly the matches flared up. Now the
captain's calm St. Bernard head turned slightly, and a voice said in a
tone not to be misunderstood:

"Put that fire out!"

Frederick had never heard an order from a man's lips so incisive, so
truly commanding, so fearful. The American turned pale and in the
twinkling of an eye smothered the flame. The beautiful Canadian closed
her eyes. But the captain, as if nothing had occurred, continued to
converse with his lady.

XVIII

Soon after, Frederick was in the barbershop getting a shave.

"Wretched weather," observed the barber, wielding the razor with a sure
hand, despite the dreadful tossing of the vessel. He seemed to be an
intelligent man. Frederick had to listen to a second account of the
_Nordmania_, of how the waterspout had plunged through the ladies'
parlour and carried the piano down into the hold.

An ordinary German servant-girl of the peasant class entered. She looked
healthy to the core and none too intelligent. The barber called her Rosa
and gave her a bottle of eau de Cologne.

"That's the fifth bottle of eau de Cologne that I've given her for her
mistress since we left Cuxhaven," the barber explained after she had
left. "Her mistress is a divorced woman with two children. Her name is
Mrs. Liebling. She is very nervous. Rosa hasn't a very easy time of it.
For five dollars a month she has to be at Mrs. Liebling's beck and call
morning, noon and night. She takes entire charge of the children. Soon
after we left Cuxhaven, Mrs. Liebling came to have her hair dressed. You
should have heard how she went on about that girl. The things she said
against her. Not a spark of gratitude. She said