en undertake.

"If the man's a millionaire," I said, "he won't care to dine with
us--and he's probably a Jew--not that I've any particular prejudice
against Jews."

"He's not a Jew," said Gorman. "He's an Englishman. At least he's as
English as any man with a name like that can be. I expect he'll jump at
the chance of feeding with us. We're the only people on board the least
likely to interest him."

I admire Gorman's splendid self-confidence, but I do not share it. I
shrank from seeking the friendship of a millionaire.

"He has his wife with him," I said. "Perhaps she----"

I meant to suggest that Mrs. Ascher might not care to be thrown with
a couple of stray men of whom she knew nothing. Gorman thought I meant
something quite different.

"She's an American," he said, "or was before she married Ascher. I hear
she goes in for music and pictures and literature and all that sort of
thing, which may be boring. But I daresay we shan't see very much of
her. She'll probably be seasick the whole time."

I have often wondered where Gorman gets all his astonishingly accurate
information about people whom he does not know. He was very nearly right
about Mrs. Ascher. She was seasick for four out of the six days of our
voyage.

"Anyhow," he went on, "we must put up with her if we want to get hold
of the husband. And I should like to do that. I've never had a chance
before of being intimate with one of the big bugs of finance. I want to
know what it is that those fellows really do."

When Gorman put it to me that way I withdrew all my objections to his
plan. I very much want to know "what those fellows really do." I am
filled with curiosity and I want to know what every kind of fellow
really does. I want to have a long talk with a Parisian dressmaker,
one of the men who settles what shape women are to be for the next six
months. I want to get at the mind of a railway manager. I want to know
how a detective goes about the job of catching criminals. Of course I
want to understand international banking.

"Besides," said Gorman, "a millionaire is a very useful kind of man to
know."

Millionaires are useful acquaintances because there is always a chance
of getting money from them.

"Don't count on me as a bridge player," I said. "I'm no good at the game
and never play for high points. You wouldn't win anything worth while
with me as one of the party."

"I wasn't thinking of bridge," said Gorman.

He was not. He was thi