wanted to know
where their staterooms were, grumbled about the size of the boat,
prophesied typhoons and wrecks, got in everybody's way, and ordered
other people's servants about. Never before had Elsa realized the
difficulties that beset the path of the personal conductor. Whatever
his salary was, he was entitled to it. It was all he got. No one
thought to offer him a little kindness. He was a human guide-book
which his fares opened and shut how and when they pleased.

She saw Hooghly standing in the bow. A steamer-trunk, a kit-bag, a
bedding-bag, and the inevitable parrot-cage, reposed at his feet. He
was watching without interest or excitement the stream passing up and
down the gangplank. If his master came, very well; if he did not, he
would get off with the luggage. How she would have liked to question
him regarding his master! Elsa began to offer excuses for her interest
in Warrington. He was the counterpart of Arthur Ellison. He had made
his fortune against odds. He was a mystery. Why shouldn't he interest
her? Her mind was not ice, nor was her heart a stone. She pitied him,
always wondering what was back of it all. She would be a week in
Singapore; after that their paths would widen and become lost in the
future, and she would forget all about him, save in a shadowy way. She
would marry Arthur whether she loved him or not. She was certain that
he loved her. He had a comfortable income, not equal to hers, but
enough. He was, besides, her own sort; and there wasn't any mystery
about him at all. He was as clear to her as glass. For nearly ten
years she had known him, since his and his mother's arrival in the
small pretty Kentuckian town. What was the use of hunting a fancy?
Yes, she would marry Arthur. She was almost inclined to cable him to
meet her in San Francisco.

That there was real danger in her interest in Warrington did not occur
to her. The fact that she was now willing to marry Arthur, without
analyzing the causes that had brought her to this decision, should have
warned her that she was dimly afraid of the stranger. Her glance fell
upon the mandarin's ring. She twirled it round undecidedly. Should
she wear it or put it away? The question remained suspended. She saw
Craig coming aboard; and she hid her face behind her magazine. Upon
second thought she let the magazine fall. She was quite confident that
that chapter was closed. Craig might be a scoundrel, but he was no