senger-list had not yet come from the ship's
press, so Elsa's name was practically unknown. But in some
unaccountable manner it had become known that she had been making
inquiries in regard to the gentleman in cabin 78, who had thus far
remained away from the table. Ship life is a dull life, and gossip is
about the only thing that makes it possible to live through the day.
It was quite easy to couple this unknown aloof young woman and the
invisible man, and then to wait for results. The average tourist is
invariably building a romance around those persons who interest them,
attractively or repellently. They have usually saturated their minds
with impossible impressions of the East, acquired long before they
visit it, and refuse to accept actualities. It would have amused Elsa
had she known the interest she had already created if not inspired.
Her beauty and her apparent indifference to her surroundings were
particularly adapted to the romantic mood of her fellow-travelers. Her
own mind was so broad and generous, so high and detached, that so
sordid a thing as "an affair" never entered her thoughts.

As she refused course after course, a single phrase drummed incessantly
through her tired brain. She was not going to marry Arthur; never,
never in this world. She did not love him, and this was to be final.
She would cable him from Singapore. But she felt no elation in having
arrived at this determination. In fact, there was a tingle of defiance
in her unwritten, unspoken ultimatum.

That night Craig found it insupportable in the cabin below; so he
ordered his steward to bring up his bedding. He had lain down for half
an hour, grown restless, and had begun to walk the deck in his
bath-slippers. He had noted the still white figure forward, where the
cross-rail marks the waist. As he approached, Craig discovered his
man. He hesitated only a moment; then he touched Warrington's arm.

Warrington turned his dull eyes upon his ancient enemy. "So it is you?
I understood you were on board. Well?" uncompromisingly.

"I've been looking for you. Bygones are bygones, and what's done can't
be undone by punching a fellow's head. I'm not looking for trouble,"
went on Craig, gaining assurance. "I am practically down and out
myself. I can't go back to the States for a while. All I want is to
get to Hongkong in peace for the April races. What stand are you going
to take on board here? That's all I want to know."