straight. It must have been that infernal fog.... Where the dickens are we?" 

 "You are in my house," said I, "but you might be at the bottom of the basin." 

 "Good heavens!" he said, with a laugh. "I feel mighty shivery. Don't you think a drop of something——" 

 I looked at him closely. "I think it wouldn't be a bad idea in the circumstances," I said. 

 "Oh, I know I had too much to carry!" he said recklessly. "It made me quarrel with that wretched Legrand, too—a fat-headed fool!" 

 I rang for water, and mixed two hot jorums of whisky, one of which he sipped contentedly. 

 "You see, we had a rousing time coming over," he observed, as if in apology. I looked my question, and he answered it. "Hamburg, in the Sea Queen. The old man skipped at Tilbury, and Barraclough's a real blazer." 

 "Which accounts for the blaze I saw," I remarked drily. 

 "Oh, you saw that. Yes, it was that that made Legrand mad. He's particular. But what's the odds? The boss has to pay." 

 His eyes roamed about the shabby room—shabby from the wretched pictures on the walls to the threadbare carpet underfoot, and, though he was not a gentleman, I felt some feeling of irritation. Perhaps if he had been a gentleman I should not have been put out at this scrutiny of my poverty. 

 "You saved me, and that's certain," he began again. "Say, are you a doctor?" 

 I admitted it. 

 "Well, can you recommend another glass of toddy?" he asked, smiling, and his smile was pleasant. 

 "In the circumstances again—perhaps," I said. 

 "Oh, I know I played the fool," he conceded. "But it isn't often I do. I must have gone off in the fog. How did you get at me?" 

 I told him. 

 "That was plucky," he said admiringly. "I don't know two folks I'd risk the same for." 

 "There wasn't much risk," I answered. "It was only a question of taking a cold bath out of season." 

 Prev. P 8/230 next