"Applies only to me, as far as I can make out."
"That's curious," said the archæologist. "What did you say to the
captain?"
"Told him I'd think it over."
Judge Enderby laughed outright. "That must have occasioned him a mild
degree of surprise," he observed.
"I didn't wait to see. I went away from that place before I lost my
temper."
"A good rule," approved Dr. Alderson. "Still, I'm afraid he's got you.
What do you think, Enderby?"
"I don't think non-professionally on legal matters."
"But what can the boy do?"
"Give me five dollars."
"What?" queried the Tyro.
"Give him five dollars," directed Alderson.
The Tyro extracted a bill from his modest roll and handed it over.
"Thank you," said the jurist. "That is my retainer. You have employed
counsel."
"The best counsel in New York," added Dr. Alderson.
"The best counsel in New York," agreed the judge with unmoved solemnity;
"in certain respects. Specializes in maritime and cardiac complications.
You go out on deck and walk some air into Alderson's brain until I come
back. He needs it. He doesn't know enough not to return a suit when his
partner leads the nine."
"When one's partner is stupid enough to open a suit--" began the other;
but the critic was gone. "So you've found out that Little Miss Grouch is
Cecily Wayne, have you?" Alderson observed, turning to the Tyro.
"Whatever that may mean," assented the Tyro.
"It means a good deal. It means that she's Hurry-up Wayne's daughter for
one thing."
"That also fails to ring any bell. You see, I've been so long out of the
world. Besides, I don't want to be told about her. I'm under bonds."
"Very well. But the _paterfamilias_ is a tough customer. I looked up
some old records for him once, and was obliged to tell him a few plain
facts in plainer English. He appeared to want me to give false expert
testimony. To do him justice, he didn't resent my well-chosen remarks;
only observed that he could doubtless hire other historians with
different views."
"Was that about the Battery Place house?"
"Precisely. But how do you know--Oh, of course! You've got a sort of
intangible interest in that, haven't you? Through your maternal
grandmother."
"I've got more than that. I've got an option."
"Great Rameses! Are you the mysterious holder of the option?" Dr.
Alderson laughed long and softly. "This is lovely! Does she know?"
"If she does, it hasn't shaken her confidence."
"Hire Enderby to unravel that," chuckled the other. "Here he comes back
already. His interview must have been brief."
The lawyer approached, halted, set his back against the rail, and gazed
grimly at the Tyro over his lowered spectacles. His client braced
himself for the impending examination.
"Young man," the judge inquired, "what do you legally call yourself?"
"Smith. Alexander Forsyth Smith."
"What do you call yourself when you don't call yourself Smith?"
"Er--you heard! I've sometimes been called Daddleskink by those who
don't know any better. That was only a little joke."
"It's a joke which Captain Herford seems to have taken to heart. He
thinks you're a dangerous criminal traveling under the subtle _alias_ of
Smith."
"Can he lock me up for that?"
"Doubtless he can. But I don't think he will. Who's been sending back
wireless messages about you?"
"Wireless? About me? Heaven knows; I don't."
"Could it have been Mrs. Charlton Denyse?"
"If they were uncomplimentary, it might. I'm afraid she doesn't approve
of me."
"They seem to have been distinctly unfavorable. That Denyse female,"
continued the veteran lawyer, "is a raddled old polecat. Mischief is her
specialty. How did she get on your trail?"
The Tyro explained.
"Hum! I'll bet a cigar with a gold belt around its stomach that the
captain wishes she were out yonder playing with the porpoises. He
doesn't look happy."
"What ails him?" inquired Dr. Alderson.
"Five different messages from Henry Clay Wayne, to begin with. Also, I
fear my interview with him didn't have a sedative effect."
"What did you say to him?" asked his client.
"I informed him that I'd been retained by our young friend here, and
that if he were restrained of his liberty without due cause we would
promptly bring suit against the line. Thereupon he tried to bluff me.
It's a melancholy thing, Alderson," sighed the tough old warrior of a
thousand legal battles, "to look as easy and browbeatable as I do. It
wastes a lot of my time--and other people's."
"Did it waste much of the captain's on this occasion?"
"No. He threatened to lock me up, too. I told him if he did, he and his
company would have another batch of suits; a suit for every day in the
week, like the youth that married the tailor's daughter.
"He called me some sort of sea-lawyer, and was quite excited until I
calmed him with my card. When I left he was looking at my card as if it
had just bitten him, and sending out a summons for the wireless operator
that had all the timbre of an S.O.S. call. Young man, he'll want to see
you about three o'clock this afternoon if I'm not mistaken."
"What shall I do about it?" asked the Tyro.
"Give me five dollars. Thank you. I never work for nothing. Against my
principles. I'm now employed for the case. Go and see him, and keep a
stiff upper lip. Now, Alderson, your theory that a man must indicate
every high card in his hand before--"
Perceiving that he was no longer essential to the conversation the Tyro
drifted away. Luncheon was a gloomy meal. It was with rather a feeling
of relief that he answered the summons to the captain's room two hours
thereafter.
"Mr. Daddlesmith," began that harried official.
"That isn't my name," said the Tyro firmly.
"Well, Mr. Daddleskink, or Smith, or whatever you choose to call
yourself, I've had an interview with your lawyer."
"Yes? Judge Enderby?"
"Judge Enderby. He threatens to sue, if you are confined to your
stateroom."
"That's our intention."
"I've no lawyer aboard, and I can't risk it. So I'll not lock you up.
But I'll tell you what I can and will do. If you so much as address one
word to Miss Wayne for the rest of this voyage, I'll lock _her_ up and
keep her locked up."
The Tyro went red and then white. "I don't believe you've got the
power," he said.
"I have; and I'll use it. Her father gives me full authority. Make no
mistake about the matter, Mr. Smith: one word to her, and down she goes.
And I shall instruct every officer and steward to be on watch."
"As Judge Enderby has probably already told you what he thinks of your
methods" (this was a random shot, but the marksman observed with
satisfaction that the captain winced), "it would be superfluous for me
to add anything."
"Superfluous and risky," retorted the commander.
The Tyro went out on deck because he felt that he needed air. Malign
fate would have it that, as he stood at the rail, brooding over this
unsurmountable complication, Little Miss Grouch should appear, radiant,
glorious of hue, and attended by the galaxy of swains. She gave him the
lightest of passing nods as she went by. He raised his cap gloomily.
"Your queer-named friend doesn't look happy," commented Lord Guenn at
her elbow.
"Go and tell him I wish to speak with him," ordered the delectable
tyrant.
The Englishman did so.
"I'm not feeling well," apologized the Tyro. "Please ask her to excuse
me."
"You'd best ask her yourself," suggested the other. "I'm not much of a
diplomat."
"No. I'm going below," said the wretched Tyro.
Well for him had he gone at once. But he lingered, and when he turned
again he was frozen with horror to see her bearing down upon him with
all sails set and colors flying.
"Why weren't you at the dance last night?" she demanded.
He looked at her with a piteous eye and shook his head.
"Not feeling fit?"
Another mute and miserable denial.
"I don't believe it! You aren't a bit pea-green. Quite red, on the
contrary."
Silence from the victim.
"Besides, you know, you're the seaworthy child," she mocked.
"'Whose feelings could never be riled.
While the porpoises porped
And the passengers torped,
_He_ sat on the lee rail and smiled.'