'What have I to gain by saying it if I don't?'
'Oh, men have always something to gain.'
'You make me feel a terrible failure, then! I hope at any rate that it
gives you pleasure--the idea of seeing foreign lands.'
'Mercy--I should think so.'
'It's a pity our ship is not one of the fast ones, if you are
impatient.'
She was silent a moment; then she exclaimed, 'Oh, I guess it will be
fast enough!'
That evening I went in to see Mrs. Nettlepoint and sat on her sea-trunk,
which was pulled out from under the berth to accommodate me. It was nine
o'clock but not quite dark, as our northward course had already taken us
into the latitude of the longer days. She had made her nest admirably
and lay upon her sofa in a becoming dressing-gown and cap, resting from
her labours. It was her regular practice to spend the voyage in her
cabin, which smelt good (such was the refinement of her art), and she
had a secret peculiar to herself for keeping her port open without
shipping seas. She hated what she called the mess of the ship and the
idea, if she should go above, of meeting stewards with plates of
supererogatory food. She professed to be content with her situation (we
promised to lend each other books and I assured her familiarly that I
should be in and out of her room a dozen times a day), and pitied me for
having to mingle in society. She judged this to be a limited privilege,
for on the deck before we left the wharf she had taken a view of our
fellow-passengers.
'Oh, I'm an inveterate, almost a professional observer,' I replied, 'and
with that vice I am as well occupied as an old woman in the sun with her
knitting. It puts it in my power, in any situation, to _see_ things. I
shall see them even here and I shall come down very often and tell you
about them. You are not interested to-day, but you will be to-morrow,
for a ship is a great school of gossip. You won't believe the number of
researches and problems you will be engaged in by the middle of the
voyage.'
'I? Never in the world--lying here with my nose in a book and never
seeing anything.'
'You will participate at second hand. You will see through my eyes, hang
upon my lips, take sides, feel passions, all sorts of sympathies and
indignations. I have an idea that your young lady is the person on board
who will interest me most.'
'Mine, indeed! She has not been near me since we left the dock.'
'Well, she is very curious.'
'You have such cold-blooded terms,' Mrs. Nettlepoint murmured. '_Elle ne
sait pas se conduire_; she ought to have come to ask about me.'
'Yes, since you are under her care,' I said, smiling. 'As for her not
knowing how to behave--well, that's exactly what we shall see.'
'You will, but not I! I wash my hands of her.'
'Don't say that--don't say that.'