I
shall never forget it.'
'I believe that you are very cruel at heart, Miss Brewster.'
The young woman gave him a curious side-look, but did not answer. She
gathered the wraps she had taken from her cabin, and, handing them to him
before he had thought of offering to take them, she led the way to the
deck. He found their chairs side by side, and admired the intelligence of
the deck-steward, who seemed to understand which chairs to place
together. Miss Jennie sank gracefully into her own, and allowed him to
adjust the wraps around her.
'There,' she said, 'that's very nicely done; as well as the deck-steward
himself could do it, and I am sure it is impossible to pay you a more
graceful compliment than that. So few men know how to arrange one
comfortably in a steamer chair.'
'You speak as though you had vast experience in steamer life, and yet you
told me this was your first voyage.'
'It is. But it doesn't take a woman more than a day to see that the
average man attends to such little niceties very clumsily. Now just tuck
in the corner out of sight. There! Thank you, ever so much. And would you
be kind enough to--Yes, that's better. And this other wrap so. Oh, that
is perfect. What a patient man you are, Mr. Wentworth!'
'Yes, Miss Brewster. You _are_ a foreigner. I can see that now. Your
professed compliment was hollow. You said I did it perfectly, and then
immediately directed me how to do it.'
'Nothing of the kind.
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