You would be liable to a suit for slander. Just think the
matter over calmly for the rest of the day before you take any further
action upon it, and I would strongly advise you not to mention this to
anyone on board. Then to-morrow, if you are still in the same frame of
mind, come to me.'
Thus dismissed, the young woman left the captain's room, and met Fleming
just outside, who said:
'Look here, Miss Brewster, I want to have a word with you. You were very
curt with me just now.'
'Mr. Fleming, I do not wish to speak to you.'
'Oh, that's all right--that's all right; but let me tell you this: you're
a pretty smart young woman, and you have done me one or two very evil
turns in your life. I have found out all about this affair, and it's one
of the funniest things I ever heard of.'
'Very funny, isn't it?' snapped the young woman.
'Of course it's very funny; but when it appears in full in the opposition
papers to the _Argus_, perhaps you won't see the humour of it--though
everybody else in New York will, that's one consolation.'
'What do you mean?'
'I mean to say, Jennie Brewster, that unless you are a fool, you will
drop this thing. Don't, for Heaven's sake, let anybody know you were
treated by an English girl in the way you were. Take my advice: say no
more about it.'
'And what business is it of yours?'
'It isn't mine at all; that is why I am meddling with it. Aren't you well
enough acquainted with me to know that nothing in the world pleases me so
much as to interfere in other people's business? I have found out all
about the girl who kept you in, and a mighty plucky action it was too.
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