I
doubt if the skipper himself knows that von Heumann has it on
him."
"And he has?"
"Must have."
"Then we have only him to deal with?"
He answered me without a word. Something white was fluttering
past once more, and Raffles, stepping forth, made the promenaders
three.
II
I do not ask to set foot aboard a finer steamship than the Uhlan
of the Norddeutscher Lloyd, to meet a kindlier gentleman than her
commander, or better fellows than his officers. This much at
least let me have the grace to admit. I hated the voyage. It
was no fault of anybody connected with the ship; it was no fault
of the weather, which was monotonously ideal. Not even in my own
heart did the reason reside; conscience and I were divorced at
last, and the decree made absolute. With my scruples had fled all
fear, and I was ready to revel between bright skies and sparkling
sea with the light-hearted detachment of Raffles himself. It was
Raffles himself who prevented me, but not Raffles alone. It was
Raffles and that Colonial minx on her way home from school.
What he could see in her--but that begs the question. Of course
he saw no more than I did, but to annoy me, or perhaps to punish
me for my long defection, he must turn his back on me and devote
himself to this chit from Southampton to the Mediterranean.
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