That at least was what darkened his vision for the moment. Afterwards,
after they had bumped at the landing-place and he had assisted their
getting ashore, everything found itself sponged over by the mere
miracle of the encounter.
They could so much better at last, on either side, treat it as a
wild extravagance of hazard, that the situation was made elastic by
the amount of explanation called into play. Why indeed--apart from
oddity--the situation should have been really stiff was a question
naturally not practical at the moment, and in fact, so far as we
are concerned, a question tackled, later on and in private, only by
Strether himself. He was to reflect later on and in private that
it was mainly HE who had explained--as he had had moreover
comparatively little difficulty in doing. He was to have at all
events meanwhile the worrying thought of their perhaps secretly
suspecting him of having plotted this coincidence, taking such
pains as might be to give it the semblance of an accident. That
possibility--as their imputation--didn't of course bear looking
into for an instant; yet the whole incident was so manifestly,
arrange it as they would, an awkward one, that he could scarce keep
disclaimers in respect to his own presence from rising to his lips.
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