After that first night the girl kept discreetly to her stateroom. I was
relieved; but I thought of her a good deal. I had little else to do.
Pacing a drunken deck and smoking, I wove unsatisfactory theories,
asking myself what was her need of secrecy, what the item she wanted
hidden, what the errand that had made her sail on the vessel a week
after the spectacular torpedoing of a sister-ship? Did she know this Van
Blarcom or did she merely dread any notice? And above all, who was the
man and had he been watching when I tossed that wretched extra across
the rail?
I saw something of him, of course, as time went on. Naturally we four
bold spirits, the ubiquitous McGuntrie, Van Blarcom, the young reservist
Pietro Ricci,--a very good sort of fellow,--and I were herded together
beyond escape. Also, a foursome at bridge seemed divinely indicated by
our number, and to avert a sheer paralysis of ennui we formed the habit
of winning each other's money at that game.
As we played I studied Van Blarcom, but without results. It was
ruffling; I should have absorbed in so much intercourse a fairly
definite impression of his personality, profession, and social grade.
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