The Voice in the Fog - Page 35/93

Thomas was not in love with Kitty. (Indeed, this isn't a love story at

all.) Stewards, three days out, are not in the habit of falling in

love with their charges (Maundering and Drool notwithstanding). He was

afraid of her; she vaguely alarmed him; that was all.

For seven years he had dwelt in his "third floor back"; had breakfasted

and dined with two old maids, their scrawny niece, and a muscular young

stenographer who shouted militant suffrage and was not above throwing a

brickbat whenever the occasion arrived. There was a barmaid or two at

the pub where he lunched at noon; but chaff was the alpha and omega of

this acquaintance. Thus, Thomas knew little or nothing of the sex.

The women with whom he conversed, played the gallant, the hero, the

lover (we none of us fancy ourselves as rogues!) were those who peopled

his waking dreams. She was La Belle Isoude, Elaine, Beatrice,

Constance; it all depended upon what book he had previously been

reading. It is when we men are confronted with the living picture of

some one of our dreams of them that women cease to dwell in the

abstract and become issues, to be met with more or less trepidation.

Back among some of his idle dreams there had been a Kitty, blue-eyed,

black-haired, slender and elfish.

Kitty sat down in her chair. "Well," she said, "I have found him."

"Found whom?" asked Mrs. Crawford.

"The private secretary."

"What?" Killigrew swung his feet to the deck. "What the dickens have

you been doing now? Who is it?"

"Webb."

"The steward?"

"Yes."

"Well, if that . . ." began Killigrew belligerently.

"Dad, either mother and I act as we please, or you may attend to the

home-bureau yourself. Mother, it was agreed and understood that I

should select any employee we might happen to need."

"It was, my dear."

"Very good. I want some one who will attend to the affairs honestly

and painstakingly. There must be no idler about the house; and any

young man . . ."

"Wouldn't an old one do?" suggested Killigrew.

"Whose set ideas would clash constantly with ours. And any young man

we know would idle and look on the whole affair as a fine joke. I've

had a talk with Webb. He's not a university man, but he's educated. I

found him reading Morte d'Arthur."

"Ah!"--from Crawford.

"He became a steward because he could find nothing else to do at the

present time. He has been poor, and I dare say he has known the pinch

of poverty. You said only this morning, dad, that he was the most

attentive steward you had ever met on shipboard. Besides, there is a

case in point. Our butler was a steward before you engaged him, six

years ago."