The Wings of the Morning

E-text prepared by G. Edward Johnson and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Author of A Son of the Immortals , The Stowaways , The Message , The Wheel o' Fortune , etc. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. Psalm CXXXIX, 9, 10
Involuntarily she caught his arm. He stepped a half-pace in front of her to ward off any danger that might be heralded by this uncanny phenomenon. Frontispiece

Lady Tozer adjusted her gold-rimmed eye-glasses with an air of dignified aggressiveness. She had lived too many years in the Far East. In Hong Kong she was known as the Mandarin. Her powers of merciless inquisition suggested torments long drawn out. The commander of the Sirdar , homeward bound from Shanghai, knew that he was about to be stretched on the rack when he took his seat at the saloon table.
Is it true, captain, that we are running into a typhoon? demanded her ladyship.
From whom did you learn that, Lady Tozer? Captain Ross was wary, though somewhat surprised.
From Miss Deane. I understood her a moment ago to say that you had told her.
I?
Didn't you? Some one told me this morning. I couldn't have guessed it, could I? Miss Iris Deane's large blue eyes surveyed him with innocent indifference to strict accuracy. Incidentally, she had obtained the information from her maid, a nose-tilted coquette who extracted ship's secrets from a youthful quartermaster.
Well—er—I had forgotten, explained the tactful sailor.