"I ignore you because you're jealous. May I have some more tea, Miss
Mannering?"
"Call me Myra, Scoutmaster Simpson of The Spectator troop, and you shall."
"I blush for my unblushing sex," said Dahlia.
"I blush for my family," said Archie. "That a young girl of gentle birth, nurtured in a peaceful English home, brought up in an atmosphere of old-world courtesy, should so far forget herself as to attempt to wheedle a promising young scoutmaster, who can light a fire, practically speaking, backwards—this, I repeat, is too much."
It was Thomas who changed the subject so abruptly.
"I suppose the tide comes as far as this?" he said.
"It does, captain."
"Then that would account for the boat having gone."
"That and Simpson's special knot," I said, keeping calm for the sake of the women and children.
Archie jumped up with a shout. The boat was about twenty yards from the shore, going very slowly upstream.