“To-morrow.” She said that she was a friend. If there was one thing he needed now, it was, God knew, a friend. Any friend. Someone to talk to, to discuss it with. Nobody knew about it but him. If anything happened to him there would be nobody to accuse Banat. He would go scot free to collect his wages. She was right. It was stupid to distrust her simply because she danced in night places. After all, Kopeikin had liked her and he was no fool about women.
They had reached the corner below the bridge structure. She stopped as he had known she would.
“If we stay here,” she said, “I shall get cold. It will be better if we go on walking round and round and round the deck.”
“I thought you wanted to ask me questions.”
“I have told you I am not inquisitive.”
“So you did. Do you remember that yesterday evening I told you that I came on this ship to avoid someone who was trying to shoot me and that this”-he held up his right hand-“was a bullet wound?”
“Yes. I remember. It was a bad joke.”
“A very bad joke. Unfortunately, it happened to be true.”
It was out now. He could not see her face but he heard her draw in her breath sharply and felt her fingers dig into his arm.
“You are lying to me.”