"Will you not allow me to give you an arm down stairs?" said he.
"Thank you, Major Biffin. It is rather crowded, and I can go better alone."
"You did not find the stairs in the 'Lahore' too crowded."
"Oh, yes, I did; very often. And the 'Lahore' and the 'Cagliari' are different things."
"Very different it seems. But the sea itself is not so fickle as a woman." And Major Biffin became a picture of injured innocence.
"And the land is not so dry as a man, Major Biffin; that is, some men. Ha! ha! ha! Good-morning, Major Biffin." And so saying, she went down by herself.
On the next day, Arthur still preferred his book to walking with Mrs. Price; and that lady was once again seen with her arm in that of Captain M'Gramm's. This made a considerable consternation in the ship; and in the afternoon there was a slight quarrel between the two ladies.
"And so, Minnie, you are going to take up with that fellow again?"
"No; I am not. But I don't choose to be left altogether to myself."
"I never would have anything to say to a married man that drops his wife as he does."