Captain Fuller took me into his confidence one evening, and said—
“What can have persuaded that lovely girl to marry that horrible man? Did he pass himself off as an Italian, or a Greek, or what? Handsome, I suppose he is, but what an expression! And it strikes me, that the nearer he approaches his native shores, the more native he becomes—even in his dress. He has dropped his smart tweed suit for white duck, his deerstalker for a fez, and the fine new gloss of his European manners has worn down. He would like to poison me, and I should be delighted to kick him—to kick him for half an hour.”
“Well, I sincerely hope you will keep the peace; we have only seven days more. We sight Perim to-night,” I added consolingly.
“Seven days more! Yes, I wonder what sort of a life that wretched girl will lead. She is very simple, and as ignorant in some ways as a child.”
“She will have carriages and horses, and servants, and lovely diamonds.”
“And do you think they will make her happy?”
“I am sure I don’t know; it satisfies some women.”
“Yes, but not when they are married to a native of India, with whom they can have but little in common, and who has an uncivilized temper. Where is she to live?” he inquired, with undissembled interest.
“I do not know,” I returned, with a shake of my head. “She is rather vague about it herself.”
“But surely you can find out? You have been very kind to her, and I am certain that to feel she has one friend of her own sex in the country, would make her happier. Give her your address; you might drop her a line, and ask how she is getting on. It would be an act of charity; for, to tell you the truth, I have my doubts of that fellow. I would not trust him as far as I could throw him.”