“I was thinking you had turned in,” said M'Grader to Tony, “as you had not come up.”
“Give me a light; I want a smoke badly. I felt that something was wrong with me, though I did n't know what it was. Is this Rory here?”
“Yes, sound asleep, poor fellow.”
“I 'll wager a trifle he has a lighter heart than either of us, Sam.”
“It might easily be lighter than mine,” sighed M'Grader, heavily.
Tony sighed too, but said nothing, and they walked along side by side, with that short jerking stride men pace a deck with, feeling some sort of companionship, although no words were exchanged between them.
“You were nigh being late,” said M'Grader, at last “What detained you on shore?”
“I saw her!” said Tony, in a low muffled voice.
“You saw her! Why, you told me you were determined not to see her.”
“So I was, and so I intended. It came about by mere accident That strange fellow, Skeffy, you've heard me speak of,—he pushed me plump into the room where she was, and there was nothing to be done but to speak to her.”