CHAPTER VIII
PRESENTS THE HEAD OF THE FIRM
"I don't care what you say, Purser, me lad," Captain Image repeated, "but I call Miss O'Neill pretty."
"Well," admitted Mr. Balgarnie, who prided himself on being a bit of a judge, "she may be that as well, but I still stick to it that her face is what I call strong."
"I hate the word 'strong.' When a she-missionary is too homely looking to be anything else, she prides herself on wearing a strong face."
"No, sir. 'Intense' for lady missionary," Mr. Balgarnie corrected.
"Strong," snapped his superior officer. Captain Image was of Welsh extraction and disliked contradiction.
The purser shifted his ground. "Well, at any rate, sir, you'll own she's mighty standoffish. I used to call good old Godfrey O'Neill, Godfrey, and therefore naturally I called his daughter Kate, and told her why. She didn't seem to hear me."
"She wasn't Godfrey's daughter, anyway. Godfrey never married, but I believe he'd nieces. Probably Miss Kate is one of them. The old man must have left her the business. Thing that amazes me is the way she's taken her grip of the concern, and made it hum."
"And kept it dark even in Liverpool that she was a woman. That old head clerk of hers, that people thought was the manager, must be a rare close-lipped one."