Miss Fairfax did not like the purser, but she found it difficult to snub any one. Therefore she answered the man pleasantly, though not with any especial enthusiasm.
“Why! no, Mr. Sprigg. I don’t consider this rough; I’m rather a good sailor, you know. I simply wasn’t hungry at tea-time.”
Mr. Sprigg came closer.
“By the way, Miss Fairfax,” he insinuated. “You know Lieutenant Howard is on board. If you’d like to have a peep at him, just say the word and I’ll manage. Oh!” he added, hastily, as a slight frown marred Miss Fairfax’s pretty brows, “I know you must be interested in his case. He’s a friend of Lieutenant Loving, and I read the notice in the paper to-day, you know.”
The look the girl gave him drove the smirk in haste from his face.
“The notice in the paper was entirely without foundation, Mr. Sprigg,” she declared, coldly. “As for seeing Mr. Howard, I’m afraid my tastes do not run in that direction. Besides, he probably would not like to be stared at. He was a gentleman once, you know.”
She turned impatiently away and looked eastward. Then she uttered an exclamation.
“Why! Whatever’s happened to the water?” she cried.
The question was not surprising. In the last hour the sea had changed. From a smiling playfellow, lightly buffeting the ship, it had grown cold and sullen. The sparkles had died from the waves, giving place to a metallic lustre. Long, slow undulations swelled out of the southeast, chasing each other sluggishly up in the wake of the ship.
It did not need a sailor’s eye to tell that something was brewing. Miss Fairfax shivered slightly and drew her light wrap closer around her.