"You're going ashore?"
"Uhuh."
"You have cards with you, I suppose? Your aunt's also?"
Bill faced her savagely.
"Stacks of cards," he barked. "Mine and my aunt's and my valet's and my secretary's and the steward's and everybody else's. And my shoes are clean and I've washed behind my ears and brushed my hair in the back. Anything else?"
"I don't think of a thing, unless you've forgotten a handkerchief," she said, sweetly.
The launch arrived and Bill boarded it. At the final moment it occurred to him that he had, perhaps, been ungracious.
"Want to come along?" he asked, looking up at the rail where Mary stood. He really hoped she would say yes.
Mary shook her head and smiled like the morning.
"I'm afraid I've too many things to do," she answered. "But thank you, just the same. You won't forget to call on Mrs. Hume, if she's here."