CHAPTER XLIV
THE GERMANS ARE ANNOYED
Mr. Sabin ate his luncheon with unimpaired appetite and with his usual care that everything of which he partook should be so far as possible of the best. The close presence of the German man-of-war did not greatly alarm him. He had some knowledge of the laws and courtesies of maritime life, and he could not conceive by what means short of actual force he could be inveigled on board of her. Mr. Watson’s last words had been a little disquieting, but he probably held an exaggerated opinion as to the powers possessed by his employers. Mr. Sabin had been in many tighter places than this, and he had sufficient belief in the country of his recent adoption to congratulate himself that it was an English boat on which he was a passenger. He proceeded to make himself agreeable to Mrs. Watson, who, in a charming costume of blue and white, and a fascinating little hat, had just come on to luncheon.
“I have been talking,” he remarked, after a brief pause in their conversation, “to your husband this morning.”
She looked up at him with a meaning smile upon her face.
“So he has been telling me.”
“I hope,” Mr. Sabin continued gently, “that your advice to him—I take it for granted that he comes to you for advice—was in my favour.”