“It’s difficult to explain—an intuition, say—I am sure he stood up for us; and I don’t think it was Herr Dollmann, because he knows Davies already, and he’s always on the spot; and, in short I’ll swear it was Herr Böhme, who is leaving early to-morrow, and had never seen either of us. It was you, sir, who proposed that we should be asked to supper to-night—for inspection?”
“Inspection?” said Böhme; “what an extraordinary idea!”
“You can’t deny it, though! And one thing more; in the harbour just now—no—this is going too far; I shall mortally offend you.” I gave way to hearty laughter.
“Come, let’s have it. Your hallucinations are diverting.”
“If you insist; but this is rather a delicate matter. You know we were a little surprised to find you all on board; and you, Herr Böhme, did you always take such a deep interest in small yachts? I am afraid that it was at a certain sacrifice of comfort that you inspected ours!” And I glanced at the token he bore of his encounter with our lintel. There was a burst of pent-up merriment, in which Dollmann took the loudest share.
“I warned you, Böhme,” he said.
The engineer took the joke in the best possible part.
“We owe you apologies,” he conceded.
“Don’t mention it,” said Davies.
“He doesn’t mind,” I said; “I’m the injured one. I’m sure you never suspected Davies, who could?” (Who indeed? I was on firm ground there.)