"Do you think I am going to leave that confounded humbug to have it all his own way?" he snarled. "I tell you—"
But here Culver intervened.
"You shut up!" he ordered sternly. "We've had too much of you already. You had better go."
He took Fletcher imperatively by the arm, but Jacques intervened.
"Pray let the gentleman speak, Dick!" he said. "It will ease his feelings perhaps."
"No!" broke in Hilary breathlessly. "No, no! I won't listen! I tell you I won't!" facing the big man almost fiercely. "Tell me yourself if you like!"
He looked at her closely, still with that odd half-smile upon his face.
Then, before them all, he took her hand, and, bending, held it to his lips.
"Thank you, Hilary!" he said very softly.
In the privacy of her own cabin Hilary removed her tatters and cooled her tingling cheeks. She and her brother were engaged to dine at Dick's bungalow that night, but an overwhelming shyness possessed her, and at the last moment she persuaded Bertie to go alone. It was plain that for some reason Bertie was hugely amused, and she thought it rather heartless of him.