"But supposing the two other fellows are not the kind of people you like to be cooped up with at close quarters, during a long voyage?"
"Oh, one chances that," replied David. "And it is always possible to make the best of the most adverse circumstances."
Diana became suddenly anxious to be rid of David. At their next place of call, she arranged to leave him for twenty minutes.
No sooner had David disappeared, than Diana ordered her chauffeur to speed to Cockspur Street.
She swept into the office of the steamship company, asking for a plan of the boat, the manager of the booking department, the secretary of the company, and the captain of the ship, if he happened to be handy, all in a breath, and in so regal a manner, that she soon found herself in an inner sanctum, and in the presence of a supreme official. While there, after much consultation over a plan of the ship, she sat down and wrote a cheque for so large a sum, that she was bowed out to her motor by the great man, himself.
"And mind," said Diana, turning in the doorway, "no mention of my name is to appear. It is to be done 'with the compliments of the Company.'"
"Your instructions shall be implicitly obeyed, madam," said the supreme official, with a final bow.
"Nice man," remarked Diana to herself, as the motor glided off into the whirl of traffic. "Now that is the kind of person it would be quite possible to marry, and live with, without ructions. No amount of training would ever induce David to bow and implicitly obey instructions."
The ready dimples peeped out, as Diana leaned back, enjoying the narrow shaves by which her chauffeur escaped collisions all along Piccadilly.