‘Married?’
‘Yes.’
‘Taking the missus with you?’
‘Yes.’
‘And children?’
‘No children.’
‘You have to get two references for an assisted passage, you know,’ said the clerk, producing a form.
‘Never mind that. I can’t wait for any rubbish of that kind. What’s the fare, steerage?’
The clerk looked it up. ‘Liverpool, Quebec. That’s what you want,’ he said. ‘Then you get right over to Calgary if you take my advice. I’ll write it all down for you.’
He did so, in a sloped, flourishing hand, on the back of one of the circulars. ‘You’ll get the Allan boat from Liverpool Saturday week,’ he said. George thanked him and plunged out into the street.