As soon as he left their heads we sailed away.
The animals were magnificent, wanting nothing but guiding.
In town we went to the postoffice and bank, and then turned homewards.
The colonel talked well. We touched briefly on a score of standard subjects, and momentarily my respect for the man beside me increased.
He made many remarks worth recording, among these this:
"It is a very common mistake among men that they must rule their wives."
This was nearly four years ago, before the diffusion of the woman's rights question, now so generally discussed. The words, and his manner of saying them, gave me a clew to the track of his observations, if not his experience.
I glanced at the stern contour of his face, the unquiet glance of his eye, and chose to believe the latter.
Suddenly his manner changed.
"Mr. Cathmor, I have a fancy to receive your congratulations first. I am to be married in a few days, and bring my wife to the Ocean House," he said.