"I wrote twice. Once to my mother and once to you."
"We got no letters. Did you post them?"
"Ah!" said Lawrence, "that was unfortunate. I gave the first letter to a steward to send ashore from a San Francisco boat. Walters put the other in the mail."
"Who is Walters?"
"We'll come to him later. Get on with your story."
Foster told it as clearly as he could, though this took some time, and when he had finished was annoyed by his comrade's smile. Lawrence seldom took things seriously enough.
"Jake is a born meddler," he remarked to the others. "He can't resist the temptation to put crooked matters right."
"It is a useful habit," said Mrs. Stephen quietly.
"Just so," Lawrence agreed. "Still it's a habit that ought to be carefully controlled and not, so to speak, be indulged out of sentimental impulses."
Foster felt embarrassed, although he thought he had said no more about
Carmen and Alice than was needed to make his narrative clear.