"It's pretty much what I expected," he said. "I'm going to sleep and I don't want to be wakened before it's necessary."
He crawled below, and he had hardly stretched himself out upon the locker before his eyes closed. When he opened them, feeling more like his usual self, he saw that the sun was above the horizon, and he recognized by the boat's motion that the wind had fallen. Going out he found her driving through the water under her whole mainsail and the helmsman sitting stolidly at the tiller. The man stretched out a hand and pointed to the hazy hills to port.
"We'll fetch the Narrows some time before noon. If you'll take the helm,
I guess we'll half that meat for breakfast"
His prediction proved correct, for Carroll reached his hotel about midday, and hastily changing his clothes set off to call on Nairn. He had not yet recovered his mental equipoise and, in spite of his long, sound sleep, he was still badly jaded physically. On arriving at the house, he was shown into a room where Mrs. Nairn and her husband were sitting with Evelyn, waiting for the midday meal The elder lady rose with a start of astonishment when he walked in.
"Man," she cried, "what's wrong? Ye're looking like a ghost."
It was not an inapt description. Carroll's face was worn and haggard, and his clothes hung slack upon him.
"I've been feeling rather unsubstantial of late, as the result of a restricted diet," he answered with a smile sinking into the nearest chair.
Nairn regarded him with carefully suppressed curiosity.
"Ye're over lang in coming," he remarked. "Where left ye your partner?"
Carroll sat silent a moment or two, his eyes fixed on Evelyn. It was evident that his sudden appearance unaccompanied by Vane, which he felt had been undesirably dramatic, had alarmed her. At first, he felt compassionate, and then he was suddenly possessed by hot indignation. This girl, with her narrow prudish notions and dispassionate nature, had presumed to condemn his comrade, unheard, for an imaginary offense. The thing was at once ludicrous and intolerable; if his news brought her dismay, let her suffer. His nerves, it must be remembered, were not in their normal condition.