'You must have some dinner first,' she said decisively. There was no interchange of anxious doubts, no alleviating suggestions of obvious worthlessness, such as timid people proffer readily to persons suffering from suspense; and Brenda felt that there was a great courage behind the smiling woman's face at her side.
Trist went forward to where Captain Barrow was standing, smoking his evening pipe just abaft the mainmast.
'Will you get out the long-boat, please,' the ladies heard him say, 'with mast, and sail, and one man?'
Presently he joined them in the saloon, where they were pretending to dine, and hurriedly drank some soup. No one spoke, and the sound of the sailors' movements as they lowered the long-boat was the only break in an uncomfortable silence. The steward moved noiselessly and lithely, as behoved his calling.
'Your oilskins are in your state-room, sir,' he whispered presently to Trist, who soon afterwards passed through the narrow doorway into his little apartment.
When he came out he was fully clad against the fine cold rain which was falling now. Even in heavy sea-boots he managed to walk smoothly.
The lamp had been lighted in the saloon, and he stood for a moment within its rays, looking at the two ladies. It was an incongruous and unconsciously dramatic picture thus formed in the refined little saloon, the two gracious women smiling wistfully at the straight, slim man in gleaming waterproofs. The very contrast between their delicate evening-dresses and his seaman-like attire was a shock. The white tablecloth, adorned with polished silver and odorous flowers, seemed a mockery, because there were two empty chairs beside it.
He leant over the back of his chair, and, reaching his wine-glass, which stood half full, he emptied it.
'Do not be anxious,' he said; 'I expect we shall be back before you have finished dinner.'
And he passed out of the saloon, swinging his sou'-wester by its strings.