"After I arranged about that I went to see Dordess——"
"Was he friendly?"—this anxiously.
"Yes, indeed. We understand each other. I always was attracted to him, and he is resigned to the inevitable now. He says he's content to be an uncle to our children."
"Evan!"
"He was to sound the other fellows, you know, and find out how they were disposed towards the new trips. Well, Anway and Tenterden decline with thanks. That was to be expected. But the others, Domville, Burgess, Minturn, and that odd little chap in the grey suit with the big eyes——"
"Paul Roman."
"Yes, they're all crazy to come. They have accepted me as a necessary evil. The little fellow, Roman, came into Dordess's office while I was there. Shook hands with me like a little man. He has pluck, that kid. I will never forget the dogged way he trailed me. By the way, why did you never take him on the Ernestina?"
"We did sometimes, and sometimes he remained on shore to trail Simeon Deaves. He made up as a girl, and you never spotted him. When you came aboard the Ernestina we had to hide him."
"The deuce you did!"
"What about Charley Straiker, Evan?"