Strange she should seem more intrigued by that than concerned about her loss!
"I escaped, no matter how…."
"You don't know who stole the packet?"
"I don't recall the man among the passengers, but he may have been in one of the boats, a fellow of about my stature, with a flowing beard…."
He sketched broadly Ekstrom as he had seen him in the Stanistreet library.
Her eyes quickened.
"One such escaped in our boat, the second steward; I think his name was
Anderson."
"Doubtless the same."
"Then it is gone!"
For once in his acquaintance with her, that brave spirit seemed to falter: she became a burden, bereft for a little of all grace and spontaneity.