His comment probably denoted bewilderment. It may also have shown that the speaker had just ascertained something which supplied food for thought. In the half light Maseden allowed himself to smile, because the conceit instantly leaped into his mind that his fellow-countryman might have been told of that amazing marriage, and was now engaged in fitting together certain pieces of the puzzle.
If, for instance, Sturgess suspected that Madge Forbes was the lady who figured in that extraordinary episode, he must realize that in paying her such marked attention during the voyage he had placed himself, if not her, in a somewhat equivocal position.
“I had reason to believe that the captain recognized me,” went on Maseden. “Probably that is how Miss Forbes came to hear my name.”
“Miss Forbes!”
There was no mistaking the new note of surprise, even of annoyance, in Sturgess’s voice. He was gathering information at a rapid rate, and evidently found some difficulty in assimilating it.
“Yes,” broke in Nina Forbes. “That is my sister’s name, and my own. Mr. Gray was our stepfather. We passed as his daughters while traveling. The arrangement prevented all sorts of misunderstandings. In any event, it concerned none but ourselves. I only mentioned the fact casually to Mr. Maseden a few minutes ago.”
Some men might have caught a rebuke in the girl’s words. Not so Sturgess.
“I’m tickled to death at hearing it, anyhow,” he said cheerfully. “The one thing I couldn’t understand was how you two girls could be that poor chap’s daughters.... Well, now we’re all properly introduced, let’s talk as though we really knew one another. Has any one the beginning of a notion as to the time.”
Then Maseden remembered that he was wearing a watch which he had wound that morning. He produced it, and was able to discern the hands.