Maseden was so astonished that he literally caught the girl by the shoulder and turned her partly round so that the light of a distant lamp fell on her face. The buffeting of the gale, aided, no doubt, by a feeling of excitement, had lent her a fine color, but, if her utterance was a trifle broken at first, it had soon become calm and measured, nor did she seem to resent his cavalier treatment.
“Are you joking?” he said, smiling in sheer perplexity.
“I fail to find any humor in my words,” came the instant reply.
“Quite so. They might have been framed by a lawyer. Isn’t there a ghost of a joke in that mere fact?”
“It appeared to my sister, and I fully agree with her, that we are suggesting the best way, the only way, out of an embarrassing dilemma.”
“Yes,” agreed Maseden, drawing a long breath. “I agree to all the terms; I insist only on priority of sailing from Buenos Ayres. I don’t see why I should risk my life just to save you a trifling inconvenience.”
“Then here is the address I spoke of,” and she proffered an envelope.
“Good. We’ll leave the rest to the law, Miss Nina.”
“Thank you. Good-by.”
She would have passed him, but he was on the after side of the gangway, and his outstretched hand restrained her.