"You will send me back to work sooner than I expected."
"When?"
"At the end of the week."
"And I expect my husband to-morrow."
I don't suppose she meant it, but she said it as if she regretted his coming.
"Is he fond of yachting?" I asked.
"It bores him to tears," she laughed. "Most of the things which I like do. Still, he is very good to me. I am an old man's darling, you know."
It was the first time she had mentioned her husband, and she had not shown the slightest curiosity in my affairs. She was just a good pal for the time being. That was how she had impressed me, but this afternoon she was—how shall I put it?—she was rather more of a woman than usual. I might easily imagine she had given me an opening for a serious flirtation. Her manner might suggest that I had become more to her than she had intended. I put the idea away from me, mentally kicking myself for allowing it to get into my head at all.
"We shall sail as usual to-morrow," she told her skipper when we landed.
"Very good, ma'am."