'Oh dear! I had no idea I was so late as that. Perhaps you had better scold me. Somebody ought to do it, and the steward seems a little afraid.'
'You over-estimate my courage. I am a little afraid, too.'
'Then you do think I deserve it?'
'I didn't say that, nor do I think it. I confess, however, that up to this moment I felt just a trifle lonely.'
'Just a trifle! Well, that is flattery. How nicely you English do turn a compliment! Just a trifle!'
'I believe, as a race, we do not venture much into compliment making at all. We leave that for the polite foreigner. He would say what I tried to say a great deal better than I did, of course, but he would not mean half so much.'
'Oh, that's very nice, Mr. Wentworth. No foreigner could have put it nearly so well. Now, what about going on deck?'
'Anywhere, if you let me accompany you.'
'I shall be most delighted to have you. I won't say merely a trifle delighted.'
'Ah! Haven't you forgiven that remark yet?'