As soon as we had reassembled in the smoking-room, and the steward had brought in our cups of black coffee, Stewart Montague arose and said, “Gentlemen, I know just what you are going to say to me. It was brutal. Of course I didn’t think the ‘dragon’ would do such a thing. My plan was a complete failure. I expected that conversation would take place across the table all along the line, if I broke the ice.”
Whatever opinions were held, none found expression, and that evening in the smoking-room was as gloomy as the hour at the dinner-table.
Towards the shank of the evening a gentleman, who had never been in the smoking-room before, entered very quietly. We recognised him as the man who sat to the left of the captain opposite the “dragon.” He was a man of middle age and of somewhat severe aspect. He spoke with deliberation when he did speak, and evidently, weighed his words. All we knew of him was that the chair beside his at meal-times had been empty since the voyage began, and it was said that his wife took her meals in her state-room. She had appeared once on deck with him, very closely veiled, and hung upon his arm in a way that showed she was not standing the voyage very well, pleasant as it had been.
“Gentlemen,” began the man suavely, “I would like to say a few words to you if I were certain that my remarks would be taken in the spirit in which they are given, and that you would not think me intrusive or impertinent.”
“Go ahead,” said Montague, gloomily, who evidently felt a premonition of coming trouble.
The serious individual waited until the steward had left the room, then he closed the door. “Gentlemen,” he continued, “I will not recur to the painful incident which happened at the dinner-table to-night further than by asking you, as honourable men, to think of Mrs. Scrivener-Yapling’s position of great responsibility. She stands in the place of a mother to a number of young ladies who, for the first time in their lives, have left their homes.”
“Lord pity them,” said somebody, who was sitting in the corner.
The gentleman paid no attention to the remark.
“Now what I wish to ask of you is that you will not make Mrs. Scrivener-Yapling’s position any harder by futile endeavours to form the acquaintance of the young ladies.”
At this point Stewart Montague broke out. “Who the devil are you, sir, and who gave you the right to interfere?”