“Have you any letter from them guaranteeing the room?” asked the purser blandly.
“No. I supposed until now that their word was sufficient.”
“Well, you see, I am helpless in this case. These two tickets are exactly the same with the exception of the numbers. Mr. Buel has just as much right to insist on being alone in the room as far as the tickets go, and I have had no instructions in the matter.”
“But it is an outrage that they should promise me one thing in London, and then refuse to perform it, when I am helpless on the ocean.”
“If they have done so—”
“If they have done so? Do you doubt my word, sir?”
“Oh, not at all, sir, not at all,” answered the purser in his most conciliatory tone. “But in that case your ticket should have been marked 159-160.”
“I am not to suffer for their blunders.”
“I see by this list that you paid £12 for your ticket. Am I right?”
“That was the amount, I believe. I paid what I was asked to pay.”