"I expect he's like all the rest."
"No, he isn't!" she observed decisively.
"Why won't he come? Perhaps he's a bad sailor."
"He didn't even trouble himself to say that. He was in such a hurry to refuse that he didn't bother about an excuse. And this afternoon he called, when I was in, and never asked for me, only left cards and bolted, although I had been to his house to ask him to come on The Wanderer."
"Afraid of you, is he?"
"I don't know, I'm sure. He's never been among us."
"Poor chap! But surely that's a reason for him to want to get in?"
"Wouldn't you think so? Wouldn't anyone think so? The way I'm bombarded! But he seems only anxious to keep out of everything."
"A pose very likely."
"I don't believe it is."