"What the deuce is the matter with you anyway, McLeod? You are talking a lot of rot to me about a young woman I have never seen before. Surely our experiences so far have been unpropitious enough. If it were not that I know about a little girl away back on your own Island, I should say that those moonlight promenades between Hong-Kong and Swatow had turned your head."
"Never mind, Doc. You know that a bad beginning makes a good ending. We people of Highland blood have a sort of second sight. We can see a bit into the future. I give you fair warning——"
There was another ripple of laughter, this time from forward, almost under the bridge. Then a woman's voice said:
"Oh, Captain Whiteley, I behaved myself most shockingly to-day."
"Surely not, Miss MacAllister. I couldn't conceive of your doing anything which wasn't charming."
"You told me that you were a Yorkshireman, Captain Whiteley. After such a speech as that I believe that you must have been born near Blarney Castle. But I really did behave shamefully."
"How?"
"I said just awful things to your doctor."
"And what ever did Dr. Sinclair do to deserve those 'awful things'?"
"It was all your fault, Captain Whiteley. When you introduced him, you did not tell me that he was a doctor. I was sea-sick, and—and in just dreadful humour. He offered assistance. I did not know that he was a medical doctor, sauced him, and sent him about his business. And now what shall I do to make amends? It was all your fault——"