“And his own!” she cried. “And he took the U-boat in!”
“Ay, he did that—and her commander, too! Oh, he took her in right enough—safe into the big steel net! . . . They found him there wi’ the dead ’Uns, later on—only he had been murdered.”
Esther clasped her hands. “None braver’n that!” she said in a whisper.
Mrs. Cathles turned to her brother, who had not altered his attitude, though he had let his pipe go out.
“Alick,” she said, “what do ye say to that?”
“’Twasn’t so bad,” he said softly, “’twasn’t so bad, Maggie. Ha’ ye any matches?”
Shortly afterwards he took his departure, and then David saw Esther home.
On the way she broke a silence by remarking: “David, I wish ye wasn’t sailin’ wi’ that man.”
“How so?”
“He’s not natural. Something’s wrong about him.”