"Go on. I tell you in a minute. You men, you got no sense."
"But what did she mean, about you?"
"Nothing. She's crazy. You no understand."
"You said yourself she'd come," he insisted.
"Yes, I say so. I tell her she better come. But you no understand women."
He was destined to find out, as years went by, that this was true. And when they stood on the jetty and looked down into the obscurity where Mr. Cassar sat in the boat patiently awaiting his passengers, Mr. Spokesly began to regain command of himself. For a moment, up there, he had been all abroad. The sudden emotional upheaval hardened his resolve.
"Well!" he said with a sudden intake of breath, and paused, once more overwhelmed by the change in his affairs. "I don't know what to say, Esther." He put his hand on her shoulder and she twisted away a little. "I feel as if I'd been having a long dream, and just woke up."
"Go!" she said huskily. "Good-bye. Good fortune. There is a carriage coming. My 'usban'."
"Anyhow ... Esther. I did what I promised her to do ... not my fault." He got down into the boat "Where's your hand? Good-bye ... good-bye.... Push off, son, push off.... After all I done...."
They saw, from a little way off, the white form of Esther spring forward and vanish behind the buildings as a feeble yellow flicker from a carriage lamp crawled slowly along the road and stopped. They heard laughter and confused arguments.