It was five o'clock when she wakened. Through the open port she could
see the sea swelling gently, breaking into a little hesitating ripple of
foam here and there. She climbed very carefully down from her bunk;
Jimmy was still sleeping soundly. There was no one about save a few deck
hands scrubbing up above; they were out of sight of land now, and she
gave a deep sigh of exhilaration as she turned on the sea-water spigot
of the bath and, opening the port wide, felt the keen morning breezes
blowing in upon her. Coming out ten minutes later, pink-cheeked and
damp-haired, she met Louis in pyjamas, hurrying along with a towel over
his arm.
"Were you ill yesterday?" she said, standing in front of him. "I could
hear your bunk creaking lots of times in the night, and once or twice
you gave the partition an almighty crack."
"Oh, I'm all right," he said, dashing past without looking at her.
"I suppose," she called softly, with mischief in her eyes, "that you are
intentionally making for the women's bathroom? Someone might want to use
it and be horrified to see you emerging--"
"Laughing at me again, aren't you?" he cried savagely, turning with a
scowl and standing undecided.
She hurried below to give him a chance to retire gracefully.
When she was in a white frock and Jimmy shining with soap and water,
they took their places at the breakfast-table.
Pages:
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162