‘_We_ shall be none the worse for it,’ remarked Mr Fowler, shaking himself like a huge water-dog; ‘it’s the ladies who are to be pitied for wetting their pretty dresses, and prettier faces.’ But the women did not wait to be condoled with. As soon as they had regained a normal position, and ascertained there was nothing to be frightened at in ‘shipping a sea,’ they ran away to their berths to change their clothes, and recover the shock sustained by their modesty. In the second cabin the passengers had not escaped a wetting. Plenty of water had penetrated the hatch, and made their abode damp and uncomfortable, and it was not until the first dog-watch had commenced, and the swinging lamps were lit, that they could sit with dry feet in the general dining-room. ‘My pretty,’ whispered Maggie Greet, as she crept up to Iris’s side for a moment, ‘you’ll have to keep to your berth this evening, if you don’t want to have a shindy, for Will says as _he’s_ coming down to play here with the others.’ ‘_Mr Harland?_’ exclaimed Iris, blanching like a lily. ‘Oh, Maggie! _why_ does he come here? Who asked him?’ ‘I don’t know, dear. Not Mr Farrell, you may be sure, for they hate each other like poison. But Will says he’s been kicked out of every other cabin. They’re fighting very shy of him upstairs, as well they may. And he overheard a gentleman asking Mr Harland why he didn’t come down and play on the lower deck, and he said he’d try it to-night. So be on your guard, that’s all.’ ‘What shall I do?’ said Iris distressfully. ‘If he takes to it as a custom, he will drive me to take refuge in my berth every evening. I never thought the saloon passengers would be allowed down here.’ ‘Well! I expect, if you want to get rid of him, you’ve only to show yourself. I believe he’d rather see the devil just now than you. For _he_ don’t interfere with his wickedness, but _you_ will! It would be all up with his game with Miss Vansittart, if you told your true name to the captain! Wouldn’t it, my dear?’ ‘And that is what I shall be compelled to do, Maggie, sooner or later. I cannot stand by and see him commit such a wickedness, and hold myself guiltless.’ ‘Not even if you could have Mr--I mean a better man instead of him,’ insinuated Maggie. ‘No, Maggie! a better man wouldn’t take me on such conditions. But I don’t want to shame Mr Harland before all the ship, if a more private means of warning him will have the same effect. I sit sometimes for hours and try to decide what will be for the best, and I always come to the same conclusion--that I am one of the most unfortunate women on the face of the earth.’