"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. Phillips," he declared. "I've heard tell of you considerable." Egbert looked at the hand. His expression was still queer. "Oh--ah--how d'ye do?" he murmured. "Mr. Cahoon and I are old friends," explained Sears. "I am boardin' here with him." "Yus," put in Judah. "And afore that I shipped cook aboard Cap'n Sears's vessels for a good many v'yages. The cap'n and I get along fust rate. He's all right, Cap'n Sears is, _I_ tell ye!" Mr. Phillips murmured something to the effect that he was sure of it. He did not seem very sure of Judah. Mr. Cahoon did not notice the uncertainty, he pushed his hand nearer to the visitor's. "I'm real glad to meet you," he said. Egbert gingerly took the proffered hand, moved it up and down once and then dropped it, after which he looked at his glove. Judah looked at it, too. "Kind of chilly outdoor to-night, is it?" he asked. "Didn't seem so to me." Again his lodger came to the rescue. "Well, Mr. Phillips," he said, "you gave us all a little surprise, didn't you? Of course we expected you in a general sort of way, but we didn't know when you would make port." Egbert bowed. "I scarcely knew myself," he said. "My plans were somewhat vague and--ah--rather hurriedly made, naturally. Of course my great sorrow, my bereavement----" He paused, sighed and then brushed the subject away with a wave of his glove. "You won't mind, I'm sure," he said, "if I don't dwell upon that just now. It is too recent, the shock is too great, I really cannot.... But I am so sorry to hear of your disability. A railway wreck, I understand. Outrageous carelessness, no doubt. Really, Captain Kendrick, one cannot find excuses for the reckless mismanagement of your American railways.... Why, what is it? Don't you agree with me?" The captain had looked up momentarily. Now he was looking down again. "Don't you agree with me?" repeated Egbert. "Surely you, of all people, should not excuse their recklessness." Sears shook his head. "Oh, I wasn't tryin' to," he replied. "I was only wonderin' why you spoke of 'em as 'your' railroads. They aren't mine, you know. That is, any more than they are Judah's--or yours--or any other American's. No such luck." Mr. Phillips coughed, smiled, coughed again, and then explained that he had used the word 'your' without thinking. "I have been so long an--ah--shall I say exile, Captain Kendall," he observed, "that I have, I presume, fallen somewhat into the European habit of thinking and--ah--speaking. Habit is a peculiar thing, is it not?" Mr. Cahoon, intensely interested in the conversation, evidently felt it his duty to contribute toward it.