He pushed his way gently through the passengers, the cloak flying
partially open as he did so and displaying Her Majesty's uniform. He
treated all these people with that patient tolerance which belongs to
the mariner when dealing with landsmen. They were so many sheep penned
up in a conveyance. Well-dressed sheep, he admitted tacitly by the
withdrawal of his dripping cloak from their contact, but he treated
them in the bulk, failing to notice one more than another. He utterly
failed to observe Agatha Ingham-Baker, dainty and fresh in blue serge
and a pert sailor hat. She knew him at once, and his want of
observation was set down in her mind against him. She did not want him
to recognise her. Not at all. She merely wanted him to look at her,
and then to look again--to throw a passing crumb of admiration to her
greedy vanity, which lived on such daily food.
Fitz, intent on his errand, pushed his way towards the steps leading up
through the awning to the bridge. He seemed to know by some sailor
instinct where to find it. He paused at the foot of the iron steps to
give an order to the man who followed at his heel, and the attitude was
Luke's. The onlookers saw at a glance who this must be. The
resemblance was startling. There was merely Luke FitzHenry over again,
somewhat fairer, a little taller, but the same man.
The captain gave a sudden bluff laugh when Fitz emerged on the little
spidery bridge far above the deck.
"No doubt who you are, sir," he said, holding out his hand.
Then he stepped aside, and the two brothers met. They said nothing,
merely shaking hands, and Luke's eyes involuntarily went to the smart,
simple uniform half hidden by the cloak. Fitz saw the glance and drew
his cloak hastily round him. It was unfortunate.
And this was their meeting after three years.
"By George!" exclaimed Fitz, after a momentary pause, "she IS a fine
ship!"
Luke rested his hands on the white painted rail--almost a caress to the
great steamer--and followed the direction of his brother's glance,
"Yes," he admitted slowly, "yes, she is a good boat."
And then his deep eyes wandered involuntarily towards the tiny
Kittiwake--smart, man-of-war-like at her anchorage--and a sudden sharp
sigh broke from his lips. He had not got over it yet. He never would.
"So you have got away," he went on, "from Mahon at last?"
"Yes," answered Fitz.
"I should think you have had enough of Minorca to last you the rest of
your life," said Luke, looking abruptly down at the quarrelling boatmen
and the tangle of tossing craft beneath them.
"It is not such a bad place as all that," replied Fitz. "I--I rather
like it."
There was a little pause, and quite suddenly Luke said--
"The Ingham-Bakers are on board."
It would almost seem that these twin minds followed each other into the
same train of thought. Fitz frowned with an air of reflectiveness.
"The Ingham-Bakers," he said. "Who are they?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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