"Ah! Then you have nothing except my word. Well, sir, now that I come
to think it over, I believe my name is Locke, after all." He grinned.
"Anyhow, I love my little room and I think I'll keep it. Please don't
be peevish. I want you to do me a favor." He removed the ring from his
finger, and, handing it to the Purser, said "I want you to get me two
diamonds' and a ruby's worth of shirts and collars; and also a safety
razor. My mind has stopped working, but my whiskers continue to grow."
The officer managed to say with dignity: "You wish to raise money on
this, I presume? Very well, I'll see what can be done for you, Mr.
Locke." As he turned away, Kirk became conscious that the woman in the
next chair had let her book fall and was watching him with amused
curiosity. Feeling a sudden desire to confide in some one, he turned
his eyes upon her with such a natural, boyish smile that she could not
take offence, and began quite as if he had known her for some time:
"These people are money-mad, aren't they? Worst bunch of gold-diggers I
ever saw." Surprised, she half raised her book, but Kirk ran on:
"Anybody would think I was trying to find a missing will instead of a
shirt. That purser is the only man on the ship my size, and he
distrusts me."
The woman murmured something unintelligible. "I hope you don't mind my
speaking to you," he added. "I'm awfully lonesome. My name is Anthony,
Kirk Anthony."
Evidently the occupant of the next chair was not a football enthusiast,
for, although she bowed her acknowledgment, her face showed that the
name carried no significance.
"I understood you to tell the purser your name was Locke," said she, in
a very low-pitched, well-modulated voice. "I couldn't help overhearing."
"But it isn't really, it's Anthony. I'm the undignified heir to the
stocks and bonds of an old party by that name who lives in Albany."
"Darwin K. Anthony?" questioned she, quickly. "Is he your father?" Her
face lighted with a flash of genuine interest.
Kirk nodded. "He's my prodigal father and I'm the fatted son. Do you
know the governor?"
"Yes, slightly."
"Well, what do you think of that? He's a great old party, isn't he?" He
chuckled irrepressibly. "Did you ever hear him swear?"
The woman shook her head with a smile. "I hardly know him well enough
for that."
"Oh, he's a free performer; he swears naturally; can't help it.
Everybody knows he doesn't mean anything. It's funny, isn't it, with
all his credit, that I can't get a shirt until I put up a diamond ring?
He could buy a railroad with half that security."
"You are joking, are you not?"
"No indeed. I never needed a shirt so badly in my life. You see, I
didn't intend to take this trip; I didn't even know I had sailed. When
I woke up I thought this was a hotel. I've got no more baggage than a
robin."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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