"O!" she cried, "am I really like that? No wonder Jim
..." She paused. "Why, it's just as lovely as he's
good!" she cried: an epigram which was appreciated, and
repeated as we made our salutations, and called out
after the retreating couple as they passed away under
the lamplight on the wharf."
Thus it was that our farewells were smuggled through
under an ambuscade of laughter, and the parting over
ere I knew it was begun. The figures vanished, the
steps died away along the silent city front; on board,
the men had returned to their labours, the captain to
his solitary cigar; and after that long and complex day
of business and emotion, I was at last alone and free.
It was, perhaps, chiefly fatigue that made my heart so
heavy. I leaned, at least, upon the house, and stared
at the foggy heaven, or over the rail at the wavering
reflection of the lamps, like a man that was quite done
with hope and would have welcomed the asylum of the
grave. And all at once, as I thus stood, the CITY
OF PEKIN flashed into my mind, racing her thirteen
knots for Honolulu, with the hated Trent--perhaps with
the mysterious Goddedaal--on board; and with the
thought, the blood leaped and careered through all my
body.
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