"Why, he went out the day before yesterday to call on you."

"Yes," said Mr. Chalk, with an effort, "so I did, but half-way to yours I
got a nail in my shoe and had to come home."

"Home!" exclaimed his wife. "Why, you were gone two hours and
thirty-five minutes."

"It was very painful," said Mr. Chalk, as the captain stared in open-eyed
astonishment at this exact time-keeping. "One time I thought that I
should hardly have got back."

"But you didn't say anything about it," persisted his wife.

"I didn't want to alarm you, my dear," said Mr. Chalk.

Mrs. Chalk looked at him, but, except for a long, shivering sigh which
the visitor took for sympathy, made no comment.

"I often think that I must have missed a great deal by keeping single,"
said the latter. "It must be very pleasant when you're away to know that
there is somebody at home counting the minutes until your return."

Mr. Chalk permitted himself one brief wondering glance in the speaker's
direction, and then gazed out of window.

"There's no companion like a wife," continued the captain. "Nobody else
can quite share your joys and sorrows as she can. I've often thought how
pleasant it must be to come home from a journey and tell your wife all