Counsellor's Lady seemed to be absorbed in the progress of the game. He
also looked on, a malignant smile contracting slightly the lines of his
mouth as he was mentally ejaculating by way of consolation, "Captain,
Captain! . . . You little know what is awaiting you!"

On terra firma, he would never again have approached these men; but life
on a transatlantic liner, with its inevitable promiscuousness, obliges
forgetfulness. The following day the Counsellor and his friends came in
search of him, flattering his sensibilities by erasing every irritating
memory. He was a distinguished youth belonging to a wealthy family, and
all of them had shops and business in his country. The only thing was
that he should be careful not to mention his French origin. He was an
Argentinian; and thereupon, the entire chorus interested itself in the
grandeur of his country and all the nations of South America where they
had agencies or investments--exaggerating its importance as though its
petty republics were great powers, commenting with gravity upon the
deeds and words of its political leaders and giving him to understand
that in Germany there was no one who was not concerned about the
future of South America, predicting for all its divisions most glorious
prosperity--a reflex of the Empire, always, provided, of course, that
they kept under Germanic influence.

In spite of these flatteries, Desnoyers was no longer presenting himself
with his former assiduity at the hour of poker. The Counsellor's wife
was retiring to her stateroom earlier than usual--their approach to the
Equator inducing such an irresistible desire for sleep, that she had
to abandon her husband to his card playing. Julio also had mysterious
occupations which prevented his appearance on deck until after midnight.
With the precipitation of a man who desires to be seen in order to avoid
suspicion, he was accustomed to enter the smoking room talking loudly as