The Honorable Percival by Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice
page 15 of 164 (09%)
page 15 of 164 (09%)
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A COUNTER-IRRITANT
If there is a place on earth where one meets with the present face to face, it is on shipboard. Whether salt water and sea air act as a narcotic on memories of the past and dreams of the future has never been proved, but it is undeniably true that at sea time becomes a static thing and concerns itself solely with the affairs of the moment. During that first long afternoon Percival slept; and if the faithless Hortense essayed to haunt his dreams, she was drowned in the profundity of his slumber. It was not until his valet touched his arm and respectfully submitted the information that the first gong had sounded for dinner that he woke to the fact that the _Saluria_ was still swinging from the trough to the summit of increasingly high waves and that the deck was virtually deserted. "If you are not feeling quite the thing, sir," said the valet, solicitously, "shall I serve your dinner on deck, sir?" Instantly Percival rose. "By no means," he said coldly. "Get me a sherry and bitters. I'll dress at once." Proud indifference to every passing sensation was manifest in each detail of his careful toilet when he took his place at the captain's table some twenty minutes later. With a haughty inclination of the head, he seated himself and, apparently unaware of the glances cast upon him, devoted himself to an absorbed perusal of the menu. He was quite used to |
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