"Sit down," he said, laying a hand on
her dress and (aided by a lurch of the
vessel) pulling her into her seat again, "and
listen to me. And then I shall insist upon
an apology. This is too much!"

"I shall ask the captain----"

"You will not, I promise you. Look
here! When I was in Panama, I met there
a fellow I used to know in New York. He
told me that he had recently crossed the
continent with Professor Meschines, who
used to teach geology and botany at Yale
College, when he and I were students there.
The professor had come over partly for the
fun of the thing, and partly to look for
specimens in the line of his profession.
My friend parted from him at San Francisco:
the professor was going farther south."

"What has all this to do with the woman
who----"

"It has this to do with it,--that the
professor is the woman! He is over sixty
years old, and has always been a good friend
of mine; but I am not going to marry him.
I am not engaged to him, he is not beautiful,