which he had been looking, Eugen Hahlström and Miss Ingigerd Hahlström.




IV


He folded up the list and glanced about. There were about fifteen to
twenty men and women in the saloon, all engaged in breakfasting or giving
their orders to the stewards. To Frederick it seemed they were there for
no other purpose than to spy upon his emotions.

The steamer had already been travelling for an hour on the ocean. The
dining-room took up the full width of the vessel, and from time to time
its port-holes were darkened by the waves dashing against them. Opposite
Frederick sat a gentleman in uniform, who introduced himself as Doctor
Wilhelm, the ship's physician. Straightway a very lively medical
discussion began, though Frederick's thoughts were far away. He was
debating with himself how he should act at his first meeting with the
Hahlströms.

He tried to find support in self-deception, telling himself he had
boarded the _Roland_, not for the sake of little Ingigerd Hahlström, but
because he wanted to see New York, Chicago, Washington, Boston,
Yellowstone Park, and Niagara Falls. That is what he would tell the
Hahlströms--that a mere chance had brought them together on the _Roland_.

He observed that he was gaining in poise. Sometimes, when the adorer is
at a distance from the object of his devotion, the idolatry of love