During the meal Frederick's eyes were constantly drawn to Hahlström's
tall figure. Though his hair was touched with grey, he was certainly
still to be counted a handsome man. Next to him sat a man of about
thirty-five, with a bushy beard, dark, bushy eyebrows, and dark, deep-set
eyes, which sometimes darted a sharp, piercing glance at Frederick--at
least so it seemed to Frederick. The man troubled him. He noticed that
Hahlström graciously permitted the stranger to entertain him and pay him
court.

"Do you know that tall, fair-haired man, Doctor von Kammacher?" the
physician asked. In his confusion Frederick failed to answer, looking
helplessly at Doctor Wilhelm. "He is a Swede. His name is Hahlström,"
Doctor Wilhelm continued. "A peculiar fellow. Earlier in his life he made
a mess of your and my profession. He is travelling with his daughter, not
an uninteresting little miss. She's been dreadfully seasick, and hasn't
left the horizontal in her berth since we set sail from Bremen. That dark
fellow sitting next to Hahlström seems to be something like, well, let us
say, her fiancé."

"By the way, what do you do for seasickness?" Frederick asked hastily, to
conceal his dismay and turn the conversation.




IX


"You here, Doctor von Kammacher? I can scarcely trust my eyes." At the