shameless show of herself, slobbering over Douglas before all the
passengers, and he was sorry for the poor chap, who was covered with
blushes; and not for her at all--as anyone could see with half an eye!"

However, Cossie returned home by the Underground, fortified with the
conviction that the party who had witnessed her farewell were bound to
realise that Douglas Shafto was her affianced lover.

The last signal Shafto received, ere the group of friends had dissolved
into a blur, was a frantic waving of Cossie's damp handkerchief, and he
turned his face towards the bows of the _Blankshire_, now heading down
the river, with the happy exaltation of freedom and a grateful sense of
escape.




CHAPTER IX

THE "BLANKSHIRE"

The _Blankshire_ was a full and well-known ship. Not a few of the
passengers had made several trips in her and some, as they met in saloon
and corridors, exchanged loud hearty greetings and hailed one another as
old friends. These were chiefly planters and officials from Ceylon,
Southern India and Burma, who herded in parties both at meals and on deck.

It was not to be expected that Shafto would see one familiar face, and he
felt completely "out of it," as he took a scat at a draughty table
between two elderly people, whose interest was entirely concentrated upon