equally-attentive-to-anybody sort of style. The way he skirmished around
Mrs. Brimmer and Mrs. Markham with a basin the other day when it was so
rough convinced ME. It was a little too professional to suit my style."

"I suppose that was the reason why you went below so suddenly," rejoined
Brace, whose too sensitive blood was beginning to burn in his cheeks and
eyes.

"It's a shame to stay below this morning," said Miss Keene,
instinctively recognizing the cause of the discord and its remedy. "I'm
going on deck again--if I can manage to get there."

The three gentlemen sprang to accompany her; and, in their efforts to
keep their physical balance and hers equally, the social equilibrium was
restored.

By noon, however, the heavy cross-sea had abated, and the Excelsior bore
west. When she once more rose and fell regularly on the long rhythmical
swell of the Pacific, most of the passengers regained the deck. Even
Mrs. Brimmer and Miss Chubb ventured from their staterooms, and were
conveyed to and installed in some state on a temporary divan of cushions
and shawls on the lee side. For even in this small republic of equal
cabin passengers the undemocratic and distinction-loving sex had managed
to create a sham exclusiveness. Mrs. Brimmer, as the daughter of a
rich Bostonian, the sister of a prominent lawyer, and the wife of a
successful San Francisco merchant, who was popularly supposed to be
part-owner of the Excelsior, was recognized, and alternately caressed
and hated as their superior. A majority of the male passengers, owning
no actual or prospective matrimonial subjection to those charming
toad-eaters, I am afraid continued to enjoy a mild and debasing equality