The three days following the events recorded in the preceding chapter
were notable to us all. Because my own affairs and experiences are of
the least account, I shall record them first: they will at least throw
a little light on the history of people who appeared previously in this
tale, and disappeared suddenly when the 'Fulvia' reached London, to make
room for others.

The day after Phil Boldrick's death I received a letter from Hungerford,
and also one from Belle Treherne. Hungerford had left the Occidental
Company's service, and had been fortunate enough to get the position of
first officer on a line of steamers running between England and the West
Indies. The letter was brusque, incisive, and forceful, and declared
that, once he got his foot firmly planted in his new position, he would
get married and be done with it. He said that Clovelly the novelist had
given a little dinner at his chambers in Piccadilly, and that the guests
were all our fellow-passengers by the 'Fulvia'; among them Colonel Ryder,
the bookmaker, Blackburn the Queenslander, and himself.

This is extracted from the letter:

. . . Clovelly was in rare form.--Don't run away with the idea
that he's eating his heart out because you came in just ahead in the
race for Miss Treherne. For my part--but, never mind!--You had
phenomenal luck, and you will be a phenomenal fool if you don't
arrange for an early marriage. You are a perfect baby in some
things. Don't you know that the time a woman most yearns for a man
is when she has refused him? And Clovelly is here on the ground,
and they are in the same set, and though I'd take my oath she would
be loyal to you if you were ten thousand miles from here for ten