about it. The recollection tortures me."

"That's just what you want. It's the counter-irritation principle.
Persevere and you'll soon forget that you're on board ship at all."

"There's something in that," admitted Eustace reflectively. "It's very
good of you to be so sympathetic and interested."

"My dear fellow ... anything that I can do ... where did you meet her
first, for instance?"

"At a dinner...." Eustace Hignett broke off abruptly. He had a good
memory and he had just recollected the fish they had served at that
dinner--a flabby and exhausted looking fish, half sunk beneath the
surface of a thick white sauce.

"And what struck you most forcibly about her at first? Her lovely hair,
I suppose?"

"How did you know she had lovely hair?"

"My dear chap, I naturally assumed that any girl with whom you fell in
love would have nice hair."

"Well, you are perfectly right, as it happens. Her hair was remarkably
beautiful. It was red...."

"Like autumn leaves with the sun on them!" said Marlowe ecstatically.

"What an extraordinary thing! That is an absolutely exact description.