of different kinds of canvas, flannel shirting, corduroy, knitted
wool and blankets. Of course we all mustered at the lunch table that
first day, people always do, and affect great brightness and
hysterical intellectuality and large appetites. I took my seat with
a resigned air. There was not a single pretty girl on board. There
were plenty of children, but I did not care much for the society of
children. The lady and her daughter between whom I sat, presumably
to hand them the dishes, did not like me any better than I liked them.
They were Canadians, that was easy to discover by their peculiarly
flat pronunciation, a detestable accent I hold, the American is
preferable. They were connected with the Civil Service in some way
through "papa" who figured much in their conversation and I fancy
the mother rather disliked the idea of such close contact with a
member of the commercial world. So much for colonial snobbery. The
lunch was good however, excellent, and we did justice to it. The
Bishop did not appear nor any of his family until we had almost
finished. Then he entered with his wife and the two eldest boys. The
only vacant seats were those opposite me which they took. I wondered
they had not placed him next the Capt., but divined that the handsome
brunette and the horsey broker, Wyatt and his wife of Montreal,
fabulously rich and popular, had arranged some time before to sit
next the Capt. My Bishop was perhaps annoyed. But if so, he did not
show it. He and his wife ate abundantly, it was good to see them. I
involuntarily smiled once when the Bishop sent his plate back the
second time for soup, and he caught me. To my surprise, he laughed
very heartily and said to me:

"I hope you do not think I am forgetting all the other good things
to come! I assure you we are very hungry, are we not, Mary?"