"
The harsh, wintry afternoon came to a pleasant close in the glowing
drawing-room. Sir James had coaxed Marion until she told him all about
the gale and the rest of it. He was very much interested by her
description of Ferrier.
"I've heard of that youngster," he said. "He began as a very Scotch
mathematician, and turned to surgery. I heard that he had the gold medal
when he took his fellowship. He must be a fine fellow. You say he is out
at sea now? I heard a little of it, and understood he wasn't going to
leave until the end of December. But it never occurred to me that he was
such a friend of yours. You must let me know him. We old fogies often
have a chance of helping nice young fellows."
Mrs. Walton and Miss Ranken arrived with Blair and Fullerton, and
everybody was soon at ease. Sir James particularly watched Fullerton,
and at last he said to himself, "That fellow's no humbug."
The dinner passed in the usual pleasant humdrum style; nobody wanted to
shine; that hideous bore, the professional talker, was absent, and the
company were content with a little mild talk about Miss Ranken's
seclusion at sea during the early days of the autumn voyage. The girl
said, "Well, never mind, I would go through it all again to see what we
saw. I never knew I was alive before."
Instinctively the ladies refrained from touching on the business which
they knew to be nearest the men's minds, and they withdrew early. Then
Cassall came right to the point in his usual sharp, undiplomatic way.
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