Smith's whole attitude was so
suggestive of trouble that Madden moved forward in generous sympathy.
The Englishman heard the movement, straightened, looked around; his long
face wore a look of suffering in the colored light.
"Sorry you're so blue, old man," sympathized the American, making a
guess at the cause of his bad spirits. "Let's have a turn around this
old tub and forget homesickness."
"Home!" echoed Caradoc gruffly. "It's--it's all England I'm leaving.
It's England and honor and--" he stiffened suddenly and snarled out: "Do
you think I climbed away up here on this bridge hunting your company?"
Leonard was utterly nonplussed by this shift. "I'm sure I meant no
harm--"
"Certainly not," sneered Caradoc. "You Americans have the undesired
friendliness of stray puppies--you have no conception of personal
reserve--you turn your souls into moral vaudevilles."
A flush of indignation swept over Madden. "That's no decent return for a
friendly approach!" he declared hotly, "and I'd rather be a puppy than a
hedgehog any day!"
Caradoc made no reply, but seemed to erase Madden from his mind and
shifted slowly around to his staring and his thoughts.
This last bit of impudence fairly clanged on Madden's temper. He felt a
desire to tell this coxcomb just what he thought of him.
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