She had
read a sentence at the top of the page twice before she actually
grasped its purport. When its significance dawned on her, she flushed
violently. For this was what she read:
"I am glad of it, too, because under no other circumstances would I
wish to greet and embrace the woman destined to be your wife."
The knowledge that she had involuntarily intruded on Captain
Courtenay's private affairs brought her back with a certain slight
shock to a sense of actualities. The storm, the horrible danger she
was in, emerged from shadow-land. Why had he not come for her? Surely
there must have been some further mishap! Heavens! Was she alone on
the ship, alone with the dead men and the dying vessel? Her head swam
with a strange faintness, and she placed a hand to her eyes. She felt
that she must leave the cabin at once, and strive to make her way
unaided along the deck. Yes, whatever happened, she would go now. It
was too dreadful to wait there any longer in ignorance as to her fate.
Then Joey sprang in through the doorway, and, with that splendid
disregard for sentiment displayed by a fox-terrier who has just come
out of a first-rate fight, shook his harness until it rattled.
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