The Royal Navy! Huh, all gold braid, an' buy your own
vittals. There's no money in that game."
"Money is not everything in the world. A man's career may be more to
him than the mere monetary aspect of it."
"If ever you meet my missus, you 'll hear the other side of the
question, Miss Maxwell. S'posin' Courtenay was in the Navy, an' had a
wife an' family to keep. Could he do it on his pay? Not he. As it
is, he's sure to marry a girl with a pile, and wind up a managing
owner."
"Perhaps he is engaged to some such young lady already?"
"Haven't heard so. You may be sure there's one waitin' for him
somewhere. _I_ know. There's no dodgin' luck, good or bad. I thought
it was goin' to be that friend of yours, but she's off the register,
poor lass. There! I didn't mean that. I 'm an idiot, for sure. You
see, I don't talk much as a rule, Miss Maxwell, or I should know better
than to chin-wag like a blazin'--huh, like a babblin' fool."
Elsie turned her face aside when he mentioned Isobel. It seemed to her
sensitive soul an almost unfair thing that she should be gossiping
about trivialities when the girl who had commenced this unlucky voyage
in such high spirits was lying beneath that grim sea behind the smiling
headland.
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