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But he restrained
himself by a strong effort. He merely took his cigar from his mouth and
puffed a light cloud of smoke into the air before replying, then he said
coldly--
"I should say Mr. Dyceworthy, besides being a drunkard, is a most
consummate liar. It so happens that the Gueldmars are the very people I
have just visited,--highly superior in every way to anybody we have yet
met in Norway. In fact, Mr. and Miss Gueldmar will come on board
to-morrow. I have invited them to dine with us; you will then be able to
judge for yourselves whether the young lady is at all of the description
Mr. Dyceworthy gives of her."
Duprez and Macfarlane exchanged astonished looks.
"Are ye quite sure," the latter ventured to remark cautiously, "that
ye're prudent in what ye have done? Remember ye have asked no pairson at
a' to dine with ye as yet,--it's a vera sudden an' exceptional freak o'
hospitality."
Errington smoked on peacefully and made no answer. Duprez hummed a verse
of a French _chansonnette_ under his breath and smiled.


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