"That's rot, Mrs. Drelmer; it's sure to be talked of, and anyway I don't want to be sneaky, you know."
Percival came up from the cabin with a paper in his hand.
"I see you have it, too," he said, smiling. "Burman just handed me this."
"Isn't it perfectly disreputable!" exclaimed Mrs. Drelmer.
"Why? I only hope I'll have as much interest in life by the time I'm that age."
"But how will your sister take it?" asked Mauburn; "she may be afraid this will knock my title on the head, you know."
"Oh, I see," said Percival; "I hadn't thought of that."
"Only it can't," continued Mauburn. "Hang it all, that blasted old beggar will be eighty-nine, you know, in a fortnight. There simply can't be any issue of the marriage, and that--that blasted--"
"Better not try to describe her--while I'm by, you know," said Mrs. Drelmer, sympathetically.
"Well--his wife--you know, will simply worry him into the grave a bit sooner, I fancy--that's all can possibly come of it."
"Well, old man," said Percival, "I don't pretend to know the workings of my sister's mind, but you ought to be able to win a girl on your own merits, title or no title."
"Awfully good of you, old chap. I'm sure she does care for me."
"But of course it will be only fair to sis to lay the matter before her just as it is."
"And now, thank the Lord, we're under way. Doesn't that breeze save your life, though? We'll eat here on deck."
The _Viluca_ swung into mid-stream, and was soon racing to the north with a crowded Fall River boat.
"But anyway," concluded Percival, after he had explained Mauburn's position to his sister, "he's a good fellow, and if you suit each other even the unexpected wouldn't make any difference."
"Of course not," she assented, "'the rank is but the guinea's stamp,' I know--but I wasn't meaning to be married for quite a time yet, anyway,--it's such fun just being engaged."
"A mint julep?" Mauburn was inquiring of one who had proposed it. "Does it have whiskey in it?"
"It does," replied Percival, overhearing the question; "whiskey may be said to pervade, even to infest it. Try five or six, old man; that many make a great one-night trouble cure. And I can't have any one with troubles on this Cunarder--not for the next thirty days. I need cheerfulness and rest for a long time after this day in town. Ah! General Hemingway says that dinner is served; let's be at it before the things get all hot!"