Will you not
have one?" and he motioned to the pile that lay beside him.
"Thank you," I said, selected one, and lighted it. "Your cigarettes
are not to be resisted. But if you are so ill, why did you attempt
the voyage? Was it not imprudent?"
"A sudden call of business," he explained airily; "unexpected
but--what you call--imperative. Besides, this bed is the same as any
other. You see, I have a week of rest."
"The doctor--it was he who mentioned your name to me--it was not on
the sailing-list----"
"No." He was looking at me sharply. "I came on board at the last
moment--the need was ver' sudden, as I have said. I had not time to
engage a stateroom."
"That explains it. Well, the doctor told me that you were bed-fast."
"Yes--since the voyage began I have not left it. I shall not arise
until we reach Havre to-morrow."
I watched him as he went through the familiar motion of lighting a
second cigarette from the first one. In the half-light of the cabin,
I had not at first perceived how ill he looked; now, I saw the dark
patches under the eyes, the livid and flabby face, the shaking hand.
And for the first time, with a little shock, I realized how near he
had been to death.
"But you, Mistair Lester," he was saying, "how does it occur that you
also are going to France? I did not know you contemplated----"
"No," I answered calmly, for I had seen that the question was
inevitable and I even welcomed it, since it gave me opportunity to get
my guns to going.
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