Suddenly Heyst spoke: "You understand that this was a case of odious persecution, don't you?
I became aware of it and--" It was a view which the sympathetic Davidson was capable of appreciating.
"I am not surprised to hear it," he said placidly.

"Odious enough, I dare say.

And you, of course--not being a married man--were free to step in.

Ah, well!" He sat down in the stern-sheets, and already had the steering lines in his hands when Heyst observed abruptly: "The world is a bad dog.

It will bite you if you give it a chance; but I think that here we can safely defy the fates." When relating all this to me, Davidson's only comment was: "Funny notion of defying the fates--to take a woman in tow!".