For the moment, then, they were at cross purposes.
"Things are not so bad as that," he said gently.

"I hope I am not trespassing on forbidden ground, but it is only fair to tell you that the skipper was quite explicit, up to a point.

He said you were being forced into some matrimonial arrangement that was distasteful----" "And to escape from an undesirable suitor I ran away ?" "Well, the story sounded all right." "Hid myself on my uncle's ship when I wished to avoid marrying the man of his choice ?" Hozier was not neglecting his work, but he did then take his eyes off the starlit sea for a few amazed seconds.

There was no mistaking the scornful ring in the girl's words.

He could see the deep color that flooded her cheeks; the glance that met his sparkled with an intensity of feeling that thrilled while it perplexed.
"Please pardon me if the question hurts, but if that is not your motive, and there never was any real notion of your coming with us on the this trip, why are you here ?" he said.
"Because I am a foolish girl, I suppose; because I thought that my presence might interpose a serious obstacle between a criminal and the crime he had planned to commit.