At first I couldn't think of anything to say, and the more I tried to think of something that would interest a man like him, the more embarrassed I grew.

It was the first time I had ever tried to talk to any but old men or the home boys.
"After we had rowed a little way in silence he turned to me with the jolliest twinkle in his eyes and asked me why the boat ought to be called the Mayflower.

I was _so_ surprised, I asked him if that was a riddle, and he said no, but he wondered if I wouldn't feel that it was the Mayflower because I was adrift in it with the Pilgrim Father.
"I was so embarrassed I didn't know what to say, for I couldn't imagine how he had found out that we had called him that.

I couldn't have talked to him at all if I had known what Lloyd told me afterward when we had gone to our room.

It seems that by some unlucky chance he was left alone with Mary Ware for awhile before dinner.