I. A. R. Wylie

“ He made an irresolute bow, but she appeared not to see him, and took her place quietly opposite Monkhouse, ignoring him as he ignored her. Throughout the meal she remained thus coldly unconscious of her human surroundings. Neither the dull, menacing boom of the seas as they flung themselves on the great liner in their flight before the wind nor the vessel's shuddering rise from beneath their blows seemed to arouse her even to a recognition of their significance. ”

“ It would have been difficult to guess his years, The vigorous carriage of the square, unwieldy body, the tilt of the ugly chin, the occasional flash of the eyes which could be called no color, since they changed with every change of thought, spoke of an unsapped, inexhaustible vitality. It was part of his ugliness—as a death-dealing machine becomes more repellent as it wakes to action. ”

“ I suppose they've sacked her. A pretty face isn't everything, you know.”
It is better than nothing on a five days' sea journey, however, and half an hour later Haig sought for it in the drawing-room and afterwards in all the most sheltered portions of the ship. He found Ray East where he least expected to find her, near the stern of the vessel, her fragile dress protected by the sable coat, but her head bare to the flying wind. Haig came up to her and spoke to her, but the call of the coming storm drowned his voice and he touched her on the arm. ”

“ Brian Monkhouse had turned away from the taffrail and was coming towards them, and, instinctively aware that he was the subject of their conversation, he turned his eyes in their direction, flashing a glance, which was curiously disconcerting, over their weedy dandyism. Then he passed on. The girl by the taffrail had also turned and watched him till he disappeared.
The man who had been addressed as Haig laughed.
“Not the sort of person to meet on a dark night. As I was saying, he's a might-have-been. A big scandal—a woman, of course, the mother of the girl I spoke of. ”