They were particularly amused at the precautions the bigger-sized
people had taken against the little waves--cut lemons and flasks
prevailed, one lady lay full-length in a deck chair with a handkerchief
over her face, and a very broad resolute man in a bright brown
"touristy" suit walked all the way from England to France along
the deck, with his legs as widely apart as Providence permitted. These
were all excellent precautions, and, nobody was ill. The personally
conducted party pursued the conductor about the deck with enquiries
in a manner that suggested to Helen's mind the rather vulgar image
of hens with a piece of bacon peel, until at last he went into hiding
below. And the young man with the thin volume of poetry stood
at the stern watching England receding, looking rather lonely
and sad to Miss Winchelsea's eye.
And then came Calais and tumultuous novelties, and the young man
had not forgotten Miss Winchelsea's hold-all and the other little
things. All three girls, though they had passed government examinations
in French to any extent, were stricken with a dumb shame of their
accents, and the young man was very useful.
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