e commonest sort of
decency. How insignificant and contemptible I must appear, for the
fellow to dare treat me like this--I reflected suddenly, writhing in
silent agony. And I consigned Falk and all his peculiarities to the
devil with so much mental fervour as to forget Schomberg's existence,
till he grabbed my arm urgently. "Well, you may think and think till
every hair of your head falls off, captain; but you can't explain it in
any other way."

For the sake of peace and quietness I admitted hurriedly that I
couldn't: persuaded that now he would leave off. But the only result was
to make his moist face shine with the pride of cunning. He removed his
hand for a moment to scare a black mass of flies off the sugar-basin and
caught hold of my arm again.

"To be sure. And in the same way everybody is aware he would like to get
married. Only he can't. Let me quote you an instance. Well, two years
ago a Miss Vanlo, a very ladylike girl, came from home to keep house for
her brother, Fred, who had an engineering shop for small repairs by
the water side. Suddenly Falk takes to going up to their bungalow after
dinner, and sitting for hours in the verandah saying nothing. The poor
girl couldn't tell for the life of her what to do with such a man, so
she would keep on playing the piano and singing to him evening after
evening till she was ready to drop. And it wasn't as if she had been
a strong young woman either. She was thirty, and the climate had been
playing the deuce with her. Then--don't you know--Fred had to sit up with
them for propriety, and during whole weeks on end never got a single
chance to get to bed before midnight. That was not pleasant for a tired
man--was it? And besides Fred had worries then because his shop didn't
pay and he was dropping money fast. He just longed to get away from here
and try his luck somewhere else, but for the sake of his sister he hung
on and on till he ran himself into debt over his ears--I can tell you.
I, myself, could show a handful of his chits for meals and drinks in
my drawer. I could never find out tho' where he found all the money at
last. Can't be but he must have got something out of that brother of
his, a coal merchant in Port Said. Anyhow he paid everybody before he
left, but the girl nearly broke her heart. Disappointment, of course,
and at her age, don't you know.... Mrs. Schomberg here was very
friendly with her, and she could tell you. Awful despair. Fainting
fits. It wa