waters of the harbor?

I wish that I could tell you all that happened, but I can only tell you
of the outside of things; the inside was wholly invisible and inaudible
to me, although we may be sure, I think, that when the circles that
widened from Hortense's plunge reached the shores of the town, there
must have been in certain quarters a considerable splashing. I presume
that John communicated to somebody the news of his broken engagement;
for if he omitted to do so, with the wedding invitations to be out the
next day, he was remiss beyond excuse, and I think this very unlikely;
and I also presume (with some evidence to go on) that Hortense did not,
in the somewhat critical juncture of her fortunes, allow the grass to
grow under her feet--if such an expression may be used of a person who
is shut up in the stateroom of a steam yacht. To me John Mayrant made no
sign of any sort by word or in writing, and this is the highest proof
he ever gave me of his own delicacy, and also of his reliance upon
mine; for he must have been pretty sure that I had overheard those last
destiny-deciding words spoken between himself and Hortense in the boat,
as we reached the Hermana's gangway. In John's place almost any man,
even Beverly Rodgers, would have either dropped a hint at the moment, or
later sent me some line to the effect that the incident was, of
course, "between ourselves." That would have been both permissible and
practical; but there it was, the difference between John of Kings Port
and us others; he was not practical when it came to something "between
gentlemen," as he would have said. The finest flower of breeding
blossoms above the level of the practical, and that is why you do not
find it growing in the huge truck-garden of our age, save in corners
where it has not yet been uprooted. John's silence to me was something
that I liked very much, and he must have found that it was not
misplaced.

The first external splash of the few that I have to narrate was a
negative manifestation, and occurred at breakfast: Juno supposed if the
wedding invitations would be out later in the day. The next splash was
somewhat louder on, was at dinner, when Juno inquired of Mrs. Trevise
if she had received any wedding invitation. At tea time was very decided
splashing. No invitation had come to anybody. Juno had called at five of
the St. Michael houses and got in at none of them, and there was a rumor
that the Hermana had disappeared from th