set off by a cut so well-fitting and
distinguished that it seemed likely the young man would be looked upon
by connoisseurs of tailoring as the best-dressed passenger aboard. He
was followed by Ponderby, his valet, whose usually expressionless face
bore a look of dissatisfaction with his lot, as though he had been
accustomed to wait upon the nobility, and was now doomed to service with
a mere commoner. His lack of content, however, was caused by a dislike
to ocean travel in the first place, and his general disapproval of
America in the second. A country where all men are free and equal
possessed no charms for Ponderby, who knew he had no equal, and was not
going to demean himself by acknowledging the possibility of such.

Once on deck, his master turned to him and said--

"You will go, Ponderby, to my suite of rooms, and see that my luggage is
placed where it should be, and also kindly satisfy yourself that none of
it is missing."

Ponderby bowed in a dignified manner, and obeyed without a word, while
Trevelyan mounted the grand staircase, moving with an easy nonchalance
suited to a day so inordinately hot. The prospect of an ocean voyage in
such weather was in itself refreshing, and so prone is mankind to live
in the present, and take no thought of the morrow, that Trevelyan
had quite forgotten the cablegrams he read in the papers on his way
down from London, to the effect that New York was on the grill, its
inhabitants sweltering--sleeping on the house-tops, in the parks, on
the beach at Coney Island, or wherever a breath of air could be had.
On the upper deck his slow steps were arrested by an exclamation--

"Isn't this Mr. Trevelyan?"

The man who made the enquiry wore the uniform of the ship's company.

"Ah, doctor, I was thinking of you at this moment. I read in the papers
that you had been promoted, and I said to myself: 'After all, this is
not an ungrateful world, when the most skilful and most popular medical
officer on the Atlantic is thus appreciated.'"

"Ah, you put it delightfully, Trevelyan, but I confess I hesitated about
adding, at my time of life, to the burden I carry."

"Your time of life, doctor! Why you always make me feel an old man by
comparison with yourself; yet you'll find me skipping about the decks
like a boy."

"If you'll take the right-hand seat at my table, I'll keep an eye on
you, and prevent you from skipping overboard," laughed the doctor.

"Indeed, that was the boon I inten