‘And what did you say?’

’Of course I told her to mind her own business.  I had no alternative.  A woman has to show a little spirit or she will be trodden absolutely into the dirt.  It was something to have a woman to speak to, even though I had not a thought in common with her;—­though she was to my feeling as inferior to myself as I no doubt am thought to be by that fat prancing woman to herself.  Even Mrs. Crompton’s countenance was of value.  But if I had yielded she would have taken it out in tyranny.  So now we don’t speak.’

‘That is a pity.’

’It is a pity.  You watch them all and see how they look at me,—­the women, I mean.  They know that Mr. Shand speaks to me, and that you and Mr. Shand are the two gentlemen we have among us.  There are, no doubt, a dozen of them watching me now, somewhere, and denouncing me for the impropriety of my behaviour.’

‘Is it improper?’

‘What do you think?’

‘Why may we not talk as well as others?’

’Exactly.  But there are people who are tabooed.  Look at that Miss Green and the ship doctor.’  At that moment the ship’s doctor and the young lady in question came close to them in the dance.  ’There is no harm in Miss Green talking by the hour together with the doctor, because she is comfortably placed.  She has got an old father and mother on board who don’t look after her, and everything is respectable.  But if I show any of the same propensities I ought almost to be put into irons.’

‘Has anybody else been harsh to you?’

’The Captain has been making inquiries,—­no doubt with the idea that he may at last be driven to harsh measures.  Have you got a sister?’

‘No.’

‘Or a mother?’

‘No.’

‘Or a housemaid?’

‘Not even a housemaid.  I have no female belongings whatever.’

’Don’t you know that if you had a sister, and a mother, and a housemaid, your mother would quite expect that your sister should in time have a lover, but that she would be horrified at the idea of the housemaid having a follower?’

‘I did not know that.  I thought housemaids got married sometimes.’

‘Human nature is stronger than tyranny.’

’But what does all this mean?  You are not a housemaid, and you have not got a mistress?’

’Not exactly.  But at present;—­if I say my outward woman you’ll know what I mean perhaps.’

‘I think I shall.’

’Well; my present outward woman stands to me in lieu of the housemaid’s broom, and the united authority of the Captain and Mrs. Crompton make up the mistress between them.  And the worst of it all is, that though I have to endure the tyranny, I have not got the follower.  It is as hard upon Mr. Shand as it is upon me.’

‘Shand, I suppose, can take care of himself.’

’No doubt;—­and so in real truth can I. I can stand apart and defy them all; and as I look at them looking at me, and almost know with what words they are maligning me, I can tell myself that they are beneath me, and that I care nothing for them.  I shall do nothing which will enable any one to interfere with me.  But it seems hard that all this should be so because I am a widow,—­and because I am alone,—­and because I am poorly clothed.’