I quite felt how little it would now make for ease to mention Jasper to her.  I was obliged to assume by my silence that he had had nothing to do with what had happened; and of course I never really ascertained what he had had to do.  The secret of what passed between him and the strange girl who would have sacrificed her marriage to him on so short an acquaintance remains shut up in his breast.  His mother, I know, went to his door from time to time, but he refused her admission.  That evening, to be human at a venture, I requested the steward to go in and ask him if he should care to see me, and the good man returned with an answer which he candidly transmitted.  “Not in the least!”—­Jasper apparently was almost as scandalised as the Captain.

At Liverpool, at the dock, when we had touched, twenty people came on board and I had already made out Mr. Porterfield at a distance.  He was looking up at the side of the great vessel with disappointment written—­for my strained eyes—­in his face; disappointment at not seeing the woman he had so long awaited lean over it and wave her handkerchief to him.  Every one was looking at him, every one but she—­his identity flew about in a moment—­and I wondered if it didn’t strike him.  He used to be gaunt and angular, but had grown almost fat and stooped a little.  The interval between us diminished—­he was on the plank and then on the deck with the jostling agents of the Customs; too soon for my equanimity.  I met him instantly, however, to save him from exposure—­laid my hand on him and drew him away, though I was sure he had no impression of having seen me before.  It was not till afterwards that I thought this rather characteristically dull of him.  I drew him far away—­I was conscious of Mrs. Peck and Mrs. Gotch, looking at us as we passed—­into the empty stale smoking-room:  he remained speechless, and that struck me as like him.  I had to speak first, he couldn’t even relieve me by saying “Is anything the matter?” I broke ground by putting it, feebly, that she was ill.  It was a dire moment.