Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/226

  glasses, 'but the swear-off starts with the voyage, and a voyage out of 'Frisco is not begun until you get through the Golden Gate. Come, now, matey, just one to bring us fair winds.' One cannot describe the large persuasion of his tone.

" 'Really, I'd rather not,' replied Claud, with a school-boy squirm. It was a beastly spectacle, Doctor—an immoral spectacle; had Deshay been overcoming the scruples of a woman it would have been less offensive, be cause such an act is prompted by animal impulse, whereas this was purely Satanic—the violation of an unproved entity. I was strongly tempted to interfere, but many years of contact with all sorts of people have so confirmed me in the habit of minding my own business that very often I do not interfere when perhaps I should.

" 'Oh, nonsense,' said Deshay, and there was in his full voice the slightest hint of the imperative, and his eyes, as they fixed them selves on Claud, were insolently [ 210 ]