Page:The Death-Doctor.djvu/133

Rh brother was coming aboard, with his wife.

"Sure, and we'll be a happy family now," said he. "And I'll be relying on the two of ye to help me."

The new arrival was a good-featured, clean-shaven man who, however, showed traces of dissipation in his loose-lipped mouth and fluid bright eyes, and this conjecture of mine was soon confirmed when I saw him drink a tumbler of champagne, which he was compelled to hold with both hands, before breakfast on the first morning after we left port.

His wife was a brilliant little woman with very golden hair and a slim, yet almost perfect figure, which was shown to the best advantage in the thin China silk frocks worn so much in the tropics. In a day or two Dr. and Mrs. Toillet were a most popular couple among the company on board.

The majority of the other ladies adopted the role of being somewhat strait-laced. This was undoubtedly because they were afraid of each other, for gossip in the Far East travels very fast, and before long they appeared to be of one opinion about Mrs. Toillet and gave her, to a certain degree, the cold shoulder. This drove her to the smoking-room—she was