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“Thank you. A little bourbon and water, perhaps. But, very little bourbon, please.”
    â€œCholly,” Captain Cunningham said, and Cholly hurried. He was back almost at once, with a glass. He no longer looked beamish. He looked embarrassed.
    â€œThank you so much,” Mrs. Macklin said, and took the glass, and held it daintily and raised it to her lips—and without pause drank half of it. “As to the little matter I bothered you with—” she said, and raised the glass to her lips again.
    There were melodious chimes; a gently spoken, if metallically spoken, announcement from everywhere that the second luncheon sitting was prepared.
    They went. It was by the exercise of considerable restraint that they did not jostle one another at the door. Mrs. Macklin did, indeed, dampen gaiety. She was almost, Pam thought, enough to make one give up alcohol.

3
    Aboard the Carib Queen , cruising south in smooth seas, there were many things that one could do to pass the pleasant time. As Miss Springer said, there was always some thing going on. (But on the other hand, there was certainly no com pul sion.) One could swim in the sparkling pool; one could attend a movie in the air-conditioned theater forward. One could walk around the decks; in the air-conditioned smoking room, one could participate in a bridge tournament. In the forward lounge one could, at the appropriate time, partake of tea. If one were a member of the Ancient and Respectable Riflemen, one could attend a special cocktail party which the Ancient and Respectables were giving themselves. There would be—and indeed there was—horseracing by the swimming pool. On the boat deck, one might play shuffleboard or deck tennis. And all this was only during the afternoon; after dinner there would be further enticements, including dancing, including the antics of “famous Broadway entertainers.”
    But it is one of the other pleasures of a cruise, during which one relaxes like a jelly in the sun, that none of these things need be done. It is agreeable to think that so many presumably pleasant activities are available; that perhaps tomorrow they will be availed of. But there is no hurry. As Pamela North summed it up, at luncheon, nobody was going anywhere and, although the Carib Queen herself clearly was, if in no great hurry, Pam’s statement was unchallenged. Also, the lunch was ample, and they found themselves hungry. The sea air as Miss Springer was accustomed to say.
    They could eat and look about them idly, and this they did. Mrs. Macklin and Miss Macklin appeared, somewhat late, at the captain’s table. Miss Macklin was back in her colorless suit; Mrs. Macklin seemed to have made a quick, if perhaps partial, recovery. She ate her luncheon like a lady. Respected Captain Folsom ate his like a rifleman. J. Orville Marsh was even later than the Macklins, and smiled affably at the Norths and the Weigands as he passed their table. Captain Peter Cunningham did not appear to preside. The first officer substituted, from the foot of the table. Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Peterson, who before had been only blurs, were discovered at the staff captain’s table, and smiled and nodded across it as eyes were caught.
    Not so many of the Old Respectables were now in uniform. Some seemed to be shedding it gradually—a jacket replacing tunic, but the uniform trousers remaining in their place. (One of them did, to be sure, wear his tunic, with Bermuda shorts.) Not nearly so many wore their caps to lunch; it was possible that word had been passed. The officer of the day made two appearances on his rounds, and wore no sword. He did, however, wear white gloves as compensation. The apple tart looked naice today and, within reason, was. Having tried coffee the night before, Pam essayed the tea. Jerry was of sterner stuff and said so; he would fight on the coffee line if it took all cruise.
    The four drifted apart after luncheon. Confronted by