Fortune threw me ashore here, after a long and bitter submergence.

You can hardly blame me if I cling to the tiny speck of land that gave me salvation." "No," admitted the sailor.

He knew there was something more in the allegory than the text revealed, but it was no business of his.
"Moreover," continued Robert smilingly, "you see I have a partner." "There cannot be the slightest doubt about the partner," was the prompt reply.
Then every one laughed, Iris more than any, though Sir Arthur Deane's gaiety was forced, and Lord Ventnor could taste the acidity of his own smile.
Later in the day the first lieutenant told his chief of Anstruther's voluntary statement concerning the court-martial.

Captain Fitzroy was naturally pained by this unpleasant revelation, but he took exactly the same view as that expressed by the first lieutenant in Robert's presence.
Nevertheless he pondered the matter, and seized an early opportunity of mentioning it to Lord Ventnor.

That distinguished nobleman was vastly surprised to learn how Anstruther had cut the ground from beneath his feet.
"Yes," he said, in reply to the sailor's request for information, "I know all about it.