Having, as he felt, thus equipped himself for the hero of an American "Good Society" novel, he went on board a "liner," where there would naturally be susceptible young ladies.

One he thought he recognized as a girl with whom he used to play "forfeits" in the vulgar past of his boyhood.

She sat at his table, accompanied by another lady whose husband seemed to be a confirmed dyspeptic.

His remarks struck Lummox as peculiar.
"Shall I begin dinner with pudding and cheese or take the ordinary soup first?
I quite forget which I did last night," he said anxiously to his wife.
But Mrs.Starling hesitated.
"Tell me, Mary," he said, appealing to Miss Bike, the young lady.
"I should begin with the pudding," said Miss Bike decisively, "and between that and the arrival of the cheese you can make up your mind, and then, if you think better, go back to the soup." "Thank you so much.

Now, as to drink?
Shall I take the Friedrichshalle first or the Benedictine?
You know the doctor insists upon the Friedrichshalle, but I don't think I did well to mix them as I did yesterday.