“Who is Colonel Race?” I asked.
“That’s rather a question,” said Suzanne. “He’s pretty well known as a big-game hunter, and, as you heard him say tonight, he was a distant cousin of Sir Laurence Eardsley. I’ve never actually met him until this trip. He journeys to and from Africa a good deal. There’s a general idea that he does secret service work. I don’t know whether it’s true or not. He’s certainly rather a mysterious creature.”
“I suppose he came into a lot of money as Sir Laurence Eardsley’s heir?”
“My dear Anne, he must be rolling . You know, he’d be a splendid match for you.”
“I can’t have a good go at him with you aboard the ship,” I said, laughing. “Oh, these married women!”
“We do have a pull,” murmured Suzanne complacently. “And everybody knows that I am absolutely devoted to Clarence—my husband, you know. It’s so safe and pleasant to make love to a devoted wife.”
“It must be very nice for Clarence to be married to someone like you.”
“Well, I’m wearing to live with! Still, he can always escape to the foreign office, where he fixes his eyeglass in his eye, and goes to sleep in a big armchair. We might cable him to tell us all he knows about Race. I love sending cables. And they annoy Clarence so. He always says a letter would have done as well. I don’t suppose he’d tell us anything, though. He is so frightfully discreet. That’s what makes him so hard to live with for long on end. But let us go on with our matchmaking. I’m sure Colonel Race is very attracted to you, Anne. Give him a couple of glances from those wicked eyes of yours, and the deed is done. Everyone gets engaged on board ship. There’s nothing else to do.”
“I don’t want to get married.”