The Girl on the Boat - Penn State University

as utterly heartless. Marlowe regarded her behaviour
as thoroughly sensible. She had made a mistake, and,
realising this at the eleventh hour, she had had the force
of character to correct it. He was sorry for poor old
Eustace, but he really could not permit the suggestion
that Wilhelmina Bennett—her friends called her Billie—
had not behaved in a perfectly splendid way throughout.
It was women like Wilhelmina Bennett—Billie to
her intimates—who made the world worth living in.
Her friends called her Billie. He did not blame them.
It was a delightful name and suited her to perfection.
He practised it a few times. “Billie … Billie … Billie
….” It certainly ran pleasantly off the tongue. “Billie
Bennett.” Very musical. “Billie Marlowe.” Still better.
“We noticed among those present the charming and
popular Mrs. ‘Billie’ Marlowe ….”
A consuming desire came over him to talk about the
girl to someone. Obviously indicated as the party of the
second part was Eustace Hignett. If Eustace was still
capable of speech—and after all the boat was hardly rolling
at all—he would enjoy a further chat about his ru-
P. G. Wodehouse
37
ined life. Besides, he had another reason for seeking
Eustace’s society. As a man who had been actually engaged
to marry this supreme girl, Eustace Hignett had
an attraction for Sam akin to that of some great public
monument. He had become a sort of shrine. He had
taken on a glamour. Sam entered the state-room almost
reverentially, with something of the emotions of a boy
going into his first dime museum.
<strong>The</strong> exhibit was lying on his back, staring at the roof
of the berth. By lying absolutely still and forcing himself
to think of purely inland scenes and objects, he
had contrived to reduce the green in his complexion
to a mere tinge. But it would be paltering with the truth
to say that he felt debonair. He received Sam with a
wan austerity.
“Sit down!” he said. “Don’t stand there swaying like
that. I can’t bear it.”
“Why, we aren’t out of the harbour yet. Surely you
aren’t going to be sea-sick already.”
“I can issue no positive guarantee. Perhaps if I can
keep my mind off it …. I have had good results for the