I Forbid the Banns! — page 60: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

50 “7 FORBID THE BANNS!” He felt his way along the deck very cautiously for a few steps, then he returned to the group. “On secon’ thoughts,” he murmured, “ I’ll not split the soda; I’ll drink it all. Go’-night, Miss Travers. I knew your father well. “chet beaNins you! I'll point you out the island in the morning.” Miss Travers, as she lay in her berth that night, began to try to account for the undoubted change that had taken place in Mr. Charlton’s manner between the time of his leaving for the island and his reappearance upon the deck of the Carnarvon Castle. She felt that he had been more than interested in her when they had had their long rides together at the Cape, and she believed that the week they had passed aboard the steamer had strengthened his regard for her. She had actually made a rough, perhaps an unconscious, calculation that should this process of con- solidation be maintained for the remainder of the voyage, he would probably propose to her before the Bay of Biscay would be reached. She rather hoped that he would do so before they reached the Bay of Biscay. She had had some experience of the bay, and she had no confidence in the possibility of any man’s determination surviving the passage of the Bay of Biscay. A man has no stomach for love making, or, indeed, for anything else except pale brandy and captain’s biscuits, from the time the vessel passes the latitude of Gibraltar until the English Channel is reached. But since Mr. Charlton had gone ashore, returning to the steamer unobserved by anyone aboard, he had suffered a change. She could apprehend the change, though she could not define it—definitions are coarse, rough and ready methods of making certain matters plain to the common- place understanding. There are some people who are so - constituted as to be unable to perceive a want of cordiality on the part of a man unless he swears at them. (CONMICLYOOlKS, EC) ine