"
If real force of character consists in overcoming our sudden weaknesses,
Schomberg displayed plenty of that quality. At the mention of the fly,
he re-enforced the severe dignity of his attitude as one inflates a
collapsing toy balloon with a great effort of breath. The easy-going,
relaxed attitude of Ricardo was really appalling.
"That's so," he went on. "I am that sort of fellow. You wouldn't think
it, would you? No. You have to be told. So I am telling you, and I dare
say you only half believe it. But you can't say to yourself that I am
drunk, stare at me as you may. I haven't had anything stronger than a
glass of iced water all day. Takes a real gentleman to see through a
fellow. Oh, yes--he spotted me. I told you we had a few talks at sea
about one thing or another. And I used to watch him down the skylight,
playing cards in the cuddy with the others. They had to pass the time
away somehow. By the same token he caught me at it once, and it was then
that I told him I was fond of cards--and generally lucky in gambling,
too. Yes, he had sized me up. Why not? A gentleman's just like any other
man--and something more."
It flashed through Schomberg's mind: that these two were indeed well
matched in their enormous dissimilarity, identical souls in different
disguises.
"Says he to me"--Ricardo started again in a gossiping manner--'I'm
packed up.
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