As he arrived at the top of steps, Collison
announced: "It's all right. She's coming to."
Supported in the arms of the second mate, Liane was beginning to
breathe deeply and looking round with dazed eyes. Lanyard dropped on a
knee and set the glass to her lips. She gulped twice, mechanically, her
gaze fixed to his face. Then suddenly memory cleared, and she uttered a
bubbling gasp of returning dread.
"Popinot!" she cried, as Lanyard hastily took the glass away.
"Popinot--he was there--I saw him--standing there!"
A trembling arm indicated the starboard deck just forward of the
companion housing. But of course, when Lanyard looked, there was no one
there ... if there had ever been....
XXIII
THE CIGARETTE
Lanyard found himself exchanging looks of mystification with Collison,
and heard his own voice make the flat statement: "But there is
nobody...." Collison muttered words which he took to be: No, and never
was. "But you must have seen him from the bridge," Lanyard insisted
blankly, "if...."
"I looked around as soon as I heard her call out," Collison replied;
"but I didn't see anybody, only mademoiselle here--and you, of course,
with that match.
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