"
"And you did not come on board of the Vernon last evening?"
"Emphatically I did not."
"You were not sick last evening?"
"I was not; not even as sick as I am at this moment," replied Christy,
using his handkerchief.
"I don't understand it," said Captain Battleton, shaking his head.
"Now, captain, will you permit me ask what you do not understand, for I
assure you I am profoundly ignorant of the situation which perplexes
you. I was ordered to be on board of the Vernon at one o'clock, and I
found her under way at eleven. I happened to find a boatman before I
left the ferry-boat, who put me on board, or I should have missed my
passage. That is simply all I know about the matter."
"When I called upon you in your stateroom this morning, you told me
that"--
"I beg your pardon, Captain Battleton, but I have not been in any
stateroom, sick or well, on board of the Vernon, and I respectfully
suggest that it was quite impossible for you to have called upon me this
morning, or at any other time," Christy interposed, very pleasantly,
though quite as perplexed as the commander.
"Of course I shall not raise an issue as to your veracity, Mr. Passford,
but after the statement you have made to me, I must change the form of
my phraseology," continued the commander, using a smile to cover any
possible doubts or suspicions in his mind.
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