‘Hannah, if you would open the door for a moment, I could explain myself much more easily.’

‘Open the door? Collis, it’s out of the question. I’m in my night attire.’

‘So am I,’ he whispered back. ‘So, well, that makes us equal.’

He heard her let out a short, testy sigh. ‘Collis, I’m a married woman. It’s bad enough that I should be talking to you at this hour, let alone contemplating opening the door for you.’

‘Then you are contemplating it?’

‘You have obliged me to contemplate it, by asking me.’

He paused again, and when he whispered again, there was a smile in his voice. ‘And what is the outcome of your contemplations?’ he asked her.

‘I’m a married woman, Collis. It’s out of the question. I may have mixed feelings about Walter, but it seems I shall just have to put a brave face on it, and make the best of what the Lord has seen fit to give me.’

‘Hannah,’ said Collis, ‘you must understand that I have the strongest and strangest feelings for you.’

‘Well, you must resist them. Any liaison between us would be a sin. I cannot think of it.’

‘I’m not necessarily thinking of adultery,’ said Collis. ‘It’s something else altogether. Something more. I feel I want to know you as a very close friend, as if I want to take responsibility for you. I want to know you so well that intimate relations between us could take place, but not as a first priority.’

‘You don’t know me. How can you say such a thing?’

‘Of course I know you. We’ve been walking and talking on this damned boat for a week. There are dozens of people who are betrothed and married after only half the time that we’ve spent together.’

‘But, Collis, I am married to someone else. I am not available for such a relationship. And however sad that may be, and whatever a waste of human lives you may think it is, it is the will of the Lord, and woe betide us if we ignore it.’

From one of the other cabins, a harsh woman’s voice called out, ‘Let him in, my dear, in the name of pity, and then we can all get some sleep!’

Collis giggled, but Hannah drew in her breath in embarrassment. ‘Collis,’ she whispered, ‘you must go!’

‘I’m not asking for anything improper, Hannah. I just want to talk about this feeling I have for you.’

‘No, it’s impossible. You’ll have to go.’

‘Hannah, please. I’m imploring you. I can’t sleep for thinking about you.’

‘And neither can anyone else!’ the harsh voice put in.

‘Please, Collis, you’re humiliating me.’

Collis leaned his head against the door. ‘Very well, if you want me to go, I’ll go. But if you change your mind, well, you know that you only have to say the word.’

‘All right,’ said Hannah quickly. ‘Now, please leave before one of the officers comes down and catches you here.’