“C. Q.”; or, In the Wireless House
The bride, who was winning, shook her head.
“I ’m on the wagon,” she smiled. “Still, you may bring me a sherry and bitters.”
“B. and S.” grunted Ashurst.
“Gin ricky,” added the Bostonian.
“’K you” (he pronounced it exactly like the letter “Q”), said the steward as he bustled off.
The bride offered Lily a cigarette and lit one herself, and the blue smoke slowly drifted upwards until it caught the draft from the ventilator and shot in a thin, straight line out of the nearest port.
“Captain says we ’ll dock day after tomorrow,” remarked Ashurst.
“Are you going to declare anything?” asked the bride of Lily.
”I had n’t thought,—are you?” returned Mrs. Trevelyan.
”Well, really I haven’t anything in particular, replied the other. ”A few dresses and some lace. I suppose I shall declare a dress or two. The lace I can slip into my camera. You can always take the inspector’s name and address and send him something. Of course183
