TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 13 



the trouble of dropping one reputation — I mean claw — 

 but had three at once ! 



It was one of the quaintest things imaginable to 

 watch the attitude of the various passengers towards 

 the cause of all the trouble. A community of people 

 shut up together on board ship become quite like a 

 small town, of the variety where every one knows 

 everyone else, and their business. Previous to the 

 semi-subdued scandal Captain H. had been in great 

 request. He was a fine-looking man, and a long way 

 more versatile than most. Now many of the people 

 who had painstakingly scraped acquaintance with him 

 felt it necessary to look the other way as he passed. 

 Others again — women, of course — tried to secure an 

 introduction from sheer inquisitiveness. 



The sole arbiter of what is what, a multum in parvo 

 of the correct thing to do, we discovered in a young 

 bride, a perfect tome of learning. I think — I thought 

 so before I met this walking ethic of propriety — there 

 is no doubt Mrs. Grundy is not the old woman she is 

 represented to be, with cap and spectacles, though for 

 years we have pictured her thus. It is all erroneous. 

 Mrs. Grundy is a newly married youthful British 

 matron of the middle class. There is no greater 

 stickler for the proprieties living. Having possessed 

 herself of a certificate that certifies respectability, she 

 likes to know everyone else is hall-marked and not 

 pinchbeck. She proposed to bring the romance of the 

 stewardess and the officer before the notice of the 

 directors of the company, and had every confidence in 

 getting one or two people dismissed over it. All hail 



