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 
every one 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 every one 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 
