W
m has booked passage aboard
the
Megantic, ostensibly to save his brother from his stomach. For his part, H'ry is more pleased that W
m's wife is coming too:
"The news of Alice's coming is a boundless blessing -- though your won't find me, alas, in any state to boast of. But an immense change for the better will come, I feel, with your advent --
that will be my cure."