throwing a towel over his nakedness

[esteven]

Jack, having fixed his discouraging latitude with a twilight observation, and having drunk coffee with the Turks, retired to gasp in his cabin.
'God help us, Stephen,' he said, throwing a towel over his nakedness as Stephen came in, 'we might be in a hammam, a bagnio, a Turkish flaming bath. I must have lost a couple of stone.'
'You could spare as much again,' said Stephen

(chapter six)

Comments

[heather_mist]

You have to wonder why he bothered - it's not like it's anything Stephen hasn't seen before, and he might have been enjoyng the view!

[esteven]

Maybe he wanted to keep...something...as a surprise?

[heather_mist]

Stephen's pretty quick on the uptake, I doubt it would evade his notice....

[esteven]

Hmm, you could be on to something. After all, Stephen goes on to tell Jack that 'This is rather blunt,' - trying it on the locker - 'but I dare say we shall get it into the vein in time.