Sentence:  There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy....Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place. Pushing men hustle each other at the windows of the purser's office, under <WSD>pretence</WSD> of expecting letters or despatching telegrams. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An act of pretending or pretension; a false claim or pretext.