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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/15180-8.txt b/15180-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9421297 --- /dev/null +++ b/15180-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5319 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Honorable Percival, by Alice Hegan Rice + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Honorable Percival + +Author: Alice Hegan Rice + +Release Date: February 26, 2005 [EBook #15180] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL *** + + + + +Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia and the PG +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/ + + + + + + + + + + + +THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL + + +[Illustration: Their boat had sailed] + + + + +THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL + +BY ALICE HEGAN RICE + +AUTHOR OF "MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH," +"A ROMANCE OF BILLY-GOAT HILL," ETC. + + + + NEW YORK + THE CENTURY CO. + 1914 + + * * * * * + + Copyright, 1914, by THE CENTURY CO. + Copyright, 1914, by MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE + + * * * * * + + _Published, October, 1914_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I A BLIGHTED BEING + + II A COUNTER-IRRITANT + + III CONVALESCENCE + + IV COUNTER-CURRENTS + + V STRANDED + + VI IN THE WIND-SHELTER + + VII THE DAY THAT NEVER WAS + + VIII IN THE CROW'S-NEST + + IX DRAGGING ANCHOR + + X ON THE SEARCH + + XI THE GYMKHANA + + XII THE SONG OF THE SIREN + + XIII PERCIVAL PROCRASTINATES + + XIV NEPTUNE TAKES A HAND + + XV PERCIVAL RISES TO AN OCCASION + + XVI IN PORT + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Their boat had sailed + +"Well, did you ever! Where did _you_ come from?" + +Her hair, still damp, was hanging about her shoulders, and she carried +a bundle of bath-towels under her arm + +"Mr. Hascombe!" she demanded breathlessly, "you'll take me out in the +surf-boat, won't you?" + +At a break-neck speed towards the wharf + +"I don't know what makes me so everlastingly silly!" she said fiercely +trying to swallow the rising sobs, "but he _won't_ understand!" + +"I like the way your mouth looks when you read it" + +"Roberta!" he called sternly. "What are you doing out here?" + +"You will have to join the crowd," suggested Bobby when Percival +complained of not seeing her as often as he wished + +"If you want to hold my hand, Mr. Hascombe, you are welcome to it" + +He sat on a table swinging his feet in unison with a lot of other young +feet, while he sipped lemonade from the same glass as Bobby Boynton + +"Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?" she asked, glancing at +him over her shoulder + +"It's quite worth while," he said, "getting a jab in the wrist, to have +you looking after me like this" + +"I'm so sorry!" whispered Bobby, putting her arm impulsively around his +heaving shoulders + + * * * * * + + + + +THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL + + + + +I + +A BLIGHTED BEING + + +The Honorable Percival Hascombe came aboard the Pacific liner about +to sail from San Francisco, preceded by a fur coat, a gun-case, two +pigskin bags, a hat-box, and a valet. He was tall and slender, and +moved with an air of fastidious distinction. He wore a small mustache, +a monocle, and an expression of unutterable ennui. His costume consisted +of a smart tweed traveling-suit, with cap to match, white spats, and +a pair of binoculars swung across his shoulders. In his eyes was the +look, carefully maintained, of one who has sounded the depths of human +tragedy. + +Since his advent into the world twenty-eight years before, he had +been made to feel but one responsibility. His elder brother, having +persistently refused to provide himself with a wife and heir, the duty +of perpetuating the family name fell upon him, Percival Hascombe, second +son of the late Earl of Westenhanger, of Hascombe Hall, fifth in descent +from the great Westenhanger whose marble effigy adorns the dullest and +most respectable cathedral in southern England. + +From the time Percival had been able to cast a discriminating eye, his +adoring family had presented the feminine flowers of the country-side +for his inspection. One after another they had met with his grave +consideration and subsequent disapprobation. Fears had begun to be +entertained that he would follow in the solitary footsteps of his +bachelor brother, when Lady Hortense Vevay appeared on the scene. + +Lady Hortense, with her mother, the Duchess of Dare, had come down +to Devon for the shooting one autumn, seeking rest after a strenuous +social season following her presentation at court. She had been there +less than a week when she bagged the biggest game in the neighborhood. +The explanation was obvious: the Lady Hortense had no faults to be +discovered. The closest inspection through two pairs of glasses, +Percival's and her own, failed to reveal a flaw. Her birth and position +were equal to his own; her beauty, if attenuated, was sufficient; while +her discriminating taste amounted to a virtue. The Honorable Percival +proffered his hand, and was accepted. Hascombe Hall rang with applause. + +All might have been well had not mother and daughter been pressed to +seal the compact by a closer intimacy in a ten-days' visit at the hall. +The young people were allowed to bask uninterrupted in the light of each +other's perfections, and the result was disastrous. Two persons who have +achieved distinction as soloists do not take kindly to duets. A few days +after the Vevays' return to London, Lady Hortense wrote a perfectly +worded note, and asked to be released from the engagement. + +The utterly preposterous fact that a Hascombe of Hascombe Hall had been +jilted was too amazing a circumstance to be concealed, and the county +buzzed with rumors. The Honorable Percival, whose pride had sustained +a compound fracture, set sail immediately for America. After a hurried +trip across the continent, he was embarking again, this time for +Hong-Kong, where a sympathetic married sister held out embracing arms, +and a promise of refuge from wagging tongues. + +As he moved languidly down the deck and sank into the steamer-chair that +bore his name, he assured himself for the fortieth time since leaving +England that life bored him to tears. He had sounded its joys and its +sorrows, he had exhausted its thrills; it was like a scenic railway +over which he was compelled to ride after every detail had become +monotonously familiar. There was nothing more for him to learn about +life, nothing more for him to feel. At least that is what the Honorable +Percival thought. But when one reckons too confidently on having +exhausted the varieties of human experience, one is apt to get a jolt. + +Carefully selecting a cigarette from a gold case, he struck a light, +and, after a whiff or two, lay back and, closing his eyes on the stir +and confusion, gave himself up to painful reflections. His shrunken +self-esteem, like a feathered thing exposed to wet weather, was +clamoring for a sunny spot in which to expand to natural proportions. +Had he been able to remain at home, the unending chorus of feminine +praise would soon have dried his draggled feathers and left him preening +himself contentedly in the comforting assurance that Lady Hortense was +in no way worthy of him. But being confronted thus suddenly with the +necessity of supplying his egotism with all its nourishment, he found +himself unequal to the task. Behind every consoling thought stalked that +totally incredible "No." He tortured his brain for possible reasons for +Hortense's deflection, but could find none. Detail by detail he reviewed +their acquaintance from the first time he had bowed over her fingers, +in Lord Carlton's hunting-lodge, to the moment he had touched his lips +to the same fingers in formal farewell on the terrace at Hascombe Hall. +It had been such a well-bred courtship from the start, so thoroughly +approved by both sides, so perfectly conducted throughout! + +Then, following suddenly on this smooth course of events, came a series +of bumps that made Percival wince as he recalled them: protests, +evasions, humiliating questions on the part of the public, and then +ignominious flight. He shuddered as he thought of the dull, wet days on +the Atlantic and his hideous week in America. He had been in a perpetual +state of protest against everything from the hotel service to what he +termed the "crass vulgarity of the States." + +There had been but one oasis in the desert of gloom through which he had +traveled, and that had been on his interminable trip across the +continent, when for ten brief minutes his blight had been lifted, and he +had caught a breath of the incense for which his soul hungered. + +It was at a little station in Wyoming that he, a convalescent from love, +had for the first time in weeks managed to look up and take a bit of +amatory nourishment. He was standing alone on the rear platform of the +observation-car, arms on railing, watching with no interest whatever +the taking off of mail-bags. Suddenly within his line of vision came a +stalwart young chap and a girl, each astride a bronco. They drew rein at +the platform, cursorily scanned the waiting train, glanced at him, then +at each other, and, apparently without the slightest reason, burst into +unrestrained merriment. Percival continued to survey them calmly and +haughtily through his monocle. His first glance had revealed the fact +that the girl was strikingly pretty. Her lithe young body showed round +and comely in its khaki suit and brown leggings. Her black mane was +braided in two short, thick plaits with a dash of scarlet ribbons at the +ends. Blue eyes, full of daring, danced under the blackest of brows, and +the smile she flashed at her companion revealed a dimple of distracting +proportions. + +As Percival gazed he was quite oblivious of the fact that the laugh +was at his expense. In fact, he accorded her darting glances a far +more flattering interpretation, and when her escort dismounted, and +disappeared within the station, he deliberately caught her eye and held +it. There was a touch of daring in her face and figure, an evident sense +of security in the fact that the train was already beginning to move. He +shifted his position from the end of the platform to the side next the +station, and she met the challenge by gathering up her reins and keeping +pace with the slow-moving train. + +For a short distance road and track lay parallel, and as the train +slowly got under way, the bronco was put to a run. Side by side, not +ten feet apart, Percival and the girl moved abreast, their eyes keeping +company. He had never seen anything so vitally young and untrammeled +as she was. She rode superbly, like an Indian, leaning well forward, +gripping the bronco with her knees, with one hand grasping his mane. +Every muscle was tense with life, every nerve a-quiver with glee. +Before the young Englishman knew it, his own sluggish blood was stirring +in his veins through sympathy. Then the train began to gain upon her, +and throwing herself back in the saddle, she shook a vanquished head. +As Percival raised his cap she wheeled her horse, and, standing in the +stirrups, blew an audacious kiss from her finger-tips. The next instant +she was dashing away across the wide, bleak prairies, the only living +thing in sight, her scarlet ribbons a streak of color in the dull-gray +landscape. + +Percival had taken heart of grace from that airy kiss. It stood to him +as a symbol that, though one of the sex had proved a deserter to his +standard, there were still volunteers. He treasured the incident as a +king treasures the homage of his humblest subject when rebellion is rife +in the kingdom. On such trifles often hang one's self-esteem. + +When the stir and bustle on deck became so lively that he was no longer +able to indulge in introspection, he got up and indifferently joined the +moving throng. The warning had sounded for those going ashore, and the +numerous gangways were crowded. Passengers lined the promenade-deck, +shouting and waving to the crowd on the wharf below. From the +bridge-deck the captain could be heard cheerfully swearing through a +megaphone at the second officer below. Chinese deck-stewards glided +about in their felt slippers, trying to attach the right person to the +right steamer-chair. Cabin-boys scurried about with baskets of fruit and +flowers and other sea-going impedimenta that, after one appreciative +glance from the recipient, are usually consigned to the ice-box. All +was noise and confusion. + +Percival's critical eye swept the line of human backs that presented +themselves at the railing. The same old types! He could describe them +with his eyes shut: the conventional globe-trotters, avid to obtain and +to impart information; business men comparing statistics and endlessly +discussing the tariff; rich wanderers in quest of health; poor +missionaries in quest of "foreign fields"; fussy Frenchmen; stolid +Germans; a few suspicious-looking Englishmen; and always the ubiquitous +Americans, who had the same effect upon him that a highly colored cloth +has on the delicate sensibilities of a certain large animal. + +The most conspicuous example of the last class was a somewhat noisy +young person in a still more resonant steamer-coat who hung at an angle +of forty-five degrees over the railing, and exchanged confidences of a +personal nature with an old man on the wharf twenty feet below. Every +time Percival's walk brought him toward the bow of the boat, his eyes +were offended by that blue-and-lavender steamer-coat and by a pair of +beaded-leather slippers with three straps across the instep and absurdly +high French heels. Could any one but an American, he soliloquized, be +guilty of starting on a journey in such a costume? + +The prospect of being imprisoned between decks for four weeks, with +this heterogeneous collection appalled him. His only safety lay in +maintaining a rigid and uncompromising aloofness. He would discourage +all advances from the start, he would promptly nip in the bud the first +sign of intrusion. He had left the only country an Englishman regards as +the proper place for existence, to cross two abominable seas and an even +more abominable continent, for the sole purpose of privacy, and privacy +he meant to have at all costs. + +As the _Saluria_ weighed anchor and steamed out of the Golden Gate, +he went below to see that his valet had made satisfactory disposition of +his varied belongings. His state-room was at the end of a short passage +leading from the main, one, and he was displeased at finding the deep +ledge under the passage window completely filled with flowers and fruit +that evidently belonged to some one occupying a room in the same passage. + +He rang for the cabin-boy. + +"Remove that greengrocer's shop!" he commanded peremptorily. "It is +abominably stuffy down here. We can't have the port-holes filled up like +that, you know." + +The bland face of the young Chinaman assumed an expression of mild +inquiry. + +"Take away!" ordered Percival, resorting to gesture. + +"No can," said the boy, calmly. "All same b'long one missy. Missy b'long +cap'n." + +Percival turned impatiently to his valet, who was coming through the +passage. + +"Judson, get those things out of the window, and keep them out. Do you +hear?" + +"Yes, sir. But where shall I put them, sir?" + +"On the floor--in the sea--wherever you like," said Percival, as he +slipped his arms into the top-coat that was being respectfully held +for him. + +Once again on deck, he found that the wind had acquired a sudden edge. +The short chop of the waves and scudding of gray clouds indicated that +the customary bit of rough weather after leaving the Golden Gate was to +be expected. Percival was not happy in rough weather. He attributed it +to extreme sensitiveness to atmospheric conditions. Whatever the cause, +the result remained that he was not happy. + +The motion of the vessel made him pause a moment. The casual observer +would have said he stopped to cast an experienced eye on a sky that +could not deceive him; but the casual observer does not always know. +It is a long distance between the prow and the stern of an ocean liner, +when the deck is composed of alternating mountains and valleys that one +has to climb and descend. Percival found it decidedly hard going before +he reached his steamer-chair. + +When he did so, he encountered a sight that filled him with chagrin. +Wrapped in the folds of his rug was that obnoxious blue-and-lavender +steamer-coat, with its owner snugly ensconced within, her eyes closed, +and her cheek brazenly reposing on the Hascombe crest that adorned the +pillow under her head! + +Percival paused, irresolute, and his nostrils quivered. He wanted +very much to sit down, and he was unwilling to occupy any other +steamer-chair, for fear its owner might claim it. There was nothing left +for him but to pace up and down that undulating deck until the young +person opened her eyes and discovered, by glances which he would render +unmistakable, that she was trespassing. + +When his third round brought him in front of her, and he saw that she +was awake, he carefully adjusted his monocle, and turned upon her a look +that was not unfamiliar to certain menials in the employ of Hascombe +Hall. + +But no withering blight followed his look. Instead, the wearer of the +gaudy coat sat up suddenly and said, with a radiant smile: + +"Well, did you ever! Where did _you_ come from?" + +[Illustration: "Well, did you ever! Where did _you_ come from?"] + +By a curious twist, his mind suddenly beheld a rolling prairie in place +of the tumbling sea, and a comely figure in khaki and brown leggings in +place of the muffled form in the hideous coat. His suspicion was +confirmed when he met the frank gaze of the bluest eyes that ever held a +challenge. + +Instead of being amused, Percival was profoundly annoyed. The incident +on the train had been pretty enough in its way, but it was closed. As it +stood, it had been rather artistic and satisfying. A wild, unknown bit +of femininity dashing into his life for ten throbbing minutes, then +vanishing into the sunset, was one thing, and this very tangible young +person in clothes of the wrong cut and color, addressing him in terms of +easy familiarity, was quite another. + +"I beg your pardon," he said stiffly. "Did you address me?" + +Her eyes clouded. + +"Why, I thought--I thought you were some one I knew. Is this your chair?" + +"It is. Pray do not discommode yourself?" + +"That is all right," she answered, trying to disentangle her high heels +from his rug. "I've had my nap, thank you. Think I'll go down and get a +sandwich." + +Percival waited in frigid silence until she had departed; then he sank +limply into the warm nest she had just left, and closed his eyes on a +world that failed in all respects to give satisfaction. + + + + +II + +A COUNTER-IRRITANT + + +If there is a place on earth where one meets with the present face +to face, it is on shipboard. Whether salt water and sea air act as a +narcotic on memories of the past and dreams of the future has never been +proved, but it is undeniably true that at sea time becomes a static +thing and concerns itself solely with the affairs of the moment. + +During that first long afternoon Percival slept; and if the faithless +Hortense essayed to haunt his dreams, she was drowned in the profundity +of his slumber. It was not until his valet touched his arm and +respectfully submitted the information that the first gong had sounded +for dinner that he woke to the fact that the _Saluria_ was still +swinging from the trough to the summit of increasingly high waves and +that the deck was virtually deserted. + +"If you are not feeling quite the thing, sir," said the valet, +solicitously, "shall I serve your dinner on deck, sir?" + +Instantly Percival rose. + +"By no means," he said coldly. "Get me a sherry and bitters. I'll dress +at once." + +Proud indifference to every passing sensation was manifest in each +detail of his careful toilet when he took his place at the captain's +table some twenty minutes later. With a haughty inclination of the head, +he seated himself and, apparently unaware of the glances cast upon him, +devoted himself to an absorbed perusal of the menu. He was quite used to +being looked at; in fact, he suffered the admiration of the public with +noble tolerance: only it must keep its distance; he could have no +presuming. + +On his arrival the conversation suffered a sudden chill; but the +captain, who knew the signs of approaching icebergs, soon steered the +talk back into warm waters. It was evident that the captain was in the +habit of occupying the center of the stage, a fact which should have +gratified Percival, inasmuch as it focused attention at the far end +of the table. Strange to say, he was not gratified. He conceived an +immediate dislike for the large, good-looking officer, who seemed built +especially to show off his smart uniform, and who brazenly ignored all +conventions save those of navigation, His peculiarities of speech, which +at another time might have gratified Percival and confirmed the report +he was bearing back to England that Americans were, if possible, more +obnoxious at home than abroad, now jarred upon him grievously. He found +it difficult to follow the story that was causing the present merriment. + +"And when my Nelson eye discovered," the captain was concluding, "that +Ah Foo was perambulating an affair in Shanghai, I summoned the slave and +asked him if his mind was set on becoming festooned in matrimony. He +thought it was. So I up and bought the damsel for him, paid one hundred +Mex. for her, and, if you'll believe me, haven't had a dime's worth of +work out of Ah Foo since!" + +Percival found himself on the dry beach of non-comprehension when the +tide of laughter followed the receding story, + +"A cup of very strong tea and dry toast," he said over his shoulder to +the waiting Chinaman. + +As his eyes returned to the study of the menu, he was for the first time +aware that the objectionable young person, with a glitter of rhinestones +in her hair, was sitting next the captain, giving him story for story, +and laughing much more than the occasion seemed to Percival to warrant. +He particularly disliked to hear a woman laugh aloud in public, and he +was vexed with himself that he looked up every time her laugh rang out. +To be sure, she was well worth looking at. Despite the clashing colors +of her costume, he could not deny the charm of her blue eyes and black +hair, and of the red lips whose only fault was that they smiled too +much. It was her dress, her freedom, her unrestrained gaiety that +offended Percival. In England a girl of her age would still be a +trembling bud, modestly hiding behind a mass of elderly foliage. + +The absence of a chaperon puzzled him. The two other women at the table, +a Mrs. Weston and her daughter, had evidently just met her, and the +captain seemed to be the only one who had known her before. He called +her "Bobby," and treated her with the easy familiarity of a big brother. + +"Don't talk to me about Wyoming!" he was saying now, in answer to some +boast of hers. "Anybody can have it that wants it. I make 'em a present +of it, with Dakota thrown in. You remember, Bobby, the last time I was +at the ranch? All hands on deck at two bells in the morning watch, a +twenty-mile sail on a bucking bronco, then back to the ranch, where we +shipped a cargo of food that would sink a tramp, A gallon or so of soup +in the hold, a saddle of venison, a broiled antelope, and six vegetables +in the forward hatchway, with three kinds of pie in the bunkers. It was +a regular food jag three times a day. It took me just two weeks at sea +to get over those two days on land." + +Percival stirred uneasily. His tea and toast were long in coming, and a +certain haunted look was dawning on his face. Through the port-holes he +could see the deep-purple sky rising to give place to still deeper-purple +sea as the ship rose with sickening regularity. He took an olive. + +"Isn't there a good deal of motion?" asked Mrs. Weston, a delicate, +appealing blonde, whose opinions were always tentative until they +received the stamp of masculine approval. + +"Motion!" thundered the captain, bringing down a huge tattooed fist on +the table. "Isn't that like a woman? When I have ordered this calm +weather especially for Mrs. Weston's benefit! I've a good mind to +whistle for a hurricane." + +"No, no, please!" she protested in mock terror. + +Percival turned away from the foolish chatter. Matters of a deep and +sinister nature occupied his mind. He felt within him wars and rumors of +wars. He wished that the curtains would stop swinging out from the wall +in that silly fashion. It was deuced uncanny to see them hang at an +angle of twenty-five degrees, then slowly and mysteriously fall back +into their places. He tried not to watch them, but it was even more +dangerous to look at the man next him breaking soft-boiled eggs into a +glass tumbler. He took another olive. + +An electric fan overhead whirred incessantly, and the bright, flashing +blades smote his eyes with diabolical precision. The circular motion, +instead of cooling him, brought beads of perspiration to his brow. + +"Who'll have some Chinese chow?" asked the captain. "I always order a +dish or two the first night out. Can't give you any birds'-nest soup--" + +A violent shudder passed over Percival, and he made a lightning +calculation of the distance from the table to the stairway. In doing so +he noted that it was a spiral stairway. Why in the name of heaven was +everything round? The port-holes, the revolving-chairs, the electric +fans, the plates, the olives-- + +At the thought of olives, all the pent-up possibilities became imminent +certainties. He rose dizzily, collided with the Chinaman bringing his +tea, and made blindly for the stairs. Half-way up, he staggered; each +step rose to meet him, then fell away from his foot the moment he +touched it. He grasped the baluster-rail, and stood wildly clinging, +like a shipwrecked sailor to a mast. He was dazed, dumb, paralyzed with +fear of the inevitable, and aware only of the burst of uncontrollable +laughter that had followed his abrupt retreat. Somebody from above held +out a succoring hand, at which he grasped frantically. Stumbling, half +blind, this unfortunate victim to atmospheric conditions was guided up +the remaining stops and out on deck, where he was anchored to the +railing and kindly left to his fate. + + + + +III + +CONVALESCENCE + + +During the monotonous days that followed, the Honorable Percival +Hascombe discovered that the satisfaction of being exclusive is usually +tempered by the discomfort of being bored. So lofty and forbidding had +been his manner that no one had ventured to intrude even a casual good +morning. A bachelor under thirty, with a competence of such dimensions +that it had entailed incompetency, and a doting family that danced +attendance upon his every whim, he was figuratively as well as literally +at sea in this new environment. At times he faltered in his stern +determination not to allow any one to become acquainted with him. It was +only the fear that any leniency might result in undue liberty on the +part of some aggressive American that caused him to preserve his deep +seclusion. + +Bored, blasé, blighted, he had one more affliction to endure. The young +person had gotten hopelessly on his nerves; in fact, she was the most +disturbing object on the horizon. She played shuffle-board in front of +his chair when he wanted to read; she practised new dance-steps with +the first officer when he wanted to sleep; she caused him to lift his +unwilling eyes a dozen times an hour by her endless circuits of the +deck. She was on terms of friendship with everybody on board except +himself, including the second class and steerage. There seemed no end to +her activities, no limit to her enthusiasm. The more she attracted his +unwilling attention, the more persistently he ignored her. + +As the time passed and danger of intrusion lessened, his ennui +increased. One dull, humid day, when the whole world resembled a +dripping sponge, Percival reached the limit of his endurance. The canvas +was down, and nothing could be seen but long vistas of slippery decks, +with barefooted Chinese sailors everlastingly mopping and slopping about +in the wet. He had counted the five hundred and fiftieth raindrop that +clung to the red life-belt at the rail when he saw the young Scotchman +next him look at his watch. + +"What time do you make it?" asked Percival, and his voice sounded almost +strange to him. + +"Eleven," said the man, getting to his feet; "aboot time for the fun to +begin in the bathing-tank." + +Ordinarily Percival would have allowed the conversation to end there, +but he felt now that he would be risking his sanity if he sat there any +longer counting raindrops. + +"What's taking place?" he asked listlessly. + +"The usual morning diversion: the captain's daughter is teaching a +couple of bairns to swim." + +"Surely they won't go in on a beastly day like this!" + +"I'll be bound they do. Shall we go find out?" + +Forward a number of people were already hanging over the rail, highly +diverted at what was taking place in the big canvas tank on the deck +below. Percival, looking down, beheld the young person standing on +the lower rung of a ladder, coaxing a small boy to jump from the +platform above. Now, on several occasions in the past Percival had met +Disillusion face to face in a bathing-suit. A certain attenuated memory +of the faithless Hortense made him wince even yet. But the round and +graceful figure poised in dancing impatience on the ladder-rung defied +criticism. Much as he disapproved of the public exhibition, he could not +check a breath of admiration. + +The small boy shivering on the platform vibrated between courage and +fear; then, urged by the shouts from above, and lured by that sparkling +face and those outstretched arms below, he leaped. Shrieks of laughter +followed as his fat little body spanked the water, and was quickly +righted and deposited, gasping, but victorious, on a life-buoy. Then the +small girl must dive, and after that all three must splash and jump and +float and swim like a trio of mad young porpoises. + +The Honorable Percival was a good swimmer himself, and his interest +kindled as he watched the perfect ease with which the young person +handled herself in the narrow confines of the tank. While he deplored +the wretched taste of the proceeding, he had to admit that she carried +it off with admirable lack of self-consciousness. She swam as she did +everything else, with impetuous joy, and seemed as unaware of the +admiring glances of the spectators as the children themselves. + +"Did ye see her the other day when she climbed to the crow's-nest?" +asked the Scotchman, with enthusiasm. + +"No," said Percival, curtly. + +"The wind was blowing at a bittie, but she went up the rigging like a +sailor. I doubt if the lass would be afraid of the de'il himself." + +"Probably jolly well used to all this sort of thing," said Percival, +wearily. + +"Indeed, no; this is her first sea-voyage. She never saw a ship before." + +"I thought you said she was the captain's daughter." + +"So she is; but he's had her out on a Western ranch since she was a bit +of a lass. Quite a romance!" + +"Really?" + +"Yes. Her mother was a play-actress. Ran off with an English nobleman. +Left the captain and the lassie in the lurch, and died before she +reached England. I had the story from the purser." + +"Where's the girl going now?" + +"The captain is fetching her the round trip to Hong-Kong, to break off +some love-affair at home, I believe. But if she's as canny as she's +bonny, I'll wager she'll outwit him before they have done." + +Percival, who at first had remained in the back row of the spectators, +during this recital moved to the front, and now as he looked down he +suddenly encountered the laughing glance of the person under discussion. +She was lazily watching him from where she floated in the water, with +her loosened hair circling in a dark cloud about her head. The +expression on her face gave him instant cause for alarm. + +Since that first day when she had spoken to him, he had studiously +avoided meeting her eye, and had even come to congratulate himself on +having removed from her mind the suspicion of a former encounter. But +there was that in the glance that now met and held his that dispelled +any such hope. It indicated all too clearly that she had not been +deceived, and that she was treating the matter with unbecoming levity. + +Percival returned haughtily to his steamer-chair, but not to count +raindrops. He had food for new and most irritating reflections. The +girl's refusal to take his cue and ignore the very mild flirtation that +had occurred on the car-platform placed him in a situation at once +awkward and embarrassing. He rather prided himself on never taking +advantage of any tribute of admiration that might be tendered him by the +less experienced of her sex. On more than one occasion in the past he +had heroically extinguished the tender flames that his own charms had +kindled in susceptible bosoms. He had come to share the belief of his +mother that he possessed a rare degree of chivalry in protecting women +against himself. + +But this impossible child of Nature either did not know the rules of +the game, or chose to ignore them. He would be forced to continue this +distasteful partnership memory, or else dissolve it with a casual +reference to the episode, which would dispose of it for good and all. +He had about decided upon the latter course when Fate forestalled him. + +On his way down to luncheon he encountered Miss Boynton coming up the +companionway. Her hair, still damp, was hanging about her shoulders, and +she carried a bundle of bath-towels under her arm. Both stood politely +aside, then both started forward, meeting midway. + +[Illustration: Her hair, still damp, was hanging about her shoulders, +and she carried a bundle of bath-towels under her arm.] + +"I--I--beg your pardon," said Percival. + +"What for?" she asked. + +"For--for not recognizing you the other day." It was not in the least +what he had meant to say, but it was said, and he must go on as best he +could. "Not expecting to see you, you know, and all that." + +She stood shaking her hair in the breeze and smiling. While she +evidently bore no resentment, she was not helping him out in his +apology. + +"One sees so many faces in traveling," he went on lamely, "and all so +much alike." + +"I'd have known your face anywhere," she said. + +He took a step downward, but she did not move. Instead she leaned +nonchalantly against the wall and began braiding her hair. + +"I know your name, too," she said, with a look half daring and half +quizzical. "I looked you up on the passenger-list." + +"But how did you know--" + +"Oh, it was easy to spot you. You were the only man on board who would +fit 'The Honorable Percival Hascombe and Valet.'" + +Percival found her scoffing tone intolerable. He descended two more +steps, but she stopped him with a request. + +"If you don't mind," she said, flinging the finished braid over her +shoulder, "I wish you'd write your grand name on my Panama hat sometime; +it's going to be a souvenir of the trip." + +With an unintelligible answer, he made his escape. His worst fears were +realized: he had given an inch; she had taken an ell. The crack in the +shell of his privacy was widening alarmingly and peeping through, he +shuddered at what he saw. + + + + +IV + +COUNTER-CURRENTS + + +Day after day the steamship _Saluria_ sailed the most amiable of +seas. So clear was the atmosphere at times that a glimpse could be had +of the planet Venus disporting herself in the heavens at high noon. Life +on shipboard became permeated with that spirit of fellowship which is +apt to make itself felt the moment the restraints of convention are +lifted. Even the Honorable Percival succumbed in a measure to the +insidious charm of the long, lazy days that were punctuated only by the +ship's bells. + +He was still an apparently indifferent spectator of all that was going +on, but the fact that he _was_ a spectator showed that he was +relaxing the rigid rules he had laid down for himself. The only person +who addressed him during the day was Bobby Boynton, who gave him a free +and easy greeting when they met in the morning, and then seemed to +forget his existence. His fear that she would follow up the conversation +begun in the companionway was apparently groundless, for she seemed +ridiculously engrossed in other things. + +Among the half-dozen young people on board who were perpetually +organizing tournaments, dances, card-parties, and concerts, she was the +most indefatigable. Not being responsible to any one for her actions, +and possessing a creative imagination, she indulged in escapades that +provided the older people with their chief topic of conversation. Her +sternest critics, however, smiled as they shook their heads. + +The captain from the first had treated her very much as he treated the +other passengers. The parental rôle was not a familiar one, and he +shirked it. The only time that he rose to a sense of duty was when he +found her in the writing-room, her head bent over a desk. Then rumor +said authority was bruskly asserted, letters were confiscated, and tears +flowed instead of ink. + +About the time the Honorable Percival was congratulating himself on +having put her in her proper place, and having kept her there, his +confidence received a shock. Coming on deck one day, he found her again +seated in his steamer-chair. This time she made no pretense of rising, +but obligingly made a place for him on the foot-rest. The invitation was +loftily declined. + +"I've been waiting a coon's age for you," she said, with an audacious +upward glance. "I wanted to tell you that I've put you on the program +for a song at the concert to-morrow night." + +"Quite impossible; I shouldn't think of such a thing for a moment," +he began; then curiosity got the better of his annoyance. "But if I may +ask, how on earth did you know that I sang?" + +Bobby's eyes danced, and her submerged dimple came to the surface. + +"I didn't," she said; "but they dared me to ask you, and I wouldn't take +a dare, would you?" + +"I am afraid I don't quite follow you," said Percival. + +"Well, you see," explained Bobby, "they dared me to ask you, and I didn't +mind, because I was dead sure you sang. A person ought to be able to do +anything with a voice like yours." + +Percival stroked his small mustache meditatively. + +"As a matter of fact, you know," he said in a tone from which the chill +had vanished, "I suppose an English voice is rather conspicuous among +Americans, isn't it?" + +"Yours is," said Bobby; "that is, what I've heard of it." + +And then she was gone like a flash, leaving the Honorable Percival to +cogitate upon the extraordinary manners of American girls, and a certain +cleverness they at times displayed. Lady Hortense Vevay, for instance, +had had four uninterrupted weeks in which to discover anything unusual +in his voice, and he must confess she had been rather stupid about it. +But why had that impossible young American ruined a pretty compliment by +her parting shot? Did she feel that she had any claim upon him? Did she +expect him to pay her any attention? Preposterous! + +The first break in the lazy routine of the voyage came when the dim +outline of the Hawaiian Islands gradually took definite shape in the +form of old Diamond Head which loomed strangely out of the water. +Sea-gulls came out to meet the steamer, circling on white wings against +the blue, and the air grew soft and fragrant with the odors of flowers +and tropical fruits. + +As the _Saluria_ slowly swung into the harbor and dropped anchor, +the promenade-deck was full of lively, chattering people, all arrayed in +white, and all eager for the first glimpse of the strange land. Dozens +of naked native boys were swimming about the steamer, causing general +merriment by their dexterity in diving for coins. One saucy brown imp +who had just come up with a silver piece in his mouth, caught sight +of the Englishman in the crowd above, and with a shrewdness born of +experience called out: "Hi there, English Johnny! Me no 'Merican boy; +me Johnny Bull boy. Me no want dime; want shilling! Here you are! +Aw right!" + +The invitation met no response. The Honorable Percival greeted with calm +disdain the laugh that followed it. He was not in the least interested +in impertinent young Hawaiians. A matter of much greater importance +occupied his attention. He had just been informed by the purser that, +owing to the crowded condition of the steamer, he would be compelled to +share his stateroom with another passenger during the remainder of the +voyage. This catastrophe darkened even the tropical sun. He was +indignant with the company in San Francisco that had failed to explain +this contingency; he was angry with the purser for not being able to +change the disagreeable order of things; but most of all he was furious +with the unknown stranger, whom in the blackness of his mood he pictured +as either a fat German or a chattering American. + +So perturbed was he over this circumstance that he could not refrain +from venting his ill humor on somebody, and his valet being unavailable +at the time, he took it out upon himself. + +"No, I am not going ashore," he said somewhat curtly to Bobby Boynton, +who had organized a party with sufficient diversions to last two days +instead of one. + +"You'd better come along," said Bobby. "We are going to shoot up the +town of Honolulu." + +"I don't know that I should particularly care for that," said Percival, +coldly. + +She looked at him with frank curiosity. + +"Say, why don't you ever let yourself have a good time?" she asked. +"Everybody else is going except the captain. He's got the gout. Says +he's carrying his grandfather's cocktails around in his starboard toe." + +She waited for a response, but none came. + +"It's going to be awfully stupid here with everybody gone," she +persisted. "Why won't you come?" + +She was dressed in a short white serge and the Panama hat, which as yet +was innocent of autographs. It was astonishing what a difference the +absence of conflicting colors made in her appearance. + +For a moment Percival's decision wavered before those pleading tones, +but the next he caught sight of Mrs. Weston and Elise evidently watching +with amused interest the result of Bobby's bold move. + +"Another dare, as I think you call it?" he asked. "You'll have to excuse +me, Miss Boynton. Sight-seeing is quite out of my line." + +He watched the gay party board the launch, Mrs. Weston, the two girls, +and the college boys whose raucous voices and offhand manners had grated +upon him ever since leaving San Francisco. As the small boat got away +from the steamer, one white-clad figure separated itself suddenly from +the rest, and waved a friendly hand to him. He started, then, lifting +his cap stiffly, moved away from the rail. The little minx was pretty; +in fact, he acknowledged for the first time that she was distractingly +pretty. But she was also presuming, and presumption was a thing he would +permit in no one. + +For the next few hours Percival found life not worth living. He sat +on the hot deck in solitary state, gloved in white chamois, with a +newspaper over his white-clad knees, engaged in the forlorn hope of +trying to keep clean while the ship was coaling. Finding this an +impossibility, he took refuge in the deserted-writing-room, where all +the port-holes were closed and the air as dead as that of an Egyptian +tomb. + +Satirical letters home were Percival's chief diversion. In them he +expressed his unqualified disapproval of the Western Hemisphere. The +assurance that they would be read by an adoring group of feminine +relatives gave wing to an imagination that was not wont to soar. Today, +however, inspiration was lacking. On opening the drawer of the first +desk he came to, he found a letter half begun which had evidently been +thrust there suddenly and forgotten. Across the top of the page was +written: + +"My darling H-----" + +Percival closed the drawer hurriedly. The conjunction of the letter H +with that particular adjective started echoes. He circled the room in +search of a desk not haunted by epistolatory ghosts. + +"Particularly asinine brand of pen!" he exclaimed in disgust. "Must have +been used for a corkscrew!" + +Corkscrews changed the current of his thought into a more pleasant +channel. But even the mild consolation thus suggested was denied him. +The smoking-room was closed. He wandered disconsolately to his +state-room and, flinging himself on the narrow sofa, stared at the +ceiling. Every fiber of his being shrieked for England and for the +revivifying warmth of adulation. + +His mind dwelt longingly upon Hascombe Hall and the acres of parkland, +moorland, and farmland that were its inheritance. Then he thought +bitterly upon that paragon of perfection who had caused his banishment. +How completely she would have filled the rôle of mistress of that noble +hall! He pictured her in irreproachable toilets, pouring tea in the east +drawing-room, and receiving her guests with the exact shade of warmth +that their social positions demanded. + +As he recalled her manner of cool distinction and her polished, +impersonal phrases, another feminine figure dared to flit between him +and this lady of manifold merit. No sooner would he indignantly banish +her image than she would come dancing back, a gay little figure, with +too much color in her checks and too much daring in her eyes. + +"Why don't you let yourself have a good time?" she had asked, and the +question repeated itself now with maddening insistence. Was he, who had +always had everything, now missing something--something that other +people had? + +When two bells sounded he reluctantly went below for lunch. The prospect +of a tête-à-tête with the captain was anything but pleasant. He +understood about half that the officer said, and with that half he +usually disagreed. His first remark was unfortunate: + +"All this dirt means more washing down of the decks, I suppose. Beastly +racket it makes. Is there any earthly reason why it should always be +done at dawn?" + +"Most one-sidedly," said the captain; "it gives the sailors a chance to +see the sunrise." + +There was a short silence, then Percival asked: + +"What's the name of that young South American who went ashore with your +daughter?" + +"South American?" repeated the captain. "I pass." + +"The blatant youth who sits at your left." + +"Oh, you mean Vaughn. He's no South American. He hails from Virginia." + +"Thought he said he was a Southerner. May I trouble you for the +mustard?" + +"Did the Daughter of the Revolution go along?" asked the captain. + +"Beg pardon?" + +"Mrs. Weston. She's a D.A.R. She has told me so five times; that's how +I know." + +"Really, why was she chosen to be the Daughter of the Regiment?" + +"The Revolution, not the regiment. You remember that little skirmish +that took place in '75?" + +Percival considered this thrust beneath his notice. His simmering +antagonism for the captain was nearing the boiling-point. + +"I say," he said, "will you kindly arrange for a bit of air to enter +this room? It's ghastly, perfectly ghastly." + +"Sure," said the captain, dexterously mixing a salad of alligator pears. +"Ah Foo, open some of those ports and let in the coal-dust. Have some of +this tropical mess?" + +"Thanks, no. I'm not specially fit today. Had a beastly night of it. +Fancy having to keep one's umbrella up in the berth to keep the light +from the passage out of one's eyes! I don't believe such a thing could +happen on a British steamer. Can't you manage to give me another +state-room?" + +"That's the purser's job; he's the room-clerk," said the captain. "I'm +only the skipper." + +Percival glanced quickly at the weather-beaten face, but found no +guiding expression. + +"I can't say I found your purser over-civil," he went on. "He insists on +putting another passenger in my state-room. Nothing was said about it in +San Francisco, nothing whatever. I shall report the matter at my first +opportunity." + +"I bet you've drawn that Chinese bigwig that's booked from here," said +the captain, grinning. + +Percival pushed back his plate. A German or an American had appalled +him, but a Chinaman! + +"I say, this is a bit thick, you know. What time does the next launch go +ashore?" he demanded, with, a fierce determination to find the purser +and demand satisfaction. + +"About to start now," said the captain, adding, with a twinkle: "Better +think twice about that Chinaman. If he takes the upper berth, his +queue'd come in mighty handy to hang your umbrella on." + +Percival dashed up the stairs. He had been seeking an excuse for going +ashore for the last four hours, and now he felt that he had one. It was +of the utmost importance, he assured himself, that he see the purser +without further delay. + + + + +V + +STRANDED + + +When a man insists too strenuously upon his rights, the imps of +perversity invariably combine to thwart him. Percival was aware of their +pursuing footsteps from the moment he went ashore and lost his umbrella, +to the hour of his return to the dock, when he found himself face to +face with a situation of baffling perplexity. + +No sooner had he stepped from the launch that had started him on his +double quest, which ostensibly had only the purser for its object, than +he was surrounded by a noisy, gesticulating crowd. Insistent requests +that he should buy a string of shells, adopt a chameleon, wear a wreath +of carnations, and take a drive, were proffered in broken English, and +he made his escape by jumping into a motor-car and slamming the door. + +"Where to, sir?" asked the gratified chauffeur. + +"Take me where everybody goes," directed Percival. + +"The Pali? Waikiki? Punch-Bowl? Aquarium?" + +"Yes, yes. Go on. You see, as a matter of fact, I'm looking for some +one." + +Percival's first impression of Honolulu was that of a futurist sketch, +a streak of green standing for the palm-shaded streets, a streak of +scarlet representing the royal Poinciana, and various impressionistic +dots indicating native Hawaiians. The motor in which he found himself +was very ancient, having evidently traveled from the center to the +circumference of civilization by easy stages. Its age and asthmatic +condition should have made it an object of veneration to the chauffeur, +but such was not the case. Like a belated express, it was driven +through the town and out into the open country. Luxurious villas, jungles +of cacti, Chinese tea-houses, taro patches, banana plantations--all +presented one mad panorama to Percival, who jolted from side to side +on the back seat. + +Presently there was a precipitous halt, and the chauffeur indicated that +he was to get out. + +"What for?" asked Percival, crossly. + +"The Pali," said the chauffeur, impressively. "Eighteen hundred feet +above the level of the sea, where the early inhabitants of Oahu made +their last stand against the enemy." + +"I'm quite sure she isn't here," said Percival. Then he caught himself, +and went into a rather elaborate explanation to cover his confusion. +"You see, I'm looking for the purser. The purser of the _Saluria_, +you know. He's put a nasty Chinaman in my state-room, and I've got to +find him before the ship sails." + +"Everybody comes first to the Pali," said the man. + +Percival glanced skeptically at the great granite cliff that seemed such +an unpromising retreat for pursers, then he stepped out of the motor, +and made his way around the sharp angle of stone wall. As he did so, a +gale struck him that sent his hat careening over the precipice. He gazed +after it in chagrin. The fact that one of the great panoramic views of +the world lay at his feet was quite obliterated by the unhappy knowledge +that an English Bowler had landed in the fork of a distant tree, defying +recovery. + +"Where next, sir?" asked the chauffeur, surprised at his quick return. + +"Anywhere out of this damned wind!" said Percival between his teeth. + +"Your friend might be at Waikiki Beach," suggested the chauffeur, +amiably. + +"He's _not_ my friend. He's a purser, I tell you. Wants to put--" + +But his words were lost in the whir of the engine. All the way back to +Honolulu and through the town Percival was seeing this strange, tropical +land through the blue eyes of a certain little untraveled Western +savage. What a revelation it must be to one used to the barren alkali +deserts of Wyoming, where, nothing grew but sage-bush and cacti! It +wouldn't be half bad, he thought, to hear what she had to say about it +all. But where was one to look for her? + +"We might try the pool-rooms," suggested the chauffeur. + +Percival looked at him blankly, then he remembered. + +"Take me to a hat shop," he said peremptorily. + +When they arrived at Waikiki Beach he got out of the motor with more +alacrity than was habitual to him, and entered the cocoanut-grove. By +Jove! he thought, it was not a bad sight to see the palms dangling over +the beach like that, with the jolly breakers rolling in, and the bay +full of changing colors. Coral reefs! That's what caused the color; he +had read it in a book somewhere. Air was good, too, fruity and salty and +not too hot. For the moment he forgot his cares; he even forgot that his +new hat was one of those peculiar shapes which Englishmen often pore +over in the advertising pages of American magazines for the sole purpose +of enjoying a sense of superb and vast superiority. + +As he scanned the beach his eye was caught by three ladies and three +natives standing about a surf-boat in animated discussion. The youngest +of the ladies, who wore a bathing-suit of conspicuous hue and did most +of the talking, suddenly detached herself from the others and came +flying across the sand toward him. + +"Mr. Hascombe!" she demanded breathlessly, "you'll take me out in the +surf-boat, won't you? The boys haven't come, and Mrs. Weston is afraid +for me to go alone." + +[Illustration: "Mr. Hascombe!" she demanded breathlessly, "you'll take +me out in the surf boat, won't you?"] + +"But my dear young lady, it's quite impossible. I'm looking for the +purser. They say he's going to put--" + +"Bother the purser! We haven't a minute to lose. The steamer sails at +five." + +"But really, I can't. And I quite agree with Mrs. Weston that it would +be most awfully improper for you to go alone." + +"Well, if you don't take me, I _will_ go alone!" she said defiantly; +then she suddenly changed her tactics, and added with childish insistence: +"But you _are_ going to take me now, aren't you? Please?" + +He could scarcely believe his senses when, a few minutes later, he found +himself frantically struggling into a rented bathing-suit in a steaming +little bath-house that gave evidence of recent use. But a glance into +the mirror that hung on the door not only convinced him of his identity, +but added the comforting assurance that he was not by any means looking +his worst in his present garb. He paused long enough to flex a +presentable bicep with pardonable pride. + +"Hurry up!" called Bobby, joyfully, as he emerged. "There are three +Kanakas and you and I. Can you swim?" + +"Rather," said Percival. + +They ran down to the beach to where the canoe, a long, narrow affair +with curious outriders, awaited them. + +"The last boat that went out capsized," cried Bobby, gleefully taking +her place behind the second Kanaka. "The men were in the water five +minutes, but the sharks didn't happen to notice them." + +"Sharks!" exclaimed Percival in consternation. + +The native in the front seat grinned and shook his head. + +"No sharks this side of the reef," he said reassuringly. + +As they paddled out over the blue water, Bobby's enthusiasm dashed like +spray against the rock of Percival's seeming indifference. + +"Isn't this the most heavenly place that ever happened!" she cried. +"Look at the mountains back yonder against the sky, and the mists in the +valleys, and all the color spilling out over the edge of the land into +the sea!" + +"Ye-es," said Percival; "but as a matter of fact I find the mosquitos +peculiarly trying." + +Now, if the truth must be told, it was not the mosquitos which were +disturbing the Honorable Percival. It was not even his failure to find +the purser. It was the disconcerting discovery that this persistent +young woman from the States was making him do things he didn't in the +least want to do. He glared gloomily at the back of her white neck, +across which a dark lock floated tantalizingly. + +As the space between them and the shore widened, the surf became +stronger and higher, until by the time they reached the reef the canoe +was dancing like a shell on the water. + +"Afraid?" asked Bobby, teasingly, flashing a smile over her shoulder. + +"I don't think," said Percival, and, immediately was chagrined at having +indulged in such a vulgar expression. + +"I love it!" cried Bobby. "It's more fun than a bucking bronco. Is this +our wave? All right! Let her go!" + +The Kanaka in the prow gave the signal, and the boat backed into the +monster wave just as it was about to break. Simultaneously the paddles +were plunged into the water, and a vigorous pull was made for the shore. +There was a merry whiz of rushing waters, a breathless suspension in +midair, then a gigantic upheaval as the boat plunged over the crest of +the wave and shot like an arrow two miles in two minutes to the beach. + +Percival, as has been stated, rather prided himself on having exhausted +life's thrills. When one has made a reputation for luging at Caux and +has raced on skis with the professionals at St. Moritz, not to boast of +a daring flight in a French aëroplane, one is apt to be rather superior +to minor sports. But the present thrilling diversion, shared with a girl +as irresistibly pretty and as utterly abandoned to the joy of the moment +as Bobby Boynton, proved quite the most exhilarating pastime in which he +had ever indulged. + +Again and again the boat went out, and again and again Mrs. Weston +beckoned frantically and imperatively from the pier. The last time she +looked at her watch, she seemed to give up the hope of getting the +delinquents back to shore. Gathering up scarfs and parasols, she and +Elise hurried back to the steamer. + +For the two young people in the boat the steamer had ceased to exist. +Everything had ceased to exist except a narrow shell of wood, three +brown-backed natives, and one towering wave after another that shot +them through delicious realms of space and left them, with every nerve +a-tingle, laughing into each other's eyes. + +"Ripping, isn't it?" cried Percival on the third return. "Shall we have +one more go?" + +"I expect we ought to be going," said Bobby, shaking the salt spray out +of her hair. "I don't see anything of Mrs. Weston and Elise." + +"I don't want to see anything of them," cried Percival, recklessly. +"Right ho! once more!" + +She was nothing loath, and they went blithely forth to meet the next big +wave. + +"Mrs. Weston _has_ gone!" said Bobby when they again touched shore. +"Wouldn't it be a lark if we were left?" + +No bullet ever brought a soaring bird to ground more promptly than this +remark brought the Honorable Percival to his senses. + +"Gad!" he cried, "but it's impossible! My luggage is all on board!" + +He scrambled frantically out of the boat and rushed to his bath-house. +The prospect of being stranded, on even a fairy island, with a +dangerously beguiling maiden of the middle class was even more appalling +than being divorced from his luggage. He struggled frantically into his +clothes, losing three precious minutes over a broken shoe-lace. When he +came out he found Bobby, very cool and collected, sipping an iced drink +at the pavilion. Not waiting for her to finish, he rushed her into the +waiting motor and implored the chauffeur to get them to the dock with +all possible speed. + +He was aghast at his own folly. It was incredible that he should have +allowed himself to drift into such an awkward situation. They might not +be missed until after the steamer sailed, in which case it was quite +possible that the erratic captain would refuse to put back. The man +might even make capital of the incident and claim that his daughter was +compromised. What if he should demand satisfaction? What satisfaction +would be due in the circumstances? Percival felt the hot blood rush to +his head. + +"Can't you speed her up a bit?" he urged, his elbows on the front seat +and his eyes on the small watch encased in the leather strap about his +wrist. + +"Yes, do!" cried Bobby, excitedly. "I love to go fast!" + +"Do you realize," asked Percival, assuming his sternest manner in order +to impress her with the gravity of the situation, "that we stand a very +good chance of being left?" + +"I can't imagine a nicer place to be left in," said Bobby, adding +between bounces, "besides, you needn't--look so cross--at me. It is all +your--own fault." + +The chauffeur at this point felt it incumbent upon him to avert a +quarrel, so he offered the cheering assurance that it was only four +forty-five, and he could get most anywhere in fifteen minutes. But even +as he spoke there was an ominous report, followed by the unmistakable +sound of escaping air. + +"Oh, I say!" cried Percival in tones of horror, "not a puncture?" + +"That's whut!" said the chauffeur, who had jammed on the brakes, and was +now ruefully inspecting a back wheel. + +"Can't stop for that!" cried Percival, impatiently. "Every second +counts, my man. Doesn't matter how much we bounce so long as we get +there." + +"But I ain't goin' to ruin my tire." + +"What the deuce do I care about your confounded old tire? I'll pay for +it. I'll pay you anything you ask if you get me to the dock on time." + +But after bumping furiously from cobblestone to cobblestone, the +chauffeur rebelled and positively declined to go farther until the tire +was changed. + +"Then it's up to us to catch a streetcar!" cried Bobby, "What luck! Here +comes one now. They only run once a week." + +"Street-car? Oh, you mean a tram. To be sure! Hadn't thought of it. +Shall we run for it?" + +Thrusting a gold piece into the hand of the chauffeur, he made a +fifty-yard dash for the corner that did credit to his early training. +But the imperious signal with which he hailed the car was not heeded. +Instead, a fat conductor leaned from the rear platform and obligingly +volunteered the information that he was on the wrong corner. + +"Intolerable insolence!" muttered Percival to Bobby, who had just come +up. "What are you laughing at?" + +"At your face when the car went by. Here comes a wagon. Quick! Ask the +man if he can't take us the rest of the way." + +"But we can't ride in a--" + +"Yes, we can. We can ride on a broom-stick if we have to. Hurry!" + +Percival plunged obediently into the street and made his request. He was +meeting with little encouragement from the driver, who evidently thought +he was mentally unsound, when Bobby came to his rescue. It was only by +resorting to some of those feminine tricks of persuasion which the +suffragists assure us are quite immoral that she succeeded in carrying +her point. + +Ten minutes later the curiosity of the main thoroughfare of Honolulu +was raised to fever-heat by the singular spectacle of an austere and +distinguished-looking Englishman and a pretty, if somewhat disheveled, +young girl dangling their feet from the end of a dilapidated wagon that +was being driven at a breakneck speed toward the wharf. + +[Illustration: At a breakneck speed towards the wharf] + +For once in his life Percival was indifferent to appearances. Everything +else sank into insignificance beside the one supreme necessity of +catching that steamer. There would not be another sailing for the Orient +for ten days. The prospect of ten days in this lotus-land alone with a +perilously pretty girl who had evidently taken an enormous fancy to him +filled him with alarm. What possible explanation could he offer to +Sister Cordelia, that august representative of the family waiting in +Hong-Kong to minister to his broken and bleeding heart? + +A violent lurch of the wagon caused him to grasp Bobby's arm to steady +her, and as he did so she got a glimpse of his rueful countenance. + +"Cheer up!" she cried. "There's no use looking like that even if we +_are_ left." + +"Like what?" + +"Like a trout on a hook." + +He shot a glance at her. Was it possible that she had divined his state +of mind? Woman's intuition was a thing of which he stood in deadly awe. + +But they were arriving at the dock, and there was no time to indulge in +subtleties. He sprang from the wagon before it came to a halt. + +"The _Saluria!_" he demanded wildly of a man in uniform. "Has she +sailed?" + +"The _Saluria?_" repeated the man with maddening deliberation. +"Let's see. Yellow funnels, ain't she? Yep, that's her a-going out of +the harbor now." + + + + +VI + +IN THE WIND-SHELTER + + +When Mrs. Western, anxiously watching the passengers come aboard from +the last launch, had failed to see Bobby Boynton, she was partly +reassured by young Vaughn, who was quite confident he had seen her on +the dock. Not being satisfied, however, she made a tour of the crowded +decks, looking into the music room, the writing-room and even the +smoking-room, It was not until she went below and peeped into Bobby's +empty cabin that she became seriously alarmed. Hurrying back on deck, +she found, to her consternation, that the gang-planks had been lifted +and the ship had weighed anchor. In great excitement she rushed to the +bridge to find the captain, but he was not there. Five interminable +minutes had been lost before she found him and stated her case. + +The captain of an ocean-liner is too used to false alarms to be easily +excited, and it was only after another thorough search was made, and no +trace of Bobby and the Englishman found, that Captain Boynton concerned +himself. Just what he said need not be chronicled. It was extremely +crude and extremely personal, and punctuated by phrases that would have +shocked the delicate sensibilities of the Honorable Percival. + +His humor was not improved by the dictatorial messages that began to +arrive by wireless: + + Have chartered launch. Hold steamer, + + HASCOMBE. + + Distance too great for launch. Meet us halfway. + + HASCOMBE. + + Have started, Meet us. + + HASCOMBE. + +The exciting news that somebody was left soon traveled from deck to +deck, and when the steamer began slowly and laboriously to come about, +the railing's were crowded with passengers. Presently a small dark +object was visible in the distance, rising and falling unsteadily on the +waves that lay between the steamer and the dim shore-line. Gradually the +launch came nearer, and with some difficulty succeeded in getting +alongside. + +A cheer of welcome went up as Bobby and Percival scrambled up the +ship's-ladder. Their hats were adorned with trailing wreaths of smilax, +and about their shoulders were garlands of carnations. It was a stage +entrance, sufficiently conspicuous and effective to have satisfied the +soul of the most exacting manager. + +Percival's abhorrence of publicity, which had been overshadowed by his +anxiety, now took complete possession of him. With punctilious formality +he handed Bobby on deck, then, with a manner sufficiently forbidding to +discourage all questions and remarks, pushed his way haughtily through +the laughing crowd and went below. + +It was not until he entered his state-room that he recalled the +grievance that ostensibly had sent him ashore. In the middle of his +berth was an open suitcase, with its contents widely distributed. Three +pairs of shoes lay in the middle of the floor, a bunch of variegated +neckties depended from the door-knob, and a stack of American magazines +and newspapers lay upon the sofa, Percival stood on the threshold +sniffing. There was no mistaking the odor. It was white rose, a perfume +forever associated with the perfidious Lady Hortense! Was he to suffer +this refinement of cruelty in having the very air he breathed saturated +with her memory? He rang furiously for his valet. + +"Judson, see that that person's things are put upon his side of the room +and kept there, and under no condition allow the port-holes to be +closed." + +"Very good, sir. Will you dress now for dinner!" + +But Percival was in no mood for the long table d'hôte dinner, with its +inevitable comments upon the affair of the afternoon. He preferred a +sandwich and a glass of wine in a secluded corner of the smoking-room, +after which he played a few games of solitaire, then betook himself +to bed. His sleep was not a restful one, being haunted by departing +steamers, arriving Chinamen, and an endless procession of scornful +Lady Hortenses. + +He was awakened the next morning long before his accustomed time by some +one stirring noisily about the state-room. After lying in indignant +silence for a while behind his drawn curtains, he touched the electric +bell. When Judson's respectful knock responded, he said in tones of icy +formality: + +"Judson, tell the steward to draw my tub." + +"I say," broke in a voice on the outer side of the curtain, "while you +are drawing things, I wish you'd try your hand at this cork." + +There was a brief parley at the door, and a "Very good, sir," from +Judson. + +Percival's anger rose. It was bad enough to share his room with a +stranger, but to share his valet as well was out of the question. When +a second tap announced that his bath was ready, he slipped a long robe +over his silk pajamas and emerged imperiously from his berth. It is not +easy to maintain a haughty dignity in a bath-robe, with one's hair on +end, but Percival came very near it. + +The effort was wasted, however, for a cheerful "Good morning, Partner," +greeted him, and his cold eye discerned not a slant-eyed Oriental, but a +round, pink American face, partly covered with lather, beaming upon him. + +"My name is Black," continued the new-comer--"Andy Black. And yours?" + +"Hascombe," said Percival, haughtily aware of all that that name stood +for in the annals of southern England. + +"Oh, you're the fellow that got left! Any kin to the Texas Hascombes?" +asked the youth, drawing the razor over his upper lip as if there were +real work for it to do. + +"None whatever," said Percival. "I'll trouble you for my sponge-bag." + +When Percival got down to breakfast he found that the enforced proximity +of Mr. Andy Black was not to be confined to the state-room. The plump, +red-headed young man, with the complexion of a baby and a smile that +impartially embraced the universe, was seated at his elbow. + +"Who is the girl at the captain's right?" he demanded eagerly as +Percival took his seat. + +"His daughter," Percival said curtly, painfully aware of the amused +glances that had followed his entrance. + +"Some looker!" said Andy. "I see my finish right now." + +The sight of it eventually pleased him, for he turned his back upon +Percival, and became hilariously appreciative of the captain's jokes, +even contributing one or two of his own. Before the meal was over he +had informed the whole table that he was on his way to Hong-Kong in +the interests of the Union Tobacco Company, that he had done business +in every State in the Union, and that he had crossed the Pacific five +times. + +During the course of the day Percival visited the purser at regular +intervals, demanding that his room-mate be removed. But the purser +was a sturdy Hamburger, and the very sight of a monocle affected his +disposition. Meanwhile Mr. Andy Black had made good use of his time. +At the end of twenty-four hours he had spoken to virtually everybody +on board, including the gray-haired old missionary who passed +cream-peppermints about the deck at a quarter to ten every morning. He +had played quoits with Elise Weston, punched the bag with the college +boys, and taught Bobby Boynton to dance the tango. So obnoxious was +the sight of him to the Honorable Percival that he turned his chair +to the wall and buried himself in "Guillim's Display of Heraldry." He +considered it as a personal affront on the part of Fate that just as he +was beginning to find the voyage endurable this prancing young montebank +should appear to spoil everything. + +For the next two days he sternly avoided Bobby Boynton. His somewhat +pompous letter of apology to the captain, in which he set forth at +length the various unforeseen accidents that had caused him to miss the +steamer, was curtly and ungraciously received, and strained relations +ensued. Moreover, as he viewed the recent adventure in retrospect, he +decided that he had been most negligent in observing those rules by +which the conduct of an English gentleman should be regulated. In +condescending to be amused he had gone too far, and it was now incumbent +upon him to nip in the bud any gossip that might have risen concerning +his attentions to the daughter of that odious captain. + +Bobby survived the withdrawal of his favor with amazing indifference. +What puzzled and annoyed him beyond measure was that the more oblivious +of him she seemed, the more acutely aware of her he became. Twenty times +a day he assured himself that it made no earthly difference to him +whether she was playing quoits with the Scotchman or bean-bag with Andy +Black, and yet not a page of his book would become intelligible until he +made a round of the deck to find out what she was doing. The evenings +were even worse: midnight often found him wrapped in his rug in his +steamer-chair or morosely pacing the deck, waiting for some festivity +in which Bobby was engaged to come to an end. The shocking lack of +chaperonage and the liberty allowed young girls in the States served +as themes for more than one bitter letter home. + +But his cold aloofness was not destined to last. One morning when most +of the passengers were concerned with the appearance of Bird Island on +the horizon, he stumbled quite by accident upon Bobby curled up behind a +wind-shelter on the other side of the deck, contributing some large salt +tears to the brine of the ocean. Now, in that circle of society in which +it had pleased Providence to place Percival it was considered the height +of bad form to exhibit an emotion. His imagination could not picture one +of the ladies of Hascombe Hall sitting in a public place with her hair +tumbled over her face, and her shoulders shaking with sobs. + +Nevertheless, the sight of this hitherto buoyant young creature in +distress moved him to sit down beside her, and in the softly modulated +tones upon which we have already commented coax her to tell him what was +the matter. + +Unlike the historic Miss Muffet who repulsed a similar attention from +the spider, she welcomed his arrival. She even asked him if he had an +extra handkerchief, her own having been reduced to a wet little ball. +He had. He not only proffered it, but helped to wipe away the tears. + +[Illustration: "I don't know what makes me so everlastingly silly!" +she said fiercely trying to swallow the rising sobs, "but he won't +understand!"] + +"I don't know what makes me so everlastingly silly," she said fiercely, +trying to swallow the rising sobs, "but he _won't_ understand!" + +"Who won't?" + +"The captain. I don't care if he is my father. Sometimes I don't like +him a bit." + +Neither did Percival. It was strange how the common antagonism drew +them together. He was about to ask for further details when the old +Peppermint Lady scurried past and, seeing them, turned back to impart +the burning news that Bird Island was in sight. + +"Yes," said Percival, shamelessly, "we have seen it." + +"He doesn't know me if he thinks I'll give in," went on Bobby where she +had left off. "I am just as stubborn as he is." + +"There, now, I shouldn't talk about it if it made me cry," advised +Percival, patting her shoulder. + +"But I've got to talk to somebody," she said almost savagely. "What did +he give me to the Fords for if he didn't think they were good enough? +Pa Joe's as good as he is any day in the week." + +"Who is Pa Joe?" asked Percival, groping in the dark. + +"He's the darlingest old man in the world, and he owns the best cattle +ranch in Wyoming. Anybody'll tell you so. He's been a real father to me, +and the boys are real brothers--at least three of them are. They are +just as good as anybody that ever lived, I don't care what the captain +says." + +There was another passionate burst of tears, and Percival had just +succeeded in stemming the tide when the Scotchman bore down upon them. + +"I beg your pardon, but did you know we were passing Bird Island?" he +asked them. + +"Yes," said Percival, hastily getting up and piloting him safely past. +"As a matter of fact, some one was just asking for you in the +smoking-room." + +"I told the captain," sobbed Bobby, beating her hands together and +apparently oblivious of interruptions, "that I'd come on this trip with +him, but that it wouldn't make a bit of difference, and it hasn't." + +"No, of course it hasn't," agreed Percival, soothingly, not in the least +comprehending the drift of her remarks, but pleasantly aware that he was +being confided in and that something very limp and lovely was under his +protection. + +"Isn't there a--a--Mrs. Ford on the ranch?" he asked by way of +prolonging the interview. + +"Not now. Dear Aunt Kitty died four years ago. That was when they sent +me in to Cheyenne to school. But I'm finished now, and I'm going to stay +on the ranch and take care of Pa Joe and the boys." + +"Can't say it sounds exciting. How many children are there?" + +"Children! Why, they are all as tall as you are, except Piffles. There's +Ted, and Dick, and Piffles, and--Hal. I guess you saw Hal that day at +the station." + +For the first time since he had known her, her black lashes drooped +consciously over her blue eyes. They were very long and thick lashes, +and as they swept her flushed cheek, Percival not only forgot what she +was saying, but went so far as to forget himself. + +"I saw only one thing that day at the station," he said, with such an +ardent look that it made Bobby smile through her tears. As a rule he +disliked dimples, especially the stationary kind. But the one that now +occupied, his attention was a very shy and elusive affair that kept the +beholder watching very closely for fear he should miss it. + +"Come," he said, taking advantage of the momentary sunshine, "you are a +bit of a sportsman, you know. You mustn't come off by yourself and cry +like this. Makes you feel so beastly seedy afterward, doesn't it?" + +"Yes. But you don't understand. I want to do something that the +captain's perfectly determined I sha'n't do. He didn't bring me on this +trip just to give me a good time. Not on your life! He brought me to +make me forget." + +"Oh, that's the game, is it? Scuttling you off to sea to make you +forget. Deuced interesting! I don't mind telling you I'm in something of +the same sort of a hole myself." + +"Really?" Her interest was roused instantly. + +A mysterious change was taking place in their acquaintance. Bobby's +tears had in some unaccountable manner taken all the starch out of +Percival's manner. + +"You mean," she went on, "that they are sending you off to keep you from +marrying some one they don't like?" + +"Not exactly. I shouldn't put up with that for a moment, you know." + +"Of course you wouldn't, because you are a man. But suppose you were +a girl, and your father was perfectly unreasonable. What would you do +then?" + +"I'd drop the matter for a bit," advised Percival, at a venture. "Let +him think you didn't care a tuppeny. Pretend to be awfully keen about +something else, and, likely as not, he'll come round. Not a bad idea +that, by Jove! I've tried it." + +"Do you think it would work?" asked Bobby, scanning his finely chiseled +profile as eagerly as if she were consulting the Delphic oracle. + +"No harm in trying. Keep him on tenter-hooks, at any rate." + +"Ship ahoy!" came in joyous tones from Andy Black as he rounded the +corner of the saloon, clinging to his cap. "Been looking for you all +over. Say, did you all know we were passing Bird Island?" + +"If we don't," said Percival, with his most deliberate stare, "it is not +because we have failed to be informed of the uninteresting fact every +five minutes for the last half-hour." + +"Consider me the third stanza," said Andy; "please omit me!" + +Bobby laughed as he disappeared, and pushed back her tumbled hair. + +"I love to hear you say 'hawf,'" she said; then she added impetuously, +"You aren't a bit like anybody I ever saw before." + +"I dare say," said Percival, returning her smile. + +"Not only your talk, but your walk, and the way you wear your clothes." + +"I suppose my tailor does rather understand my figure," said Percival; +"but what puzzles you about my speech?" + +"I don't know. It's different. And then I never can tell what you are +thinking about." + +"Do you wish to know what I'm thinking about just now?" + +"Yes." + +"I am wondering why you wear high-heeled, gold-beaded slippers in the +morning." + +Bobby thrust forth two dainty feet and contemplated them in surprise. + +"What's wrong with them?" she asked. + +"Rather dressy for the morning, aren't they?" he gently suggested. + +"I don't know," she said good-humoredly. "I've got a trunkful of clothes +down in my state-room, but I never know which ones to put on. You see, +we never dike up like this on the ranch. When the captain brought me to +San Francisco, he handed me over to a woman at the hotel and told her to +rig me out for the trip." + +"Did--did she buy your steamer-coat?" asked Percival. + +Bobby's laugh rang out contagiously. + +"Isn't it a tulip? I knew it was wrong the minute I came on board and +saw Elise Weston's. Honest, now, have I got anything else as bad as +that?" + +"No, oh, no; I was a beastly cad to mention it. You are most awfully +charming in anything you choose to wear. But as a matter of fact, I do +like you best in white, with your hair low, as it is now." + +"Hair low, shoes high, all in white. Anything else you'd like?" All +trace of tears had vanished, and her eyes were dancing audaciously. + +"Yes," said Percival, leaning forward, "there is." + +At this critical juncture a well-built figure in a uniform started down +the stairway above them, paused a moment unobserved, then quietly +retraced his steps to the bridge. + +"See here, I must be going," said Bobby, rising abruptly. "I promised to +practise for the tableaux at ten, and it's half-past now. Say, you were +a brick to brace me up! I'm going to take your advice, too; you see if +I don't. May I count on your help!" + +"At your service," said Percival, rising, and clasping the hand she held +out. + +The captain's Chinese boy glided up unobserved and stood at attention. + +"Captain say missy please come top-side right away. Wantchee see Bird +Island." + +Percival, still holding her hand, smilingly shook his head. + +"Damn Bird Island!" he murmured softly. + + + + +VII + +THE DAY THAT NEVER WAS + + +Of all the places in the world where a flirtation can germinate, blossom, +and bear fruit overnight, an ocean-liner is the most propitious. Two +conventional human beings who in the city streets would pass each other +with utter indifference will often drop a conscious lid over a welcoming +eye when passing and repassing on the deck of a steamer. When men and +women are set adrift for four weeks, with thousands of miles of +sparkling water separating them from the past and the present, and with +nothing to do but observe one another, something usually happens. + +The present voyage of the _Saluria_ was no exception; in fact, it +threatened to break all former records. The love-epidemic started in +the steerage, where a Dutch boy en route to Java developed a burning +attachment for a young stewardess, and it extended to the bridge, where +Captain Boynton frequently consigned his duties to the first officer +in order to devote his energies to holding Mrs. Weston's worsted. When +he was not holding the skein, he was holding the ball, and during +the endless process of winding and unwinding he spun his own yarns, +recalling tales of wild adventure that alternately shocked and +fascinated his gentle listener. + +The young people, meanwhile, were not by any means immune. Elise Weston +had discovered that the Scotchman's voice blended perfectly with her +own, and through endless practising of "Tales from Hoffman" they had +arrived at a harmony that promised to be permanent. Andy Black and Bobby +Boynton romped through the days, apparently wasting little time on +sentiment, but developing a friendship that might at any time become +serious. + +Only the blighted being wandered the decks alone. Since that morning in +the wind-shelter he had decided to take no more risks. Alarming symptoms +had not been wanting to indicate the return of a malady from which he +never expected to suffer again. The grand affair with the Lady Hortense +had been a dignified, chronic ailment which he had learned to endure +with a becoming air of pensive resignation. The present attack +threatened to be of a much more disturbing character. It was acute; +it responded to no treatment, mental, moral, or physical. It was like +toothache or mumps or chicken-pox, an ignoble, complaint of which one +is ashamed, but before which one is helpless. + +It was only at table that he found it impossible to maintain toward +Bobby that attitude of indifference which he had prescribed for himself. +With the arrival of the new passengers at Honolulu the places had been +slightly changed, and now that he found himself seated between Bobby and +Andy Black, the temptation to turn his chair slightly toward the former, +thus presenting an insolent and forbidding back to Andy, was more than +he could resist. Moreover, it afforded him unlimited satisfaction to +know that by the glance of his eye or a whispered half-phrase he could +instantly center all her sparkling attention upon himself. + +The captain viewed these elusive tête-à-têtes with growing disfavor. One +morning when he was alone at breakfast with Mrs. Weston he unburdened +his mind after his own peculiar fashion. + +"A seaman has to cultivate three things, my lady, a Nelson eye, a Nelson +ear, and a Nelson nose. I've got 'em all." + +Mrs. Weston smiled with, flattering expectancy. + +"I don't claim to know what's going on in the rest of the world," he +continued significantly, "but you can back your Uncle Ik to know +everything that's happening on board this wagon." + +"What's happening now? Do tell me," said Mrs. Weston, leaning forward +and almost upsetting the salt in her eagerness. + +"An Englishman, a poisonously funny Englishman, is running out of his +course. He'll hit a reef before long that will knock a hole in his +hull." + +"Oh, you mean the Honorable Percival?" + +"I do. And if he's like the majority of those titled Johnnies, he's so +crooked he can hide behind a corkscrew." + +"O Captain, that's absurd! Why, he is one of the most absolutely +irreproachable and unapproachable young aristocrats I ever saw." + +"That's all right. I don't tie up to the British aristocracy, nor any +other foreign nobility. Besides, what headway will I make by steering +that girl of mine off one shoal to land her on another?" + +"Was the Wyoming affair quite out of the question?" + +"Oh, Hal Ford is a good-enough chap, but he's a perfect kid. They are +both too young to know what they want. Besides, I am not going to have +her drop anchor on a ranch for the rest of her days. I'll send her up to +'Frisco to school first. That's what the row was about before she left +home. The little minx defied me, so I picked her up and brought her with +me out to Hong-Kong." + +"Poor child! She probably sees now that you were quite right." + +"Maybe she does and maybe she doesn't. She's a wily little scamp all +right. I discovered that the second day out. I'd forbidden her to write +any letters to the ranch, so she was keeping a log-book which she was +going to mail at every port." + +"And were you hard-hearted enough to confiscate it?" + +"I was. At least I ordered her to give it to me on the spot, and she +said she'd chuck it overboard first." + +"And did she!" + +"She did," said the captain, with a grim chuckle. + +"You don't understand that girl," said Mrs. Weston. "I'm quite sure +she'd be amenable if she were handled right. However, she doesn't seem +to be breaking her heart. Between Andy and the Honorable she's finding +consolation." + +"Most women do," said the captain, with one of those flashes of +bitterness that sent all the good humor scurrying out of his face. + +"Of course, she's just playing with Andy," Mrs. Weston hurried on, +fearful of the memories she had stirred; "but Mr. Hascombe is different. +He is so good-looking and so polished, almost any girl would have her +head turned a bit by his attentions." + +"You don't mean to say that you think Bobby--" + +"I can't quite make out. She doesn't seem to see much of him on deck, +but at the table she hasn't eyes or ears for any one else. You watch +her." + +"Trust my Nelson eye!" said the captain. + +When Antipodal Day arrived, every one felt called upon to celebrate it. +The guileless tried to see the imaginary line of the meridian which the +sophisticated pointed out to them on the water; the cream-peppermint +lady went so far as to say she felt the jar as the steamer passed over +it. Conjectures, witty, mathematical, or inane, were made as to the +identity of to-day, if yesterday was Friday and to-morrow going to be +Saturday. + +During the morning Percival wandered disconsolately from one part of the +ship to another. Despite the fact that he was quite determined to keep +away from Bobby, he chafed under her seeming indifference. After that +intimate hour together in the wind-shelter it was strange that she could +be so oblivious of his presence. It was distasteful to him to have to +signal the train of her attention. To be sure, a very little signal +served,--a word, a look, a thoughtful gesture,--but he preferred a +homage that required no prompting. Moreover, she was guilty of "smiling +on all she looked upon," and her acceptance of Andy Black into the +ever-widening circle of her admirers offended him deeply. + +The day dragged interminably. By five o'clock in the afternoon a +tango-tea was in progress, and it seemed to Percival that everybody on +board was dancing except the missionaries and himself. Even they were +taking part as spectators, having secured their places half an hour +before the appointed time in order not to miss a moment of the shocking +exhibition. + +Percival went to the upper deck and sought the most secluded corner he +could find, but even there he was haunted by the soul-disturbing music. +Dancing was one of his accomplishments, and he had trod stately measures +through half a dozen London seasons, the admiration and the despair +of more than one aspiring mama. He looked with great disapproval upon +these new and boisterous American dances, he wondered if they were as +difficult as they looked. Seeing nobody about, he rose and tentatively +tried a few steps behind the shelter of a life-boat. He found it +interesting, and was getting quite pleased over his cleverness in +catching the syncopated time, when he spied an impertinent sailor +grinning at him from the rigging. Instantly his legs became rigid, and +he affected an interest in the horizon intended to convince the sailor +that he had been the victim of an optical illusion. Of course it was +quite beneath his dignity to take part in these rollicking dances, +especially in such a public place as on shipboard. He realized that +fully; yet he thought of Bobby and sighed. There were actually times in +his life when he almost wished he had been born in the middle class. + +Then he drew himself up sharply. If there was one thing incumbent upon +the second son of the late Lord Westenhanger, it was that he maintain +his position. Though grievously disappointed in his failure to capture +the incomparable Lady Hortense, he must don his armor and ride forth +again to find another lady, differing in kind, perhaps, but not in +degree. In his scheme of things wild young daughters of American +sea-captains had no place whatever. + +Yet even as he made this assertion he found himself moving toward the +companionway and down to the deck below. + +"Will you sit out the next dance with me?" he heard himself murmuring to +Bobby over her partner's shoulder. + +"You bet I will," said Bobby with a smile that made him forget the +awfulness of her language. + +Ten minutes later they were leaning over the rail on the deserted +boat-deck, the wind full in their faces, watching the prow of the +steamer gently rise and fall as she sailed straight into the golden +heart of the sun. Up from the horizon spread wave after wave; of +perilous color, emerald melting into azure, crimson dying into rose. +There was just enough breeze to put a tiny feather on the windward slope +of the waves, and every white crest caught the glory. + +"This is better than all the tangoing in the world," cried Bobby. "Have +you been up here all afternoon?" + +"I have. You see, all those people below get rather on one's nerves." + +"Do _I?_" she challenged him instantly. + +"Not on one's nerves exactly," he said, thrillingly aware that her arm +was touching his on the railing and that the dangerous pink light was +playing over her face; "but I must say you do get on one's--one's mind!" + +She laughed gaily. + +"Well, that's next to having nothing on your mind. Say, you wouldn't +think I had the blues, would you?" + +"Can't say I should." + +"Well, I have. I've been so homesick all day that I could go round the +corner and cry if you--if you hadn't said I mustn't." + +"What are you homesick for?" + +"Oh, for the old ranch and the ponies and my dogs and--and lots of +things. See the way the wind flecks the water over there? Well, that's +just the way it does the grasslands back home." + +"But it's such a parched, barren sort of a place, Wyoming." + +"It is _not_. You ought to see it in the early spring, when +everything is vivid green, and the cactus is in bloom--the red-flowered +kind that looks so pretty against the sides of the gray buttes. Why, you +can gallop for miles with your horse's hoofs sinking into beds of +prairie roses!" + +"But it's virtually green in England all the year round. I'd like to +show you a well-run English estate. Rather a pretty sight. Hascombe +Hall's a fairly decent example. Some hundreds of acres, don't you know." + +"Some hundreds!" repeated Bobby, scornfully. "Our ranch covers two +hundred thousand acres, and it takes Pa Joe four days' hard riding to +get over it!" + +"Oh, I say, most extraordinary! But if I were you, I wouldn't think +about home affairs," said Percival, to whom her background in Wyoming +was of no consequence. He liked to think of her as having begun to live +when she met him, and as gracefully ceasing to exist when they parted. + +"All right," said Bobby, resignedly. "I've kept bottled up this long; I +suppose I can manage the rest of the time. What's that book you've been +reading?" + +"Shelley." + +"Is it a love-story?" + +Percival winced. + +"It is poetry," he said. "I shouldn't mind reading you a bit, if you +like." + +She did like. She evidently liked tremendously. She listened as an +inquisitive bird might listen to a strange wood note, with her head on +one side and her bright eyes intent upon his face. + +When Percival's perfectly modulated voice ceased, she sighed: + +"I didn't understand a word of it," she said, "but I could listen to you +read forever. It makes me think of the wind in the trees, and all the +lovely things that ever happened to me." + +"But don't you like the poem?" + +[Illustration: "I like the way your mouth looks when you read it."] + +"I like the way your mouth looks when you read it. Your chin's nice, +too, isn't it?" + +"Oh, I don't know," said Percival, with an unsuccessful effort at +indifference; "it's the Hascombe chin. Been in the family for +generations." + +"Think of having a chin as old as that! Perhaps that's what makes you so +solemn." + +"Am I solemn?" + +"Awfully. Elise Weston says she believes you have been crossed in love." + +The hollow chambers of Percival's heart reverberated with alarming +echoes. He shot a suspicious glance at Bobby, but her innocent gaze +reassured him. + +"I am afraid your friend Miss Weston is romantic," he said stiffly. "Am +I keeping you too long from the dance?" + +"Oh, no," said Bobby, comfortably. "I've got the next with Andy Black. +He'll never think to look up here. But are you quite sure I'm not +getting on your nerves?" + +"I am quite sure you are a most awfully charming girl," Percival +exclaimed with sudden warmth. "As a matter of fact, I--I like you +tremendously." + +"That's nice," said Bobby, "because, you see, I like you!" + +There was no reason why her avowal should have been regarded as more +serious than his own. But he took alarm instantly. + +"You won't mind my telling you a few things for your own good, will +you?" he asked, taking refuge in the safe rôle of mentor. + +"Not a bit," said Bobby; "fire away." + +She listened for five minutes to his dissertation on the impropriety of +young ladies playing poker in the smoking-room, then she became restive. + +"Isn't it funny," she said by way of changing the subject, "that +yesterday was Friday, and to-morrow is going to be Saturday, and to-day +isn't anything?" + +"But it _is_ something. It's a day I shall remember." + +Percival was drifting again, and he knew it, but there was that in the +bewitching face upturned to his that demoralized him. + +"No," said Bobby, "it's the day that never was. We just picked it up out +of the sea, and we are going to drop it back again. Whatever happens +to-day doesn't count." + +"Why?" + +"Because by to-morrow, you see, to-day never will have been." + +"Deuced clever idea that, I call it. Never thought of it. Suppose we +celebrate by way of doing something that we wouldn't do if it counted." + +Bobby clapped her hands. "What shall it be?" + +"Well, suppose for the rest of the day you consider me the person you +quite like best in the world." + +She considered it. + +"All right. I don't mind for the rest of the day. And you promise to +forget all those girls over in England, and pretend that I am the nicest +girl you know?" + +"I promise," said Percival. + +When the second gong for dinner sounded, the two white-clad figures +were still leaning on the railing in the secluded angle made by two +life-boats. The color had gone from the sky, but every moment the +purpling waters were growing more vivid, more intense, more thrillingly +alive to the mystery of the coming night. The Honorable Percival's +cap was on Bobby's head, and his coat was about her shoulders. As to +himself, he seemed strangely indifferent to the tumbled state of his +wind-blown hair and the shocking informality of his shirt-sleeves. +It was quite evident that for the time being, at least, he had thrown +discretion to the winds, and was sailing away from his memories at the +rate of sixteen knots an hour. + +That night at dinner the captain followed Mrs. Weston's advice and took +soundings. Nothing was lost upon him, from Bobby's late arrival in a +somewhat sophisticated white evening gown that she had hitherto scorned, +to the new and becoming way in which her hair was arranged. It did not +require a Nelson eye to discover a suppressed excitement under her high +spirits or to detect the side-play that was taking place between her and +the apparently stolid Englishman at her right. + +Captain Boynton looked at Mrs. Weston and raised one eyebrow; she nodded +comprehendingly. Later in the evening, when he dropped into a +steamer-chair beside her, he asked if she had seen Bobby. + +"Not since dinner. All the young people have been asking for her. Did +you look in the writing-room ?" + +"I've looked everywhere except in the coal-bunkers," said the captain, +gruffly. "Talk to me about responsibility. I'd rather run a schooner up +the Hoogli than to steer that girl of mine." + +"You've wakened to your duty rather late, haven't you!" asked Mrs. +Weston. "I suppose it's the Englishman who is making you anxious?" + +The captain dropped his voice. + +"Did you see the way she looked at him at dinner? By George! it was +enough to melt the leg off an iron pot!" + +"It's been coming for a week," said Mrs. Weston, wisely. "If you really +oppose it, there is no time to be lost." + +"Oppose it? Of course I oppose it. What's to be done?" + +"The situation requires delicate handling. Would you like me to try and +help you out--share the responsibility of chaperoning her, I mean?" + +"Permanently?" asked the captain, shooting a quizzical glance at her +from under his heavy brows. + +"You wretch!" said Mrs. Weston, flushing. "Just to Hong-Kong, I mean." + +That night about ten o'clock the captain, who happened to be crossing +the steerage deck, came quite unexpectedly upon Percival and Bobby +groping their way through the dark. + +[Illustration: "Roberta!" he called sternly. "What are you doing out +here?"] + +"Roberta," he called sternly, "What are you doing out here?" + +"Oh," cried Bobby, breathlessly, feeling her way around the hatch, +"we've been out on the prow for hours, and it was simply gorgeous. +All inky black except the phosphorescence, miles and miles of it! And +some dolphins, all covered with silver, kept racing with us and leaping +clear out of the water, like wriggly bits of fire. And the stars--why, +Mr. Hascombe's been telling me the most fascinating things I ever +heard about stars. We've had a perfectly wonderful time, haven't we, +Mr. Hascombe?" + +"Topping!" said the Honorable Percival. + + + + +VIII + +IN THE CROW'S-NEST + + +The sea-voyage of thirty days, which in the beginning had threatened +to stretch into eternity, now seemed to be racing into the past with a +swiftness that was incredible. To Percival the one desirable thing in +life had come to be the sailing of the high seas under favoring winds, +in a big ship, with Bobby Boynton on board, and a conscience that had +agreed to remain quiescent until port was reached. + +Not that Percival's conscience succumbed without a struggle; he had to +assure it repeatedly that he would refrain from rousing in Bobby any +hopes that might be realized. The moment she showed the slightest sign +of taking his attentions seriously he would kindly, but firmly, make her +understand. It would not be the first time he had had to do this. He +recalled several instances with sad complacency. But a man cannot always +be sacrificing himself. A mild flirtation, with a girl whom he never +expected to see again was surely a harmless way of consoling himself for +the harsh treatment he had recently received from another of her sex. + +The one fly in his amber these days was Andy Black; only Andy was not a +fixed object. His activities were endless, and, strangely enough, they +exerted a powerful influence on Percival, causing him to change his +entire mode of life from his hour of getting up to his hour of retiring. +In order to get half an hour's conversation with Bobby Boynton it was +necessary to outwit Andy, and he was devoting himself assiduously to +the task. + +What complicated the matter was that Andy had embraced him in his +general affection for humanity, and despite persistent snubbing +continued to treat him as the friend of his bosom. Percival could hate +him contemptuously when he was out of sight, but he found it difficult +to keep up the dislike when the fat, boyish fellow sat on the sofa +opposite his berth and poured out his innermost confidences. + +"You see," he would say plaintively as he reached for Percival's silver +shoe-horn, "I never slide into love, like most fellows. I always splash +right in, head first. That's what I did the first night I came on board, +and I haven't come up yet. When I do, she'll hit me in the head. She +won't have me; you see if she does." + +Of course Percival agreed with him, but in the meanwhile he wondered +what Bobby could find in him to afford her such constant amusement. + +One sparkling morning when the white caps were dancing on the blue +water, and every bit of loose canvas was spanking the wind for joy, +Bobby announced that she was going again to the crow's-nest. She had +circled the deck some ten times between her two cavaliers, and the +difficulty of keeping mental step with either in the presence of the +other may have influenced her sudden decision. + +"What do you want to do that for?" said Andy, whose weight made him +cautious. "It's a mean climb, and there's nothing to see when you get +up there." + +"There's everything to see," said Bobby and she looked at Percival. + +Ten days ago nothing could have induced him to do such an unconventional +and conspicuous thing. He remembered the exact phrase he had applied +to it when told by the Scotchman of Bobby's previous adventure. +"Characteristically American," he had remarked, with a disparaging +shrug. + +Now, with assumed languor, he said, "I don't mind going with you." + +Two sailors were found to tie the ropes around their waists and stand +guard below while they slowly and cautiously climbed from one swaying +rung to another. + +"All right?" asked Bobby, looking down over her shoulder. + +"Right as rain," called Percival, with suggestion of eagerness in his +voice. + +He followed her cautiously as she scrambled like a squirrel from the top +of the ladder to the crow's-nest. Swinging through the clear sky one +hundred feet above the water below, they found themselves in the sudden +intimacy of a vast and magnificent solitude. The sapphire sky met the +sapphire sea in a sharply defined, unbroken line around them, while +shimmers of palpitating light rose from the sparkling waters until they +lost themselves in the zenith above. + +"Oh, look! look!" cried Bobby, with an eager hand on Percival's arm. +Turning, he saw the water suddenly disturbed by hundreds of curved +bodies that glistened in the sunlight as they leaped together in a +perfect riot of joy. + +"Silly old fish, the porpoise," he said, "always making circles in the +water like that" + +But the ennui expressed in his words was not reflected in his face. Even +silly old porpoises acquire an interest when one's attention is called +to them by a small and shapely hand that forgets in the enthusiasm of +the moment to remove itself from one's arm. It was only by sharply +calling to mind the haughty faces of his mother and sisters that he +refrained from indiscretion. + +"You don't mind?" he asked, drawing his cigar-case from his pocket. +"Deuced clever of you, I call it, to think of coming up here. How did +you know that Black fellow wouldn't come?" + +"He's too fat to climb," said Bobby. "He doesn't even like to walk." + +"Thought he was quite keen about it from the way he walked with us every +evening. A decent chap would not intrude." + +"That's funny!" said Bobby, with twinkling eyes. "That's almost exactly +what he said about you, only he didn't say intrude." + +"What did he say?" + +"Butt in," said Bobby. + +The Honorable Percival suffered one of those acute revulsions that had +become less frequent of late. At such times he marveled at himself for +permitting such vulgarity in his presence. + +"You Americans have the most extraordinary expressions, Miss Boynton!" +he said. + +"How queer that sounds!" + +"What?" + +"Miss Boynton. I thought you'd got to the Bobby stage. Perhaps you'd +rather make it Roberta." + +"Yes, I think I should, if I may." + +For a few seconds they dropped into silence, he puffing away at his +cigar, and she gazing off to the horizon as if she had quite forgotten +his presence. + +"Were you ever in love?" she asked, turning on him suddenly. + +"Why do you ask?" he said, scrutinizing the ash of his cigar. + +"Because it's so queer you never got married. I thought young Englishmen +with names and estates to keep up always married right away." + +"Well, I suppose they do, as a rule. The Hascombes are rather +different. Of course there have been a lot of girls who were foolish +enough to--er--to think--" + +"To think they were in love with you? Go ahead! I'll shut my eyes." + +Instead, she opened them very wide, and he had to unbutton his coat just +for the sake of buttoning it up again. + +"But I don't care about them," she went on; "I want to know if _you've_ +ever been in love." + +"Imagined I was once." + +"Oh, what fun! Tell me about it from beginning to end!" + +"How do you know it had an end!" + +"I'd gamble on it," said Bobby, confidently. "But tell me!" + +Just why Percival at this moment felt a sudden desire to discuss a +subject that hitherto he had shrunk from the slightest reference to can +be explained only by the fact that the confiding of an unhappy love +affair to a sympathetic member of the opposite sex seems a necessary +stage of convalescence. It was the first chance he had had to present +his version of the story to an unbiased listener, and if he omitted +certain details, and laid undue stress upon others, it must not be held +against him. + +"Of course," he said in conclusion, "through a sense of honor I'd have +gone through with it. Fortunately, it was not necessary. Poor girl broke +it off herself." + +He spoke as of one who had committed suicide, but in regard to whom a +kindly jury would have brought in a verdict of temporary insanity. + +"Well, I think you were perfectly splendid, all through," cried Bobby. +"What sort of a girl could she have been to act like that?" + +He took several long, satisfying pulls at his cigar; it was astonishing +how much he was enjoying it, and the conversation as well. + +"Oh, she's quite one of the best, you know. Dare say she thought it was +all my fault." + +"The idea! Was she pretty?" + +"Opinions differ." + +"Smart?" + +"Rather!" + +"Jolly?" + +"Well, no, not exactly jolly; that's not quite the word." + +"Very proper, I suppose," + +"Oh, yes, absolutely; most decidedly so. Perfect stickler for form." + +Bobby sighed. + +"Just the opposite from me all the way through. Well, I'm glad you +wouldn't make up. Serves her right." + +"Probably best for everybody," said Percival. "Now it's your turn. How +about yourself!" + +"Well," she said with what struck him as the strangest irrelevance, "our +scheme seems to be working with the captain. We've got him guessing. He +told me last night I was not to go to the prow with you again." + +"Why not?" + +"He thinks you like me too much." + +"What do _you_ think?" + +Percival bit his lip the moment he had asked it, but leaning there on +the railing, with her dancing eyes on a level with his own, and nothing +else on the entire horizon, it was difficult to keep the situation in +hand. + +"I think you are getting a bully tan," she said, scrutinizing him +closely; "most men get a red nose or else they get all speckled around +the edges. Yours looks like a nice crust on an apple pie." + +"I do tan rather decently," he said; "but you haven't told me what you +think." + +"What about?" + +"About my liking you too much." + +"I think the captain exaggerated." + +"He couldn't exaggerate that." + +"But how can you like me when I'm all wrong?" + +"I like you because of your possibilities. You've probably never met any +one before who understood you as I do. Quite extraordinary the way +you've improved since you came on board." + +"And you've got fourteen days more to work on me! Do you think anybody +will recognize me when I get back to Wyoming?" + +"Now you are chaffing!" complained Percival. "You never take me +seriously." + +"Then you want me to be serious, and believe everything you say?" + +He paused in awed contemplation of the direful consequences if she +should, but for the life of him he couldn't stop. + +"I want you to believe me," he said tenderly, "when I say that you've +been most awfully sweet, and that I wouldn't give half a sovereign for +any other girl's chances if you were within ten miles. I want you to +know that I consider you the prettiest girl I've ever seen, and the +most--" + +Bobby tightened the rope about her waist. + +"It's time for me to be going," she exclaimed in mock alarm, "If you +keep on saying things like that, I may furnish another scalp to that +collection you were telling me about. I don't dare stay another minute." + +Neither did Percival. He followed her down the ladder as if he had been +escaping from quicksands. + +That night the crow's-nest was added to the prow on the list of places +about a ship which the captain felt young ladies should stay away from. + +[Illustration: "You will have to join the crowd." suggested Bobby when +Percival complained of not seeing her as often as he wished] + +"You will have to join the crowd," suggested Bobby when Percival +complained of not seeing her as often as he wished. "We sing up on the +boat-deck every night, and now the moon is up, it's perfectly gorgeous." + +But Percival's abhorrence of crowds made him hold out resolutely until +the day before they were to land in Japan. Everybody was making plans +for the few days to be spent in port, and small parties were being +formed to leave the steamer at Yokohama and join it three days later +at Kobe. Percival was annoyed because the steamer had to stop at all. +Any interruption in the present routine was a nuisance. He vacillated +between the inconvenience of going ashore and the stupidity of remaining +on board. An invitation from Mrs. Weston to join her party, and an +insistent demand from Bobby Boynton, decided him. He made his +preparations accordingly. + +But an unforeseen incident occurred the night before the _Saluria_ +landed which caused him suddenly to change his plans. He was just ready +to go below for the night when an overmastering desire for one more word +with Bobby seized him. By a bit of Machiavellian strategy he had +outwitted Andy that afternoon, and had her entirely to himself for three +blissful hours. + +It was in their old haunt behind the wind-shelter, and he had taken the +opportunity, if not to "shatter her to bits," at least "to remold her +nearer to the heart's desire." He had done it with consummate tact, and +she had responded with adorable docility. He never admired himself more +than in the rôle of cicerone to a young and trusting maid. By the +subtlest methods he knew how to convey approval or disapproval of +anything from a beaded slipper to a moral sentiment. He could stir +dormant ambition, rouse lagging courage, inspire patience, and all he +demanded in return was unfaltering homage from the fair one. + +In the present instance, however, the entire time was not devoted to +correcting faults of manner and speech or to acquiring the higher +Christian virtues. It was incredible how many things they found to talk +about, considering the fact that art, literature, music, the drama, +foreign travel, and London gossip were not among them. Bobby's way of +diving unexpectedly from the general into the personal made a +tête-à-tête with her peculiarly exhilarating. + +The trouble was that the more one had, the more one wanted, and going to +bed now without a parting word seemed to Percival really more than he +had a right to ask of himself. He circled the deck several times in +indecision, then he ascended the companionway and made his way aft. + +A full moon hung high in the heavens, and a flood of silver poured in a +dazzling stream across the level surface of the sea. The quarter-deck, +the white boats amidships, and all the brass work abaft the funnels +reflected the radiance. + +"See who is here!" cried the irrepressible Andy from an +indistinguishable group that huddled together under steamer-rugs against +the big blue-and-white smoke-stack. + +"May I speak to Miss Boynton for a moment?" asked Percival, icily. + +"I'm afraid I can't get out," said Bobby. "Elise is sitting on my feet, +and Andy and I've got on the same sweater. There's a place for you here, +if you will come." + +It is really too undignified an act in the life of the Honorable +Percival to chronicle, but before he had time to contradict his impulse, +he had actually doubled up his long legs and crawled into the small +space Bobby made for him beside her. If she persisted in preferring this +noisy bunch of inanity to a quiet stroll on the promenade-deck with him, +then he supposed for the time being he must humor her. + +Youth and love and moonlight at sea are a magic combination, however, +and Percival soon decided that even though it was deuced uncomfortable +to be huddled up like that, with both feet asleep, yet there were +compensations. + +"Sing!" commanded Bobby, and he joined obediently in the chorus. As the +night wore on a caressing coolness crept into the air, and the crowd +gathered into a closer group. Percival could feel Bobby breathing near +him, and could look down undisturbed into her upturned face as she sang +with passionate abandon to the moon. She seemed to have entirely lost +sight of her surroundings and was off on some high adventure of her own, +leaving him free to watch her to his heart's content. + +It was a situation fraught with danger; yet he lingered. He did more: +he slipped his hand beneath the rug and sought cautiously for hers. As +their palms met, and her small fingers closed responsively over his, +such a thrill of satisfaction passed over him as he had never felt +before. His old wounds were suddenly healed, life became a passionate +love-song on a languorous, moonlit sea. But his ecstasy ceased with the +music. Bobby's voice broke the spell with frightful distinctness: + +[Illustration: "If you want to hold my hand, Mr. Hascombe, you are +welcome to it."] + +"If you want to hold my hand, Mr. Hascombe, you are welcome to it. +Andy's got the other one; but if you don't mind, we'll put them all +together, like that, on top of the steamer-rug." + +During the laugh that followed he managed to got to his feet and make +his escape. He had never been so angry in his life; he even included +himself in his devastating wrath. Why shouldn't he have been insulted, +laughed at, jeered at! When one allows oneself to associate with such +people, he ought to expect such behavior. + +_"Plebeians!_" he snarled as he jerked together the curtains of his +berth and turned his face to the wall. + + + + +IX + +DRAGGING ANCHOR + + +Of course, after what had happened, nothing could induce Percival to +join the Weston party in Japan. He left a note of formal regret, and +hastened ashore on the first launch in the morning. His one desire was +to avoid those detestable young Americans, whose diabolical laughter had +rung in his ears all night. The wounds received by vanity are never +serious, but they are very hard to heal, and as Percival stopped ashore +in this strange land he felt that he was the most unhappy of mortals. + +"Call a hansom," he demanded impatiently of Judson, who stood grinning +at the queer sights on the hatoba. + +"There ain't none, sir." + +"Of course; I forgot. But how are we to get to the hotel?" + +"Carn't say, sir, unless we go in a couple of them perambulators." + +Percival took an instant dislike to a country that forced him to ride +in a ridiculous vehicle, pulled by a small bare-legged brown man in a +mushroom hat. All the way to the hotel he was unhappy in the conviction +that he was making a spectacle of himself. + +The rooms which he had engaged in advance were not satisfactory, and it +was not until he had inspected all the suites that were unoccupied that +he decided upon one that commanded a view of the bay. Once established +therein, he despatched Judson for his mail and for any English papers +that might be found, then took up his position by a front window and +sternly watched the bund. + +The picturesque harbor, full of sampans and junks, the gay streets, full +of color and movement, the thousand unfamiliar sights and sounds, held +no interest for the Honorable Percival. His whole attention was focused +upon the jinrikishas that constantly arrived and departed at the +entrance below. + +He wanted to see Bobby's face and read there the signs of contrition, +which he felt sure must have followed her unfeeling conduct of the night +before. But he intended to punish her before he forgave. Such a violence +to their friendship could not go unrebuked. Even when he received the +note of apology which he felt sure she would send up the moment she +reached the hotel, he would delay answering it. She must be made to +suffer in order to profit by this unhappy experience. + +His reflections were interrupted by a rap at the door, which called him +away from the window. It proved to be a sleek Chinaman, who proffered +his card, bearing the inscription: + +"G. Lung Fat, Ladies' and Gents' Tailer." + +G. Lung Fat, it seemed, had beheld Percival in the lobby and been +greatly impressed with his bearing. It would be an honor, he urged, with +the fervor of an artist craving permission to paint a subject that had +captured his fancy, to cut, fit, and finish any number of garments for +such a figure before the ship sailed on the morrow. + +Percival was impressed. He examined the samples with the air of a +connoisseur. Like most Englishmen, he had a weakness for light clothes +and sun-helmets. The regalia suggested English supremacy in foreign +lands. He had ordered his fourth suit and was earnestly considering a +white dinner-jacket when familiar voices from the street below made him +spring to the window. + +It was Bobby Boynton and Andy Black, who were evidently setting forth in +jinrikishas alone, Mrs. Weston and the other young people remaining to +inspect the fascinating array of curios that were being displayed on the +pavement. If any sorrow for past misdeeds dwelt in Bobby's bosom, there +was certainly no trace of it on her face as she called gaily back over +her shoulder: + +"We are off for a lark; you needn't look for us until you see us." + +Percival dismissed the Chinaman peremptorily, and paced his room in +indignation. It was incredible that a girl who had basked in the sun of +his approval could find even temporary pleasure in the feeble rushlight +of Andy Black's society. Not that it made the slightest difference to +him where she went or with whom. If her father saw fit to permit her to +go forth in a strange city with a strange man, unchaperoned, of course +it was not for him to interfere. But that she should have, at the first +opportunity, disregarded his counsels, to which she had listened with +such flattering attention, angered him beyond measure. He bitterly +assured himself that all women were alike, an assertion which seems to +bring universal relief to the masculine mind. + +His ill humor was not decreased when Judson returned, after a long +delay, and reported that the mail had been sent to the steamer. Not +content with being the bearer of this unpleasant news, Judson committed +the indiscretion of waxing eloquent over the charms of Japan. Percival +considered it impertinent in an inferior to express enthusiasm for +anything that was under the ban of his disapproval. Before the +discussion ended it became his painful duty to remind Judson of the fact +that he was an ass. + +At tiffin-time, when he descended to the dining-room, owing to the +recent arrival of two steamers, all the tables were engaged. There was +one in the corridor, he was told, if he did not mind another gentleman. +He did mind; he much preferred a table alone, but he also wanted his +luncheon. He followed the unctuous head waiter the length of the big +dining-room, winding in and out among the small tables, only to emerge +finally into the corridor and find himself face to face with his _bête +noire_, Captain Boynton. + +"Hello! Can't lose you," was the captain's gruff greeting. "How does it +happen that you aren't off with the crowd doing the sights?" + +"Sights bore me," said Percival, unfolding his napkin with an air of +lassitude. + +"Crowds, too, eh? Twoing more in your line?" + +The remark was treated with contemptuous silence while Percival devoted +himself to the menu. + +"Seen that girl of mine since she came ashore?" continued the captain. + +"Miss Boynton?" asked Percival, as if not quite sure of the identity of +the person inquired for. "Oh, yes, I believe I did see her early this +morning. She went out with Mr. Black." + +"Good! He'll show her a thing or two." + +"Rather extraordinary," Percival could not help commenting, "the way +young American girls go about alone like that." + +"Alone? What's the matter with Andy?" + +"But I mean unchaperoned. Dare say young Black is very good in his way, +but he can't be called discreet." + +"How do you mean?" + +"Taking your daughter into that nasty mess of Chinamen in the steerage, +for instance, to watch them play fan-tan." + +"What of that? She only lost a couple of quarters and had a dollar's +worth of fun. Can't see it was any worse than keeping her out at the +prow until midnight, or taking her up to the crow's-nest." The captain +pushed back his chair, and smiled with maddening significance. "See +here, my young friend, you needn't worry about Bobby. She's been taking +care of herself for twenty years. You better look after yourself." + +The Honorable Percival did not answer. He got his eye-glass right and +looked straight ahead of him. + +But the captain was not through. He leaned across the table and shook a +warning finger: + +"Beware of J. Lucy," he said, then he took a smiling departure. + +Through the rest of the meal and well into the afternoon Percival +puzzled his brain over that cryptic warning. When its meaning dawned +upon him he flung "Guillim's Display of Heraldry" clear across the room, +and used language not becoming an English gentleman. He assured himself +for the hundredth time that Americans were the most odious people in the +world, and the captain the most convincing proof of it. + +The afternoon dragged miserably, and the prospect of waiting about the +hotel until the steamer sailed at noon the next day appalled him. The +obvious thing, of course, was to go out and see the city, but he had +declared to Judson that there was nothing worth seeing, and one must be +consistent before one's servants. Even the morrow offered no abatement +to his misery. Most of the people he knew were going from Yokohama to +Kobe by rail, and he pictured himself the only guest at the captain's +table for three mortal days. + +At three o'clock he went down to the terrace and took his seat at a +small table that commanded a view of the hotel entrance. To one with +a free mind the scene was highly diverting, with jinrikishas and +occasional victorias thronging the bund, and gay parties constantly +arriving and departing. Coolies in blue, with mysterious Chinese +lettering on their kimonos and with bright towels about their heads, +trotted past; women with blackened teeth and with babies strapped on +their backs clattered by on wooden shoes; street venders sang their +savory wares; merchants displayed treasures of lacquer and ivory, street +dancers posed and sang to the tinkle of the samisen. + +But to Percival it was at best a purgatory where he seemed to be doomed +to wait through eternity. Not that he meant to speak to Bobby Boynton +when she arrived or make the slightest sign of forgiveness. That she +should have allowed Andy Black to keep her out from eleven in the +morning until after three in the afternoon was even more shocking than +her behavior to him the night before. He was resolved to show her by +every means in his power that to even a disinterested acquaintance like +himself her conduct was wholly unpardonable. Meanwhile that emotion to +which the captain had so grossly alluded took entire and absorbing +possession of him. + +Toward the middle of the afternoon Mrs. Weston joined him on the terrace +in an anxious mood. + +"Have you seen anything of that naughty Bobby Boynton?" she asked. "I am +quite distracted about her. Our train for Kioto leaves in half an hour. +You don't suppose anything has happened to her, do you?" + +"I really can't say," said Percival, with a shrug that suggested the +direst possibilities. + +"We simply must go on to Kioto tonight," continued Mrs. Weston, +anxiously nervous. "My cousin would never forgive me if I disappointed +him. You see, he's lived in Kioto for years, and he's promised to take +us out to an old Buddhist temple on a wonderful sacred mountain that I +can't pronounce. We've been looking forward to it for weeks." + +Percival stood back of his chair and watched his tea getting cold. The +suggestion of something having happened to Bobby had changed his anger +to sharp solicitude. Gruesome tales of brutality toward foreigners in +Eastern ports came back to him. + +"I wonder," said Mrs. Weston, persuasively, "if you would mind taking a +jinrikisha and going down to Benten Dori to see if they are there. I +have no one else to send." + +"I don't know that I should care to go myself," said Percival, "but I'll +send my man." + +Judson having been despatched, Percival with difficulty refrained from +following him. Mrs. Weston's solicitude as she hovered between the +telephone-booth and the desk was infectious, and he found himself pacing +from entrance to entrance, imagining the most calamitous causes for the +delay. + +It was not until a joyful exclamation from Elise Weston announced the +approach of the truants that he drew a deep breath of relief and retired +to the reading-room. He was more than ever resolved not to see Bobby; to +her former transgressions was now added the new and unpardonable offense +of having made him acutely anxious about her. + +He took up an old copy of the "Graphic," and resolutely read of events +that had taken place before he left England. He even glanced through the +pages of the innocuous "Gentlewoman," and tried to concentrate upon an +article entitled "Favorite Fabrics for Autumn." In vain were his +efforts; every sound from the lobby or the street claimed his instant +attention. At last, when an unmistakable commotion without gave evidence +that the Weston party was leaving, he got up, despite himself, and went +to the window. + +They were all there, Mrs. Weston, Elise, the Scotchman, Andy, and Bobby, +all climbing into their jinrikishas in the greatest possible haste and +in the highest possible spirits. One after another the jinrikishas +trundled away, until only Bobby's was left while her runner adjusted his +sandal. Percival saw her turn in her seat and eagerly scan the terrace +and the windows of the hotel. Then suddenly she caught sight of him, and +her face broke into a radiant smile as she waved her hand and nodded. + +A moment later and his eyes were straining after a figure that was fast +disappearing up the bund. It was a small, alert figure, disturbingly +young and sweet and buoyant. The flying jinrikisha, the hair blowing +across her cheek, the scarf that fluttered in the breeze, all suggested +flight, and flight to the masculine mind is only another term for +pursuit. + +He flung down his paper and strode out to the lobby. + +"When is the next train for Kioto?" he demanded. + +"At ten to-night, sir." + +"Make out my bill, and get my luggage down; I'm leaving on that train." + +"But, sir, you have made no reservation. You may have to sit up all +night." + +"Have you any objections?" asked the Honorable Percival in his most +insular manner. + + + + +X + +ON THE SEARCH + + +The clerk's prophecy proved all too true. Percival and his valet sat all +night in a crowded, smoke-dimmed car, between a fat Japanese wrestler +and a fatter Buddhist priest, both of whom squatted on their heels and +read aloud in monotonous, wailing tones. The air was close, and the +floor was strewn with orange peel, spilt tea, and cigarette ends. +Percival's fastidious senses were offended as they had never been +offended before. Under ordinary circumstances nothing could have induced +him to submit to such discomfort, but the circumstances were not +ordinary. + +The alternative of remaining calmly in Yokohama and allowing an +aggressive young American to monopolize the girl of his even temporary +choice was utterly intolerable. Moreover, he was coming to see that +while Bobby had failed to droop under the frost of his displeasure, it +was still probable that she would melt into penitence at the first smile +of royal forgiveness. + +During the long hours of that interminable night he had ample time to +reflect upon the folly of pursuing an object which he did not mean to +possess. But though wisdom urged discretion, a blue eye and a furtive +dimple beckoned. + +When morning came, he straightened his stiff legs and, picking his way +through the wooden sandals that cluttered the aisle, went out to the +small platform. The train had stopped at a village, and a boy with a +tray suspended from his shoulders, bearing boxes of native food, was +howling dismally: + +"Bento! Eo Bento!" + +Percival beckoned to him. "I say, can't you get me a roll and a cup of +coffee!" + +"Bento?" asked the boy, expectantly. + +"Coffee!" shouted Percival. "Rather strong, you know, and hot." + +"Tan San? Rhomenade?" asked the boy. + +"Coffee. Café. What a silly fool!" Percival muttered. + +About this time several windows in the car went up, and many voices took +up the cry of "Bento." When Percival reëntered, he found that a large +pot of boiling water had been deposited in the aisle, and small tea-pots +had been distributed among the passengers. Everybody was partaking of +breakfast, and everybody seemed to be enjoying it, especially Judson, +who was attacking his neatly arranged bamboo sprouts, pickled eels, and +snowy rice with avidity. + +"This is a bit of all right, sir," he said with enthusiasm. "Shall I +fetch you a box, sir!" + +Percival lifted a protesting hand. And yet the pungent odor of the +pickle and the still smoking rice was not unpleasant. He watched with +increasing appetite the disappearance of the various viands. There were +occasions when a man might even envy his valet. + +At the Kioto Hotel there was no record of the Weston party, so he +snatched a hasty bite, and rushed on to the other large hotel. It was +on a hillside well out from the city, and two coolies were required for +each jinrikisha. Seeing that they had a newly arrived tourist, they were +moved to show him the sights, much to Percival's annoyance. + +"San-ju-san-gen-do Temple," the man in front said, putting down the +shafts of the jinrikisha confidently. "Thirty-three thousand images of +great god Kwannon. Come see? No? So desu ka?" + +Later he stopped at a flower-girt tea-house. + +"Geisha maybe! Very fine dancers. Come see? No? So desu ka?" + +So it continued, the two small guides trying in vain to arouse some +interest in the stern young gentleman who sat so rigidly in the +jinrikisha, with his mind bent solely on reaching the Yaami Hotel in the +shortest possible time. + +On his arrival, he met with disappointment. The effusive proprietor +informed him that a party of five, "one single lady, and two young +married couples, he thought," had breakfasted there and left immediately +with Dr. Weston for Hieizan. They would not return until night. + +"What, pray, is Hieizan?" Percival asked, dimly remembering Mrs. +Weston's outlined plan. + +"Very grand mountain," said the proprietor; "view of Lake Biwa. Biggest +pine-tree in the world." + +The last thing that Percival desired to see was a big pine-tree, but the +prospect of sharing the sight of it with Bobby Boynton spurred him to +further inquiry. + +"But they must come back, mustn't they? Perhaps I could meet them +halfway?" + +"Oh, yes. They go by _kago_ over mountain; you go by 'rickisha to +Otsu, and wait. Very nice, very easy. All come home together. I furnish +fine jinrikisha and very good man, Sanno; spik very good English." + +Percival had an early lunch, and, leaving Judson sitting disconsolately +among the hand-bags, started for Otsu. From the first his runner +justified his reputation of speaking English; he began by counting up +to fifty, looking over his shoulder for approval, and expecting to be +prompted when his memory failed. He received Percival's peremptory +order to be silent with an uncomprehending smile and a glib recitation +of the Twenty-third Psalm. He was an unusually tall coolie, and the +jinrikisha-shafts resting in his hands were a foot higher than they +ought to be, throwing his passenger at a most awkward angle. Before Otsu +was reached a sudden rainstorm came on, and Percival was made yet more +uncomfortable by having the hood of the jinrikisha put up, and a piece +of stiff oilcloth tucked about him. + +By the time he rattled into the courtyard of the small Japanese inn, he +was cramped and cold and very cross. Even the voluble welcome of the +proprietor and the four girls, who received him on their knees, failed +to revive his spirits. It was going to be deuced awkward explaining his +sudden appearance to the Weston party. There might even be jokes at his +expense. He decided to take a room and not make his appearance unless +everything seemed propitious. + +An animated discussion was in progress between Sanno and the innkeeper, +the import of which Sanno explained with much difficulty. Owing to the +autumn festival of the imperial ancestors, the inn was quite full, but +hospitality could not he refused to so distinguished a foreign guest. + +"Foreign bedstead is not," concluded Sanno; "foreign food is not; hot +bath is." + +"I sha'n't want a bed, and I sha'n't want a bath," said Percival, then, +seeing that a diminutive maiden was unloosing his shoes, he added +petulantly: "My boots are quite dry. Tell her to go away." + +But Sanno was getting his jinrikisha under cover, and Percival had to +submit to the gentle, but firm, determination of the _nesan_. She +was small and demure, but her attitude towards him was that of a nurse +towards a refractory child. She conducted him, with much sliding of +screens, through several compartments, to a room at the back of the +house that opened out on a tiny balcony overhanging a noisy stream. + +Percival, standing in his stockinged feet on the soft mats, looked about +him. The room was devoid of furniture, its only decoration being a vase +of carefully arranged flowers in an alcove, and a queer kakemono that +hung on an ivory stick. As he was inspecting the latter, the nesan again +approached him. + +This time she seemed to have designs upon his coat, and despite his +protest began to remove it. When he forestalled her at one point she +attacked another, until the situation became so embarrassing that he +shouted indignantly for Sanno. + +"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded furiously. "Why doesn't the +girl go away, and leave me alone?" + +"Gentleman bass already," said Sanno, soothingly. "Kimono? So?" he +joined forces with the nesan to get Percival out of his clothes and into +the fresh-flowered kimono that lay on the mat. + +"But I never take a tub in the afternoon," persisted Percival. + +Preparations went politely, but steadily, forward. + +"What's this she's putting on me?" he cried. "I say, I _won't_ wear +a sash; the whole thing's too beastly silly. Tell her to take it off." + +But despite his protests, the long red scarf was wound about his waist +and tied with many deft twists and pats into a butterfly bow at the +back. Seeing that protests were quite useless, and being still chilled +from his long ride, he decided to resist no longer, but to take the bath +that was so insisted upon, and be free to watch undisturbed for the +returning party. + +The nesan produced a sponge and towel from her long sleeves and, taking +Percival by the hand, led him down the hall. Once in the big, square +wooden tank, with the hot water up to his chin, he forgot his trouble, +and gave himself up to the luxury of the moment. Even the knowledge that +the determined little nesan was waiting outside the door, and that she +frequently applied a round, black eye to a hole in the screen, did not +interfere with his enjoyment. + +When he was again in his room, clothed except for his shoes, his +troubles once more assailed him. Suppose the Weston party did not return +by this route! The possibility of missing Bobby fired his desire to see +her at once. He had never known twenty-four hours to contain so many +minutes. + +During the early stages of his malady it had only been necessary for him +to recall the aristocratic faces and bearing of his mother and sisters +to have his vision instantly cleared and his reason enthroned. Later it +became necessary to add the captain's sturdy countenance to his list of +exorcising spirits. Now Bobby routed them all, not only taking entire +possession of his mind, but actually invading Hascombe Hall, dancing +through the gloomy, corridors, and waking the echoes with her youth and +merriment. + +Of course the Honorable Percival tried to stamp out these wild +imaginings, and assured himself repeatedly that the moment he landed in +Hong-Kong the whole episode would be relegated to oblivion. But +Hong-Kong was yet ten days away, and Percival saw no use in forgetting +before he had to. He went out to the courtyard and impatiently surveyed +the rain-soaked road. + +"No come," said Sanno, cheerfully, from the step where he was keeping +watch. "Tea?" + +Without waiting for an answer, he clapped his hands, calling, "_O +Cha!_" + +Another small maiden in a cherry-blossom kimono, carrying a brazier full +of live coals, trotted around the corner and conducted Percival back to +his apartment. She proved even more irritating than the first one, for +during the tea-making she stopped many times to examine his cuff-links, +wrist-watch, and ring, making purring exclamations of delight over each +discovery. When he used his monocle she tried it also, and when he took +out his cigarette-case, she must examine every detail and help herself +to a cigarette into the bargain. Percival was acutely bored. He regarded +her as a persistent fly that refused to be brushed away. He sat with his +back against the paper screen, his stockinged feet rigidly extended, +drinking his tea as solemnly as if he had been in the most formal +drawing-room of Grosvenor Square. + +The rainy afternoon closed in to twilight, and still the Weston party +did not come. Percival's impatience gave place to anger, but he doggedly +waited. + +"Could they have gone back another way?" he demanded of Sanno. + +"Way?" repeated Sanno. + +Percival made a drawing on paper and tried to convey his meaning, but it +was useless. + +"'Merican game?" asked Sanno, grinning. + +At last, in desperation, Percival decided to return. + +"Yaami Hotel, Kioto," he directed. + +"Very sorry," said Sanno. "No come Kioto to-night. Big rain. Bridge him +very bad. Jinrikisha upset, maybe." + +Percival declared this to be nonsense; he insisted that he would start +immediately. But as Sanno refused to bring out the jinrikisha, it was +not possible to carry out his intention. Then the Honorable Percival, +who was not used to being crossed, lost his temper, and the entire +household came out to see him do it. Sanno and the proprietor watched +him with bland and smiling faces, and the girls tucked their heads +behind their sleeves and laughed immoderately at his scowls and vehement +gestures. + +Seeing that he was gaining nothing by argument, he stalked sullenly back +to his room, where active preparations were in progress for dinner. The +brazier which had been used for the tea still stood in the middle of the +floor, and all around it were porcelain bowls and lacquer trays, and a +wooden bucket full of steaming rice. + +He took refuge on the two-foot balcony and gazed gloomily on the +sprawling stream below. The Westons were probably back in Kioto by this +time, and would be off again in the morning before he could possibly get +there. What headway might not that presumptuous Andy Black make with +Bobby Boynton in forty-eight uninterrupted hours! + +His tragic reflections were interrupted by the announcement that dinner +was served. Seated on the floor before a twelve-inch table, with disgust +written on every feature, he drank fish-soup out of a bowl, and tasted +dish after dish as it was borne in and respectfully placed before him. + +"Haven't you a fork?" he asked when the chop-sticks were proffered him. + +"Forku?" repeated one of the three maidens who knelt before him; then +she joined the other two in a giggling chorus. + +There had been moments in the Honorable Percival's life when his dignity +trembled on its pedestal, but never had it swayed so perilously as when +he tried to use chop-sticks for the first time under the fire of those +six mischievous black eyes. It was only by maintaining his haughtiest +manner that he remained master of the situation. + +When bedtime came, a new difficulty arose. Sanno's prophecy that +"foreign bedstead probably is not" proved true. A neat pile of quilts +in the middle of the floor was offered as a substitute, and Percival, +after a long argument, stretched himself on the soft heap and courted +oblivion. But the Fates were against him. As if his thoughts were not +sufficient to torment him, hundreds of mosquitos swarmed up from the +stream below, and assailed him so viciously that at midnight he rose +and called loudly for Sanno. + +With Sanno came the household, all eager to know what new excitement +the foreign gentleman was creating. When the trouble was explained, +elaborate preparations were set on foot to remedy it. After much +discussion, hooks were driven into the corners of the ceiling, and +a huge net cage, the size of the room, suspended therefrom. + +During this performance Percival suffered great embarrassment, owing to +the fact that the pink silk underwear in which he was arrayed was an +object of the liveliest interest to the ladies. + +When at last he was left alone, he fell into a troubled sleep. He +dreamed that the world was peopled solely by mosquitos, and he knew them +all, Captain Boynton, Andy Black, Sanno, the Lady Hortense, and even +Bobby herself. One by one they came and nipped him while he lay +helpless, clad only in a pink suit of silken underwear. + + + + +XI + +THE GYMKHANA + + +The experiences of his first twenty-four hours in Japan were repeated +with variations three times before Percival reached Kobe. His mad desire +to overtake Bobby had carried him from Kioto to Nara, where he went to +the wrong hotel and missed the Weston party by fifteen minutes. From +Nara he made a night journey to Ozaka, during which the small engine +broke down in the middle of a rice-field, proving a sorry substitute for +the wings of love. + +It was with a sigh of relief that he at last boarded the _Saluria_ +and sank into his steamer-chair. At least there was one satisfaction, +no one but Judson knew of his futile search, and Judson was too well +trained to discuss his master's affairs. How good it was to be on board +once more! He felt an almost sentimental attachment for the steamer +which three weeks ago had fallen so short of what an ocean-liner ought +to be. Then the _Saluria_ was only an old Atlantic transport +transferred to the Pacific to do passenger service, but now she was +a veritable ship of romance, freighted with memories and dreams. + +The passengers, coming aboard, seemed like old friends, and he found +himself greeting each in turn with a nod that surprised them as much +as it did him. At any moment now Bobby Boynton might appear, and the +prospect of seeing her raised his spirits to such a height that he +wondered if he would be able to play the rôle he had assigned himself. + +He had definitely decided to be an injured, but forgiving, friend. She +should be made no less aware of his wounds than of his generosity. She +would doubtless recall another incident in which he had met ingratitude +with noble forgiveness, and she would rush to make reparation. If there +was one thing he prided himself upon it was a knowledge of women. Never +but once had his judgment erred, and even then, could he but remember +all his impressions, he doubtless had had moments of misgiving. + +Bobby's voice sounded on the ladder, and the next moment she was +tripping down the deck toward him. It was in vain that he kept his eyes +on the letter in his hand, and assumed an air of complete absorption. +She came straight toward him, and dropped into the chair next his own. + +"Oh, but you missed it!" she said. "I never had so much fun in all my +life." + +He did not answer. Instead, he lifted a pair of melancholy eyes, and +looked at her steadfastly. + +"Oh," she said after a puzzled moment, "I forgot. We are mad, aren't we? +One of us owes the other an apology." + +"Which do you think it is!" he asked gently, as if appealing to her +higher nature. + +Bobby, with her head on one side, considered the matter. "Well," she +said, "you did something I didn't like, and I did something you didn't +like. Strikes me the drinks are on us both." + +"The--" Percival's horrified look caused her to exclaim contritely: + +"Excuse me, I'll do better next time. Come on, let's make up. Put it +there and call it square!" + +It was impossible to refuse the small hand that had been the cause of +the trouble, but even as Percival thrilled to its clasp he realized his +danger. During the course of his twenty-eight years he had always been +able to prescribe a certain course for himself and follow it with +reasonable certainty. Exciting moments were now occurring when he was +unable to tell what his next word or move was going to be. It is quite +certain that he never intended to take her hand in both of his and look +at her in the way he was doing now. + +"What a bunch of letters!" she said, getting possession of her hand. +"You see, I have some, too. I'll read you some of mine if you'll read me +some of yours. Will you?" + +"Which will you have?" + +"May I choose? What fun! Read me the one with the sunburst on it." + +He obediently adjusted his monocle, broke the seal, and began: + +_"'My Dear Son:_ + +"'I cannot, I fear, make my letter so long or so interesting as I could +desire, owing to the fact that I am afflicted with a slight lumbago, but +I will proceed without further preliminary to set down the few incidents +of interest that have occurred since my last writing. Your brother is +sorely harassed by affairs in the city, and when here he is in constant +altercation with the grooms about exercising your horses. I fear you +will find them sadly out of condition upon your return.'" + +"I call that a darn shame!" said Bobby, sympathetically, then her hand +flew to her mouth as she saw Percival's raised eyebrows. + +"There I go again! You see, I've been running around with Andy Black, +and nobody ever puts on airs with Andy." + +Percival gave a sigh of discouragement, then resumed his reading: + +"'We have had few guests at the hall since your departure until +yesterday, when who should call but the Duchess of Dare!'" Percival +paused, and glanced hurriedly down the page. + +"Go on!" commanded Bobby. + +"It won't interest you in the slightest." + +"But it _does_. Unless there's something you don't want me to +hear." + +"Not at all. Where was I? Oh, yes, 'call but the Duchess of Dare! She +has let her house to some friends, and has come away from London for a +fortnight's rest. It was rather queer of her calling, wasn't it? She was +less embarrassed than you would imagine and actually had the effrontery +to mention Hortense.'" + +"Who is Hortense?" asked Bobby, all curiosity. + +"Her daughter." + +"Well, why shouldn't her mother mention her?" + +"Oh, I don't know," said Percival, in deep water; "rather bad form, +perhaps." + +"For a mother to mention her own child?" Then the light dawned. "Perhaps +she is the one you were telling me about." + +Percival hastily folded the letter and slipped it into its emblazoned +envelop. + +"Is she?" persisted Bobby. + +"Is she what?" + +"The girl you let down easy?" + +"Well, really, Miss Boynton--" + +"Roberta," corrected Bobby. + +"Very well, Roberta. It's your time to read to me. May I choose a +letter?" + +"No, I'll choose one myself." + +"But that isn't fair. I let you select any one you liked." + +She thought it over, then somewhat reluctantly held out three envelops. +It was so evident that she was trying to keep back the bulky one with +the bold address that Percival instantly selected it. + +"Some of it's secrets," she warned him, "and you mustn't peep." + +"Of course not. But who is it from?" + +"That wasn't in the game. I didn't ask you." + +"You didn't need to; but go ahead." + +"It's all about the ranch," said Bobby, looking over the pages +and smiling to herself. "They've had an awful row with the new +broncho-buster, and Hal had to punch his head for being cruel to the +horses. I knew that fellow wasn't any good." She read on for a while +to herself. "Says the shooting promises to be great this year. My! but +I hate to miss it!" + +"Whatever do you find to shoot?" + +"A little of everything from teal duck to Canada goose." + +"Really!" exclaimed Percival, with interest. "And do you shoot?" + +"Oh, yes, some. I'm not as good as the boys. You see, I have to use Pa +Joe's old No. 10 choke-bore shot-gun, when I really ought to have a +16-bore fowling-piece." + +Here was a new and wholly unsuspected bond of sympathy between them. +Percival would have plunged at once into a dissertation on a subject +upon which he considered himself an authority had not the fluttering +sheets of the letter stirred vague misgivings in his bosom. + +"You aren't playing fair!" he cried. "You are telling me what is in your +letter without reading it to me." + +"So I am!" She looked over page after page. "Here, this will do. It +says: 'I wish you could have been along last night when I hit the trail +for the Lower Ranch. You know what that old road looks like in the +moonlight, all deep black in the gorges, and white on the cliffs, and +not a dog-gone sound but the hoof-beats of your horse and the clank of +the bridle-chains. Why, when you come out in the open and the wind gets +to ripping 'cross the grass-fields, and the moon gets busy with every +little old blade, and there's miles of beauty stretched out far as your +eye can reach, I'd back it against any sight in the world. Only last +night I wasn't thinking much about the scenery. I was thinking--'" +Bobby stopped short, declaring that she had a cinder in her eye. + +"Can't be a cinder, out here in the bay," protested Percival. + +"Well, it's whatever they have out here." + +"And sha'n't I ever know what your friend was thinking?" + +"He was probably thinking of his dinner," said Bobby, gazing at him +reassuringly with her free eye. + +After she had departed to make sure that the steamer got properly under +way, he tortured himself with suspicions. What possible secrets could +she have with this unknown friend, who waxed sentimental over moonlit +trails and wind-swept grassfields? Had not some one told him of an +unhappy love-affair? He searched his memory. Suddenly there came to him +the disturbing figure of a stalwart young man on a broncho, with leather +overalls, jingling spurs, a silk handkerchief knotted about his throat, +and a pair of keen, humorous eyes lighting up a sun-bronzed face. + +Then he smiled at his quick alarm. Hadn't she told him it was one of her +foster-brothers, one of those lads whom he persisted in regarding as +children? It was the most natural thing in the world that an impulsive, +big-hearted creature like Bobby would be on terms of affectionate +intimacy with those boys with whom she had been brought up. + +He did not feel fully reassured, however, until he put the question to +her flatly: + +"That letter you were reading me," he said at his first opportunity--"you +won't mind telling me if it is from that chap I saw at the station?" + +"I don't mind telling you. But you mustn't tell the captain." + +"The captain? Oh, to be sure. Doesn't fancy your friends, the Fords. I +remember." + +From that time on he boldly and openly entered the lists for Bobby's +favor. The ten days he had allowed himself to drift with the tide of his +inclination were passing with incredible swiftness, and he resorted to +every means, from the subtlest strategy to the most domineering +insolence, to monopolize every waking moment of her time. + +She responded to all his suggestions with flattering promptness until +preparations were set on foot to hold a huge gymkhana, in which +everybody on board should take part. The enterprise fired her enthusiasm +instantly. She was a born organizer, and the prospect of a whole day +devoted to sports captivated her. The project served as a peg on which +she and Percival hung their first quarrel. + +"Of course I'm going into it," she exclaimed hotly, "and so are you." + +"The idea!" said Percival. "I shouldn't think of it for a moment. Fancy +me chasing an egg around the deck in a teaspoon, and all that sort of +thing!" + +"But there are lots of other contests. There's the long jump, and the +tug-of-war--" + +"And pinning tails on donkeys," added Percival, bitterly. "Dare say +you'd like to see me doing that." + +"I'd like to see you doing anything that would make you more sociable," +flashed Bobby. + +For the rest of the day Percival sulked in the smoking-room, raging at +the time that was stolen from him, and given to the making of silly +rules and the buying of trifling prizes. + +On the morning of the sports he arrayed himself in one of the white +creations of G. Lung Fat's, giving special attention to the accessories +of his toilet. Then, with marked indifference to the games, which were +the all-absorbing topic of the day, he had his chair moved to the far +side of the deck, and sat there in superior isolation during the whole +morning. + +But even there he could not avoid hearing what was taking place; shouts +of laughter, groans, and jeers over a failure, and frantic applause over +a victory, were wafted to him constantly. Now and then some one hurried +by with the information that Andy Black had won the quoits prize or that +Andy Black had won the bottle-race. His lip curled contemptuously at +sports that required a mere trickster's turn of the wrist or an animal's +sense of direction. He would like to see Andy attempt a long jump or a +mile race. Imagine the fat pink-and-white youth on a polo pony! + +At luncheon Andy's praises were passed from lip to lip. The affair +had assumed an international significance. A Scotchman, a German, a +Japanese, and an American were striving for first place. The captain's +patriotism ran so high that he offered to set up the handsomest dinner +the Astor Hotel in Shanghai could afford if Andy came out victorious. + +In vain Percival sought to hold Bobby's attention. The tapers in her +eyes were lighted for Andy, and he was obliged to undergo the new and +intolerable sensation of sitting in a darkened niche and watching the +candles burn at an adjoining shrine. + +The slightest hint of deflection in one upon whom he had bestowed his +favor maddened him. He had showered upon this ungrateful girl attentions +the very husks of which would have sustained several English girls he +knew through a lifetime of patient waiting. He recalled their unswerving +loyalty with a glow at his heart. + +Ah, he thought, one must look to England for ideal womanhood. Where else +was to be found that beautiful deference, that blind reliance, that +unswerving loyalty--At the word "loyalty" a stabbing memory of Lady +Hortense punctured his eloquence. + +During the afternoon he found it impossible to escape the games. The +potato and three-legged races brought the contestants to his side of the +deck, and his reading was constantly interrupted by an avalanche of +noisy spectators who rushed through the cross passages from one side of +the boat to the other, exhibiting a perfectly ridiculous amount of +excitement. + +Andy, it seemed, had only one more entry to win before claiming the +day's championship. + +"He'll get it!" Percival overheard the captain saying gleefully to Mrs. +Weston. "None of 'em are in it with America when it comes to sports." + +Percival flicked the ashes from his cigar, and, carefully adjusting his +tie, rose, and made his way to the judges' table. + +"How many more events are there?" he asked in a superior tone. + +"One," was the answer. + +"How many entries?" + +"Two. Mr. Black and the Scotch gentleman." + +"Make it three," said Percival, as if he were ordering cocktails. + +In the confusion of preparing for the last and most elaborate feature of +the day, Percival's enlistment was not discovered. It was not until the +contestants ranged themselves in front of the judges' table that a buzz +of fresh interest and amazement swept the deck. First came the Scot, +lean, wiry, and deadly determined; then came Andy, plump and pink, with +his fair hair ruffled, and a laughing retort on his lips for every sally +that was sent in his direction. Last came the Honorable Percival, a +distinguished figure in immaculate array, wearing upon his aristocratic +features a look of contemptuous superiority. + +"What are the rules of the game?" he inquired, looking into space. + +"There's just one rule," called Captain Boynton from the +background--"Get there." + +"The American motto, I believe," said Percival, quietly, and the crowd +laughed. + +The Scot was the first to start, and Percival watched anxiously to see +the nature of the race he had entered. He saw his adversary dash forward +as the signal sounded, climb over a pile of upturned chairs, scramble +under a table, scale a high net fence, then disappear around the deck, +only to emerge later from the mouth of a funnel-shaped tunnel, through +which his contortions had been followed by shrieks of merriment. + +Percival realized too late what he had let himself in for. Not for +worlds would he have subjected himself to such buffoonery had he known. +It was not the sport of a gentleman; it was the play of a circus clown! +He watched with horrified disgust as the Scot's grimy face and tousled +head emerged from the canvas cavern. + +"Four minutes and five seconds," called the umpire. + +Andy Black stepped confidently forward amid a burst of applause. + +"The champion Roly-Poly of the Pacific," some one called. + +"The _Saluria's_ Little Sunbeam," suggested another. + +Andy smiled blandly, and kissed his fingertips. The signal sounded, and +he bounded off, bouncing from one obstacle to another like a rubber +ball. It was only in the twenty-yard dash from the net fence to the +canvas tunnel that he lost ground. + +"Four minutes, two seconds," announced the umpire as Andy scrambled out +on all fours. + +At that moment Percival would willingly have exchanged places with the +grimiest stoker in the hold. Was it possible that he had, of his own +accord, placed himself in this absurd and undignified position for the +sole purpose of defeating a common, commercial traveler who had dared to +deflect the natural course of a certain damsel's smiles! He writhed +under the ignominy of it. What if he were defeated? What if-- + +The signal sounded, and instinctively he hurled himself forward. As he +scrambled over the upturned chairs he heard a sound that struck terror +to his soul: it was the unmistakable hiss of tearing linen. The hastily +made garments of G. Lung Fat had proved unequal to the strain put upon +them. Percival lost his head completely when he realized that his +waistcoat was split up the back from hem to collar, and that he had +become an object of the wildest hilarity. + +He might have fled the scene then and there, leaving Andy to enjoy +his laurels undisturbed, had he not caught sight of Bobby frantically +motioning him to go on. Setting his teeth grimly, he went down on all +fours and scrambled under the table, then resolutely tackled that +swaying, sagging network of ropes that barred his progress. Again and +again he got nearly to the top, only to have his foot go through the +wide bars and leave him hanging there in the most awkward and ungainly +position. It seemed to him an eternity that he hung ignominiously, like +a fly in a spider's web, while the crowd went wild with merriment. + +Then suddenly all his fighting blood rose, and forgetting the +spectators, and even forgetting Bobby, he doggedly grappled with those +yielding ropes until he got a foothold, swung himself over the top, +cleared the entanglement below, and made a flying dash for the yawning +mouth of canvas at the far end of the deck. It was incredibly hot and +suffocating inside, but he wriggled frantically forward, clawing and +kicking like a crab. At last a dim light ahead spurred him to one final +gallant effort. + +"Four minutes!" called the umpire as the Honorable Percival Hascombe +emerged, blinking and breathless, and staggered to his feet. His clothes +were soiled and torn, his hair was on end, there was dust in his eyes, +and dirt in his mouth. + +The fickle audience went wild. The dark horse had won, and public favor +immediately swung in his direction. But it was not the favor of the +public that Percival sought; it was the homage of a certain rebellious +maiden, who must be taught that he was the master of any situation in +which he found himself. + +Bobby was not slow to proffer her congratulations. She gave them with +both hands, to say nothing of her eyes and her dimple. + +"I pulled for you!" she whispered eagerly. "I almost prayed for you. I +wouldn't have seen you beaten for the world." + +As Percival, elated by her enthusiasm, stood shaking hands right and +left, he felt a curious and unfamiliar warmth stealing over him. All +these people whom he had looked upon until to-day as so many figureheads +stalking about suddenly became human beings. He found, to his surprise, +that he knew their names and they knew his. He sat on a table, swinging +his feet in unison with a lot of other young feet, while he sipped +lemonade from the same glass as Bobby Boynton. + +[Illustration: He sat on a table swinging his feet in unison with a lot +of other young feet, while he sipped lemonade from the same glass as +Bobby Boynton.] + +As a matter of fact, the Honorable Percival Hascombe was experiencing a +novel sensation. He was enjoying a sense of fellowship, to which all his +life he had been a stranger. + + + + +XII + +THE SONG OF THE SIREN + + +By the time the _Saluria_ anchored off Shanghai, the fires in +Percival's bosom had assumed the proportions of a conflagration. No +sooner were they seemingly conquered by the cold stream of reason that +was poured upon them than they broke forth again with fresh and alarming +violence. + +On the launch coming up the Hwang-pu River he took the precaution of +engaging Bobby Boynton's company not only for the day on shore, but for +the evening as well. With hardened effrontery he bore the young lady +away in exactly the high-handed manner so bitterly condemned in Andy +Black at Yokohama. + +The day on shore was one he was destined never to forget. The glamour of +it suffused even material old China with a roseate hue. With gracious +condescension he visited gaily decked temples and many-storied pagodas, +he loitered in silk and porcelain shops, and wound in and out of narrow, +ill-smelling streets, even allowing Bobby to conduct him through that +amazing quarter known as Pig Alley. He not only submitted to all these +diversions; he demanded more. He seemed to have developed an ambition to +leave no place of interest in or about Shanghai unvisited. + +Tiffin-time found them at a well-known tea-house in Nanking Road--a +tea-house with golden dragons climbing over its walls and long wooden +signs bearing cabalistic figures swinging in the wind like so many +banners. Percival secured a table on the upper balcony, where they could +look down on the passing throng, and here in the intimate solitude of a +foreign crowd they had their lunch. + +Bobby was too excited to eat; she hung over the balcony, exclaiming at +every new sight and sound, and appealing to Percival constantly for +enlightenment. Fortunately he had spent part of the previous day poring +over a Shanghai guide-book, so he was able to meet her inquiries with +the most amazing satisfaction. + +"I don't see how any one human being can know as much as you do!" she +exclaimed, with a look that Buddha might have envied. + +"Even I make mistakes occasionally," said Percival, modestly. "Can't +always be right, you know." + +"But you are," she persisted; "you are always abominably right, and I am +always wrong." + +"Adorably wrong," amended Percival, assisting with the tea-things. + +"Two, three, four?" she asked, holding up the sugar-tongs. + +"Doesn't matter so long as I have you to look at." + +Now, when an Englishman ceases to be particular about the amount of +sugar in his tea, you may know he is very far gone indeed. By the time +he had drained three cups of the jasmine-scented beverage and basked in +the brilliance of Bobby's smiles through the smoking of two cigars, he +was feeling decidedly heady. + +"If we are going to the races, we really _must_ start," declared +Bobby when she found the situation getting difficult. + +"What's the use of going anywhere?" asked Percival, blowing one ring of +smoke through another. + +"Why, we are seeing the sights of Shanghai. You said you were crazy +about China." + +"So I am. You are quite determined on the races?" + +"Quite," said Bobby. + +Their way to the track lay along the famous Bubbling Well Road, and as +they bowled along in a somewhat imposing victoria, with a couple of +liveried Chinamen on the box, Bobby sat bolt upright, her cheeks +flushed, and her eager eyes drinking in the sights. + +It was a scene sufficiently gay to hold the interest of a much more +sophisticated person than the untraveled young lady from Wyoming. The +whole of society, it appeared, was on route to the races. The road was +thronged with smart traps full of brilliantly dressed people of every +nationality. There were gay parties from the various legations, French, +Russian, Japanese, German, English, American. In and out among the +whirling wheels of the foreigners poured the unending procession of +native life, unperturbed, unconcerned. A Chinese lady in black satin +trousers and gorgeous embroidered coat, wearing a magnificent head-dress +of jade and pearls, rode side by side with a coolie who trundled a +wheelbarrow which carried his wife on one side and his week's provisions +on the other. Water-carriers, street vendors, jinrikisha-runners, women +with bound feet, children on foot, and children strapped on the backs of +their mothers, crossed and recrossed, surged in and out. + +But the Honorable Percival concerned himself little with these petty +details. To him China was only a pleasing background for Miss Roberta +Boynton; he saw no further than her eager, smiling eyes, and heard +nothing more distant than the ripple of her laughter. + +At the races they found an absorbing bond of interest. The love of +horse-flesh was ingrained in both, and the merits of the various ponies +provoked endless discussion. Lights were beginning to twinkle on the +bund when they drove back to the hotel. + +"Where shall we go to-night!" asked Percival, as eager at the end of +this eight hours' tête-à-tête as he had been at the start. + +"To the ball, of course," said Bobby. "The hotel is giving it in honor +of the _Saluria_." + +"Heavens! what a bore! Can't we dodge it?" + +"You can if you want to. Andy'll take me. He's just waiting to see if +you renig." + +"Renig?" repeated Percival. + +"Yes," said Bobby--"fluke, back out; you know what I mean." + +That settled it with Percival. Five minutes before the hour appointed he +was waiting impatiently in one of the small reception-rooms to conduct +Miss Boynton to that most abhorred of all functions, a public ball. What +possible pleasure he was going to get out of standing against the wall +and watching her dance with other men he could not conceive. He assured +himself that he was acting like a fool, and that if he kept on at the +pace he was going, Heaven only knew what folly he might commit in the +four days that must pass before he reached Hong-Kong. + +Hong-Kong! The word had but one association for him. It was the home of +his eldest and most conservative sister, a lady of uncompromising social +standards, who recognized only two circles of society, the one over +which her mother presided in London, and the smaller one over which she +reigned as the wife of the British diplomatic official in the land of +her adoption. + +At the mere thought of presenting Bobby to this paragon of social +perfection, Percival shuddered. He could imagine Sister Cordelia's +pitiless survey of the girl through her lorgnette, the lifting of her +brows over some mortal sin against taste or some deadly transgression in +her manner of speech. Of course, he assured himself it would never do; +the idea of bringing them together was wholly preposterous. And yet-- + +A Chinese youth, with a handful of trinkets, slipped into the room, and +furtively proffered his wares. + +"Very good, number-one jade-stone. Make missy velly plitty. Can buy?" + +Percival motioned him away, only to have him return. + +"Jade-stone velly nice! Plitty young missy wanchee jade-stone." + +"Did she say she wanted it?" demanded Percival, with sudden interest. + +The boy grinned. "Oh, yes. Wanchee heap! No have got fifty dollar'. +Master have got. Wanchee buy?" + +Percival tossed him the money and lay the pendant on the table. Then he +resumed his pacing and his disturbed meditations. If he could only keep +himself firmly in hand during those next four days, all would be well. +Once safely anchored in the harbor of his sister's eminently proper +English circle, the song of the siren would doubtless fade away, and he +would thank Heaven fervently for his miraculous escape. Meanwhile he +listened with increasing impatience for the first flutter of the siren's +wings, + +"Wanchee Manchu coatt?" whispered an insidious voice at his elbow, and, +looking down, he saw the enterprising lad with a pile of gorgeous silks +over his arm and cupidity writ large in his narrow eyes. + +"No, no; go away!" commanded Percival. + +"Velly fine dragon coat. Him all same b'long mandarin. How much?" + +Percival turned away, but at every step was presented with another +garment for inspection. Despite himself, his artistic eye was caught and +held by the beauty of the fabrics. + +"How much?" he asked, picking up a marvelous affair of silver and gray, +lined with the faintest of shell pinks. It was the exact tone and sheen +to set Bobby's beauty off to the greatest advantage. The argument over +the price was short and fierce, and Percival laid the coat beside the +pendant on the table. + +He promised himself to offset the effect of these gifts by a more +detached and impersonal manner than he had shown Bobby during the day. +So far, he congratulated himself, he had given her no occasion for false +hopes. On the contrary, he had gone out of his way on several occasions +to express his bitter disapproval of international marriages. When the +hour came for them to part, his heart might be mortally wounded, but his +conscience, save for a few scratches, would be uninjured. + +A quick step in the corridor made him look up. Standing in the doorway +was a vision of girlish beauty that had the acrobatic effect of sending +his blood into his head and his heart into his eyes. She wore the +diaphanous gown of white that he liked best, her hair was coiled at the +exact angle he had prescribed, and at her belt were the orchids he had +sent up half an hour before. No rhinestones in her hair, no gold beads +on her slippers, nothing to mar the simplicity that her all too vivid +beauty required. Percival's eyes appraised her at her full value. Even +Sister Cordelia would have been propitiated by the sight. + +"What's this lovely thing?" cried Bobby, pouncing upon the coat. + +"Something I bought to be rid of a troublesome lad. Don't know what I +shall do with it, exactly." + +"Take it to your sister, of course," + +"She probably has heaps of them." + +Bobby slipped her round, bare arms into the loose sleeves, and surveyed +herself in the long mirror. + +"Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?" she asked, glancing at +him over her shoulder. + +[Illustration: "Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?" she asked, +glancing at him over her shoulder] + +"It is," said Percival, emphatically. His judgment about the +becomingness of the color had, us usual, been unerring. + +"I should be no end grateful," he said, "if you'd take it off my hands. +My trunks are fearfully stuffed now." + +"But I haven't any money," said Bobby, with characteristic frankness; +"besides, we don't need things like that in Cheyenne." + +"Silly girl! Do you think I have turned merchant, and have got wares for +sale? The coat is for you." + +Bobby gave a cry of delight, then she looked up dubiously. + +"But is it all right for me to take a present like this? I never had +anything so big given me--yes, I did, too!" She laughed. "A fellow from +Medicine Bow sent me a barrel of mixed fruit once, with nuts and raisins +in between, and ten pounds of candy on top!" + +"Then why scruple at my gift?" + +Her brow clouded. "But you said girls oughtn't to take things from men +they weren't engaged to. You remember that day on deck you got me to +give back Andy's scarf-pin?" + +Percival cleared his throat. + +"Quite a different matter," he said; "now, between you and me--" + +Bobby shook her head as she took off the coat. + +"No, I guess not. I want it so bad I can taste it, but I think you'd +better keep it for somebody in the family." + +Percival slipped the jade pendant into his waistcoat pocket, and tossed +the coat on a chair. + +"As you like," he said. "Shall we go to the ball-room?" + +In his secret soul he was inordinately gratified. Of course she should +not have accepted the coat, and he should not have tempted her. She had +done exactly right in firmly adhering to his former instructions. +Altogether she was a remarkable little person indeed. + +The moment they appeared in the ballroom she was confiscated, and he had +a miserable quarter of an hour watching her whirl from one masculine arm +to another. For the first time dancing struck him as pernicious. He +declared that the clergy had something on its side when it denounced the +amusement as evil. He doubted gravely if he should ever permit a wife of +his to dance. + +"Mr. Hascombe, aren't you going to ask me to dance?" It was Bobby who +had stopped before him, flushed and breathless. + +"I don't dance at public balls," he said disapprovingly. + +"Why not?" asked Bobby, in surprise. + +"Hardly the thing. A person in my position, you know--" + +"You mean because of the Honorable? How stupid! Let's pretend you aren't +one just for to-night!" + +"But I don't dance these dances, you see." + +"That doesn't matter; I'll teach you." + +"Really, now, I can't make a spectacle of myself." + +"Nobody wants you to. We'll practise out here in the loggia. Come +ahead!" + +He was seized by two small, determined hands and drawn this way and +that, apparently without the slightest method. + +"But I haven't the vaguest idea what to do with my feet," he protested +helplessly. + +"Don't do anything with them; let them do something with you. Shut your +eyes and listen to the music; let it get into your bones, and the first +thing you know you will be doing it." + +With British solemnity Percival closed his eyes and tried to feel the +music. Suddenly he was aware that he was moving in rhythm to the +insistent beat of the drum. + +"That's it!" cried Bobby, excitedly. "You are doing the Grape-Vine; let +yourself go. That's it!" + +So intent was he upon keeping out of time instead of in it, that he +was guided from the loggia into the ball-room before he knew it. His +awakening came when a firm hand was laid upon his shoulder. He stopped +indignantly. The ship's doctor had not only arrested the development of +his new-found talent, but was actually dancing off with his partner! + +"Most unwarrantable impertinence!" he stormed to the Scotchman, whom he +joined at the door. "Clapped me on the shoulder quite as if I had been +under suspicion for felony. Almost expected to hear him say, 'My man, +you're wanted.' I shall demand satisfaction of the cub the instant the +dance is over." + +The Scotchman laughed. "He meant ye no harm. It's a trick they have in +the States of changing partners. Watch the game; ye'll see." + +"And I can take any man's partner away by simply laying my hand on his +shoulder?" + +This changed the complexion of things considerably. The Honorable +Percival spent the remainder of the evening laying his hand upon the +shoulder of whosoever claimed Bobby for a dance. + +It was remarkable with what facility he acquired the new steps. He knew +that he had a good figure and that he carried it with distinction. The +admiring glances that followed his entrance into any public assembly +made him pleasantly aware of the fact. To-night, however, if any of his +thoughts turned upon himself, they were but stragglers from the main +army that marched in solid file under Bobby's banner. + +During the intervals when he could not dance with her he retired to +the loggia, and thought about her. She was not only the most beautiful +creature he had ever seen, but the most adorably responsive. He likened +her poetically to an Æolian harp and himself to the wind. + +No one, not even his fond mother, had accepted him so implicitly at +his own valuation as Bobby. Other women frequently insisted upon their +own interpretations. He looked upon this as a form of disloyalty. +Lady Hortense had once decried his taste for Tennyson; that, and her +persistent use of a perfume which he disliked had been symbolic to him +of a difference in temperament. Bobby had no predilections for perfumes +or poets. She blindly accepted his judgment of all things, and if she +sometimes failed to conform to his wishes, it was through forgetfulness +and not opposition. He gloried in her plasticity; after all, was it not +among the chief of feminine virtues? + +While he paced the loggia and thus recounted her charms, he became +increasingly intolerant of the fact that his Æolian harp was being swept +by _various_ winds. He thirsted for a complete monopoly of her +smiles, of all her glances, grave and gay, of the thousand and one +little looks and gestures that he had quite unwarrantably come to look +upon as his own. + +After all, why should he consider his family before himself? Why should +he ever go back to England at all? It was the most daring thought he had +ever had, and for a moment it staggered him. Lines from "Locksley Hall" +began ringing in his ears: + + "... Oh for some retreat + Deep in yonder shining-Orient when; my life began to heat: + Larger constellations burning, mellow moons and happy skies, + Breadths of tropic shady, and palms in clusters, Knots of Paradise. + There the passions, cramp'd no longer, shall have scope and breathing + space; + I will take some savage woman--" + + +Of course, he told himself, Bobby wasn't exactly a savage woman; but +then again she was, you know, in a way. She was from the point of view +of Sister Cordelia. But why consult Sister Cordelia at all? Why not seek +some "blossomed bower in dark purple spheres of sea"? Not in China; it +was too beastly smelly. Not in Japan; mosquitos. Not in America; never! +It should be some South Sea Island, where they would dwell, "the world +forgetting, and by the world forgot." + +Once an Englishman slips the leash of his sentiment and quotes even a +line of poetry, it carries him far afield. In this case it led Percival +a headlong chase over walls of tradition and barriers of pride. He +begrudged every moment that must elapse before he had Bobby to himself, +and told her of his great decision. + +"But isn't it too late to be taking a walk?" she protested when the last +dance was over, and he was urging a turn on the bund. + +"Just a breath of fresh air. Won't take five minutes. Where's your +wrap?" + +"I haven't any but my steamer-coat. I don't suppose you could stand +that." + +"You will wear the Manchu coat," said Percival, with tender authority; +"there's every reason why you should." + + + + +XIII + +PERCIVAL PROCRASTINATES + + +The little park that stretched between the bund and the water-front way +deserted save for a few isolated couples who had strolled out from the +hotel to cool off after the heat of the ball-room. Percival and Bobby +found a vine-clad summer-house where they could watch the tall ships +riding at anchor in the bay, their riding-lights swaying amid the more +stationary stars. Closer to the water were the bobbing lights of the +sleeping junks, while behind them twinkled the myriad lights of that +vast native city the hem of whose garment they were merely touching. + +The setting was all that Percival's fastidious taste could desire, but +now that he had "the time and the place and the loved one all together," +he found an epicure's delight in lingering over his rapture. This hour +had a flavor, a bouquet, that no other hour would ever contain, and he +preferred to sip it deliriously moment by moment. He coaxed her to talk +at length about himself, to put into her own words the impressions he +had made upon her mentally, morally, and physically. He never tired of +beholding in the mirror of her mind the very images he had placed before +it. + +"You are a perfect little wizard!" he exclaimed in ecstasy. "You read me +like a book. Quite sure you aren't cold!" + +"No," said Bobby; "but I'm getting awfully sleepy." + +His pride took instant alarm. After all, it was not the hour to press +his suit. He rose, and tenderly drew the shining folds of her wrap about +her. + +"I shall take you in. Can't allow you to lose your roses, you know. +To-morrow I must take better care of you." + +Bobby gave a sleepy little laugh. + +"What is it!" he asked. + +"I was just thinking how mad we are making the captain. He wouldn't +speak to me all through dinner." + +"I shall have a word to say to the captain to-morrow that will quite +change his attitude." + +"What sort of a word?" + +"Can't you guess?" + +Before Bobby could answer, their attention was arrested by angry shouts +in the street behind them. A drunken sailor, evidently from an English +gunboat, was in fierce altercation with his jinrikisha-man, and was +announcing to the world, in language compounded of all the oaths in his +vocabulary, that he wished to be condemned to Hades if any more +pumpkin-headed, pig-tailed Chinks got another bob out of his pocket. + +Percival was for hurrying his precious charge past the belligerents and +into the hotel, but Bobby insisted upon seeing the end of it. + +"That sailor is fixing to get into trouble," she cried. "He doesn't know +what he is doing or saying." + +"I dare say he'll manage very well," said Percival, urging her on. + +"But he _isn't_ managing, He's making the coolie furious. Don't let +him hit at him like that! See, he's caught hold of his queue!" + +The patient Chinaman had received the supreme insult, and in a second he +had flashed a short knife from his belt, and was lunging at the stupid, +upturned face of the half-recumbent sailor. + +Percival sprang forward and seized the descending arm. He was not quick +enough to arrest the force of the blow, but he succeeded in deflecting +its course, and the blade, which would have given the sailor a decent +burial at sea, sharply grazed Percival's wrist, and buried itself in the +side of the jinrikisha. + +It was all so quickly done that by the time a crowd collected and the +big Sikh policeman arrived in his yellow clothes and huge striped turban +Percival had got Bobby safely into the hotel lobby. He was exasperated +beyond measure that this very evening, of all, should have ended in his +participation in a vulgar street brawl. So far he had succeeded in +keeping Bobby from knowing that he was wounded, but the beastly scratch +was bleeding furiously, and he had to keep his hand behind, him to +prevent her from seeing it. + +They hurried through the empty lobby and down the long corridor that led +to the elevator. Bobby was full of excitement over the recent adventure +and the part Percival had played in it. + +"My, but you were quick!" she said as they went up on the elevator. "I +had just time to shut my eyes and open them again, and it was all over." + +"Nothing to speak of," said Percival, twisting his handkerchief tighter +around his throbbing wrist. + +"But you don't mind my being proud of you, do you?" asked Bobby as the +elevator stopped at his floor. "When I see a man show courage like that, +I just feel as if--as if I'd like to squeeze him." + +Percival's left hand shot out and caught hers to his lips. + +"Why, Mr. Hascombe!" she cried "What's the matter with your arm? No, +I mean the other one." + +"A mere scratch." + +"But your sleeve's cut, and the handkerchief is all blood-stained. Why +didn't you tell me you were hurt?" + +"I assure you it is nothing. Quite all right in the morning. Breakfast +with you at nine. Happy dreams!" + +Bobby was not to be so easily put off. She insisted upon following him +out of the elevator and inspecting the wound, + +"Why, it's dreadful!" she cried. "And it must have been bleeding like +this for five minutes! Quick! Where's your room?" + +"But really, my dear girl, I can't allow this. You must get back into +the lift straight away and go up to your room." + +"I sha'n't do anything of the sort until you get Judson or a doctor or +somebody." + +Percival would have carried his point but for a certain dizziness that +had come over him. He put out a hand to steady himself. + +"Give me your key!" he heard Bobby saying, and the next instant his door +was flung open, the lights were switched on, and he was staggering +blindly toward the couch at the foot of the bed. Then there was a +furious ringing of bells, a long wait, followed by the appearance of +a sleepy Chinese night watchman. + +"Gentleman hurt!" cried Bobby. "Get a doctor! Send somebody up here +quick! Do you understand?" + +"Me savvy," said the Chinaman, calmly. "Doctor no belong Astor Hotel. +All same belong Oliental Hotel." + +"I don't care where he belongs," Bobby cried impatiently. "Get him over +the telephone. And send somebody up from the office, do you understand?" + +"Oh, yes, me savvy," he said, with the imperturbability of his race. + +Percival heard the man's footsteps dying in the distance, and he made a +mighty effort to rouse himself. + +"Silly of me to behave like this. Quite all right now, thanks. You must +run away before any one comes." + +"Why?" demanded Bobby. + +"Looks rather queer your being here like this at midnight, you know. +Wouldn't compromise you for the world." + +Bobby was standing at his dressing-table searching for something, and +she wheeled upon him indignantly. + +"This is no time to be thinking about looks. You lie down and stop +talking. Hold your arm up straight, like that. Keep it that way until +I come." + +He did as she told him, grasping his right wrist in his left hand; but +the bright-red blood continued to spurt through his fingers, showing no +signs of abating. + +"If I could only find a string!" cried Bobby, tossing the contents of +his bag this way and that. "Here's the strap on your toilet-case; +perhaps it'll do." + +She knelt beside the couch, and, ripping his sleeve to the elbow, +hastily wrapped the leather thong twice about his forearm and slipped +the strap into the buckle. + +"I've got to hurt you," she said resolutely, pulling with nervous +strength. + +"It's most awfully good of you," murmured Percival, wearily, setting his +teeth and closing his eyes. Despite the pain, the drowsiness was getting +the better of him. He felt himself sinking through space, away from the +world, from himself, and, worst of all, from the tender, reassuring +voice that kept whispering words of comfort in his ear. + +From time to time he was aware of bellboys coming and going, and of +apparently futile inquiries for Judson, for the doctor, for Mrs. Weston, +for the captain. Then for a long time he was aware of nothing whatever. + +A sudden sharp pain in his arm roused him, and he opened his eyes. Bobby +still knelt on the floor beside him, unflinchingly holding the strap in +place. + +"I won't have this!" he cried, struggling to sit up. "Your lips are +trembling. It's making you ill." + +She laid her free hand on his shoulder. + +"Please lie still! They'll be here in a minute. I thought I heard the +elevator. It won't be much longer." + +There was the sound of hurrying feet in the hall, and the next instant +a quick rap at the door. Bobby looked up with great relief as a burly +English physician bustled into the room. + +"How long have you had the tourniquet on, Madam?" he asked, stripping +off his gloves and falling to work. + +"The what?" said Bobby. + +"The strap on his arm?" + +"Oh, since a quarter past twelve." She got up from her knees stiffly, +and shook out the shining folds of the Manchu coat. "It was the only +thing I could think of; it's what the boys do back home for a +rattlesnake bite." + +The doctor's glance expressed complete and unqualified approval, but +whether it was for her course of action or her very lovely and disturbed +appearance it would be hard to say. As she slipped out of the room he +turned to Percival. + +"It's a severed artery, sir; no special harm done except the loss of +blood. A few days' rest--" + +"But I am sailing in the morning," murmured Percival. "Must patch me up +by that time." + +"We shall see. You don't seem to realize that you stood an excellent +chance of remaining permanently in Shanghai." + +"You mean?" + +"I mean that you owe your life to that plucky little wife of yours." + +Percival's heart leaped at the word. "She's not my wife, Doctor," he +said, smiling feebly, "not yet." + + + + +XIV + +NEPTUNE TAKES A HAND + + +The evolution of a hero is seldom a gradual process; he usually springs +into public favor suddenly and dramatically. Not so with the Honorable +Percival. He had to scramble ignominiously on all fours through a canvas +tunnel, he had to brave the smiles of the on-lookers while he learned +new steps on the ball-room floor, he had to participate in a street +fight and have an artery severed before he was accorded the honor of +a pedestal. + +Bobby's graphic account of his defense of the drunken sailor, together +with his own vigorous disavowal of any heroism in the affair, won for +him a halo. After months of tedious anchorage in the dull harbor of +seclusion, he found himself once more afloat on a sea of approval, +tasting again the sweet savor of adulation, and spreading his sails to +catch each passing breath of admiration. + +Reclining in his deck-chair, with his arm in a sling and a becoming +pallor suffusing his classic features, he became an object of the +greatest solicitude to his fellow-passengers. The fluttering attentions +he received warmed him into geniality, and in return he dispensed regal +favors. He allowed Mrs. Weston to consult him concerning her +presentation at court the following spring, he let Andy Black arrange +his tie, and permitted Elise Weston to cut the leaves of his magazine. +He graciously submitted to endless inquiries concerning his hourly +progress, and even went so far as to accept two cream peppermints from +the old missionary, who had acquired a new box. + +The only drawback to this feast of brotherly love lay in the fact that +he could not obtain the tête-a-tête he so earnestly desired with Bobby +Boynton. She was always with him, to be sure, but so was everybody else, +especially Mrs. Weston, who had been officially appointed to stand guard +over the situation. + +The captain had been stung to active measure by a chance remark of Andy +Black's when they were alone at breakfast. + +"Accept my condolences," that youth had lugubriously remarked. "You have +missed the chance of your young life." + +"How's that?" asked the captain. + +"By not getting me for a son-in-law. Miss Bobby broke the news to me at +the dance last night." + +"Did she give you a reason?" asked the captain, arresting his cup in +mid-air. + +"I didn't need one. I've been rooming with it ever since we left +Honolulu." + +"She didn't say it was--" + +"Oh, she as good as told me. Same old chestnut I've been handed out all +my life. Said she cared for somebody else, but that she'd never forget +me. I can't see much satisfaction in occupying a pigeon-hole in a girl's +heart when, another fellow's got the key to it." + +The captain, was concerned with something far more serious than Andy's +matrimonial failures. + +"What makes you think it's Hascombe?" he asked. + +"What makes everybody think so?" asked Andy. "What makes him think so +himself?" + +The captain lost no time in finding Mrs. Weston, and laying the case +before her. + +"He's got to be headed off," he said anxiously. "It 's getting serious." + +"It certainly looks so after yesterday and last night. But I can't for +the life of me see why you oppose it. He's really a tremendous catch, +and it's no wonder Bobby's head is turned. We are all a bit daft over +him since he condescended to notice us." + +"Suffering Moses!" exploded the captain. "Let any fool come along and +shed a few drops of blood, then kiss his hand to the grand stand, and +he's got the women at his feet! I thought Bobby had more sense than to +cotton to that gilded rooster. I've a good mind to lock her up in her +stateroom until we reach Hong-Kong." + +Mrs. Weston shook her head and smiled. + +"You can't manage her that way. She is the sweetest thing that ever was, +but she is the kind of girl that can't be forced." + +"Well, she shall be!" cried the captain, with savage determination. "I +headed her off once, and I'll do it again. I tell you, I'd rather see +her dead than married to an Englishman." + +"Why, Captain Boynton!" + +"I would. It's the Lord's truth. Her mother before her got caught by +just such a high-headed British fool. She was welcome to him, and he to +her, though Heaven knows she paid for it. If I thought my girl was going +the same way--" + +His square jaw quivered suddenly, and he turned away abruptly. + +Mrs. Weston was wise enough to keep silent until he had mastered +himself, then she said kindly: + +"I don't wonder you feel as you do. You leave the matter to me, and I'll +do my best to keep things in abeyance until we reach Hong-Kong. Once +they are separated, the danger is practically over." + +It is doubtful, however, whether the combined efforts of the captain, +Mrs. Weston, and even Percival himself could have kept things _in +statu quo_ had a timely typhoon not arrived and taken things into its +own hands. It was about four in the afternoon that the sky darkened and +the bright blue water turned to gray. The wind shifted and came on to +blow dead ahead. + +"What a queer light there is on everything!" cried Mrs. Weston, who was +dutifully stationed between Bobby and Percival, doing sentry duty. "I +wonder if it is going to blow up a storm." + +"I hope so," said Bobby. "I love for things to happen." + +Percival glanced despairingly at Mrs. Weston, who was beginning on a +fresh ball of yarn. If she continued to sit there and knit the rest of +her life, nothing ever would happen. + +"I ought to close my port-hole if it's going to rain," she said. "Do you +think it is?" + +"Sure to," said Percival, with unusual alacrity. "Hard shower any +minute." + +Mrs. Weston rose reluctantly. + +"Don't you think you'd better come down, too, Bobby, and close yours?" + +"Mine's closed, thanks. I'll take your place and hold Mr. Hascombe's +tea-cup." + +Now, when a person with outrageously blue eyes is leaning on the arm of +your steamer-chair, steadying your saucer for you, and the wind has +blown everybody else off the deck except a bow-legged Chinese steward +who is absorbed in tying things down, it does look as if Fate meant to +be propitious. + +Percival put his cup in his saucer and let his fingers touch the small +hand that held it. + +[Illustration: "It's quite worth while" he said "getting a jab in the +wrist, to have you looking after me like this"] + +"It's quite worth while," he said, "getting a jab in the wrist, to have +you looking after me like this. I wonder if you realize that you saved +my life last night?" + +"I bet I know what this is leading up to," cried Bobby, accusingly. + +"What?" asked Percival, catching his lip between his teeth and looking +at her with devouring eyes. + +"A medal!" + +"Much more serious. As a matter of fact, the truth is, I've been trying +to get a minute alone with you all day. There's something I want--" + +"Oh, yes, I know. It's that Manchu coat. You want it to pack, of course. +I'll get it now." + +But his fingers held hers fast to the saucer. + +"You stupid child! You don't understand. It's yours, everything I have +is--" + +"Oh, goody! Here's the rain!" cried Bobby. "Andy bet me ten pounds of +candy it wouldn't come before night. Quick, let me put your cup under +the chair. Don't bother about the cushions." + +"But there's something I've _got_ to say to you. You must listen to +me!" + +"I'll listen to anything you like in the music-room just so it isn't +'Tales from Hoffman.' Come, we'll have to hurry!" + +Percival, with his passion once more arrested, strode after her +furiously. He was intolerant of every moment that passed before be +claimed her for his own, and unable longer to restrain his mad desire to +fold her in his arms. + +In the midst of these fervent anticipations he was unpleasantly aware of +the increased motion of the ship. It was the first time he had felt that +pitching, rolling motion since leaving the Golden Gate, and he shuddered +involuntarily. + +"Here's a cozy little corner all to ourselves!" cried Bobby, tossing the +cushions into a nook in the music-room, and inviting him to a place +beside her. + +But Percival remained standing in the doorway, supporting himself with +his free hand, his eyes fixed on space, and a leaden color spreading +over his face. + +"If you don't mind," he said slowly, "I think I'll go below. Feel the +storm a bit in my head. Atmospheric pressure, you know." + +"Of course you do," cried Bobby, all solicitude. "It's no wonder, after +the blood you lost last night. Sit right down there until I find +Judson." + + + + +XV + +PERCIVAL RISES TO AN OCCASION + + +During the two nights and days that followed the typhoon had everything +its own way. The sea bellowed with rage, and battalion after battalion +of mountainous waves charged the ship, only to fall back and form again. +For thirty consecutive hours the captain stayed on the bridge watching +every variation in the glass, and keeping all of his Nelson features in +active service. Whatever frivolities might fill his idle hours, there +was no question of his attention to duty when the call came. + +As for the Honorable Percival, he had ample opportunity during his long +hours of solitary confinement to make a complete inventory of his varied +emotions. Two things which should never be interrupted are a sneeze and +a proposal. That second declaration, so ardently begun and so ruthlessly +arrested, still hung in mid-air, and lying on his back in his darkened +stateroom, he had ample time in which to survey it from every angle. + +Never for a moment did he question the undying nature of his affection +for Bobby. His emotion was too insistent and too consuming to be +doubted. It was the proprieties that he questioned, and they all shook +emphatic and disapproving heads. The proprieties in Grosvenor Square, to +be sure, loomed rather dim through the distance; but that immediate +propriety in Hong-Kong, toward whom he was speeding with every turn of +the screw, towered ominously. + +If only he could hold things in abeyance until after the _Saluria_ +sailed from Hong-Kong, all might be well. It was of the utmost +importance that he should not present Bobby to Sister Cordelia until the +die was irrevocably cast. Faults that in Miss Boynton of the Big Gully +Ranch would be glaring iniquities would, in the wife of the Honorable +Percival Hascombe, dwindle away to charming eccentricities. + +A daring plan occurred to him. With proper strategy he might go down +to see the steamer off, get left on board, have the return trip in +uninterrupted bliss with Bobby, then boldly cable from America that +he had met his fate and succumbed to it, and that remonstrances were +useless. The scheme appealed to him the more he considered it. +Cablegrams were necessarily unemotional, and by the time letters were +exchanged, the proprieties would probably have decided to accept the +will of Providence and try to make the best of dear Percy's strange +choice of an unknown American girl. + +In the meanwhile he would devote all his energies to fitting her for +the honor about to be conferred upon her, For he had quite given up the +idea of the "blossomed bower in dark purple spheres of sea," and had +definitely decided to take her back to England as the future mistress of +Hascombe Hall. All he asked was six months in which to cut and polish +his priceless gem. + +It was not until the evening before the _Saluria_ was due in +Hong-Kong that the sea got over its fit of temper and decided to make +that last night the most beautiful one of the crossing. Everybody was +down for the farewell dinner. Even those who had been invisible for two +days emerged from their state-rooms like gorgeous butterflies from their +cocoons. Speeches were made, toasts were drunk, and a general air of +festivity prevailed. + +Percival raged inwardly at the length of the dinner. The golden moments +were racing by, and he was in a fever to get Bobby away to himself, +he had decided on a course which he felt did credit to his power of +self-control. He would permit himself the luxury of showing her that her +affection for him was wholly returned, without in any way committing +himself to a definite engagement. He would, in short, ask her to accept +a sort of promissory note on his affections, to be presented at any time +after the steamer left Hong-Kong. + +It was ten o'clock before he contrived, to escape Mrs. Weston's vigilant +eye and whisk Bobby off to a certain favored nook on the boat-deck just +outside the captain's state-room. Here they had spent many happy +evenings, notwithstanding the fact that their figures, silhouetted +against the light, had never failed to provoke the captain to a +profanity that was not always inaudible. + +To-night, however, the captain was detained below, and they had the +entire Yellow Sea to themselves as they sat on a projecting ledge and +leaned their elbows comfortably on the rail. + +It was an enticing night, with nothing left of the recent storm save a +subtle thrill that still lingered in wind and wave. Overhead spread a +canopy of luminous, subtropical stars; in undisturbed silence they gazed +up at their brilliance. From below floated faint strains of music +mingling with the sound of rippling: water. + +"And to think it's our very last night!" murmured Bobby, her chin on her +palm. "I'll never bear 'La Paloma' that I sha'n't think of this trip and +of you." + +Percival dared not answer. He had reached that stage when, according +to the philosopher, the moonlight is a pleasing fever, the stars are +letters, the flowers ciphers, and the air is coined into song. He +regarded her gaze as she bent it upon the stars as the most exquisitely +pensive thing he had ever behold. + +"My! but there are some dandy billiard-shots up there!" she exclaimed +suddenly. "Do you see that lovely carom over there beyond the Dipper?" + +"I am not thinking of caroms," he said impatiently, "I am thinking of +you." + +"What have I done now?" she asked indignantly. + +"You've made me forget that there's anything else in the whole universe +but just you!" + +"And now you've got to begin to remember," said Bobby, sympathetically. + +He searched her face for a clue as to what was passing in her mind, but +he found none. + +"You are a most awfully baffling girl," he said. "Sometimes I can't +determine whether you are subtle or merely ingenuous." + +"I'd give it up," advised Bobby. + +"But I sha'n't give it up. I sha'n't be content until I know every +little corner of your mind and heart." + +She stirred uneasily. From, the way he was looking at her it was +evidently a good thing that his near arm was in a sling. + +"You need a cigar," she said soothingly. "Get one out; I'll light it for +you." + +He obediently produced his cigar-case, and together they selected a +cigar. She made a great point of cutting off the end, and then, when he +had got it into his mouth, she struck a match and, sheltering the blaze +with her scarf, held it close. The sudden intimacy of that beautiful +face in the little circle of light, with the darkness all around, was +quite too much for Percival. He looked straight into her eyes for one +resolution-breaking second, then he blew out the match and catching her +to him, passionately kissed those smiling, upturned lips. + +"Mr. Hascombe!" she protested, shrinking away; but Percival had made his +leap and nothing could stop him. + +"You are mine!" he cried rapturously, pressing her hand again and again +to his lips. "It's all quite right, my darling. Don't be frightened. We +shall be married any time, anywhere you say, to-morrow, if you like, in +Hong-Kong." + +"But, Mr. Hascombe--" + +"Not Mr. Hascombe. Percival, Percy, if you will. Fancy! Love at first +sight. One glance on those desolate plains, and you were mine!" + +"But I'm not. That's what I'm trying to tell you." + +He looked at her fatuously. "But you will be! My little lady of the +manor! My beautiful little mistress of Hascombe Hall!" + +She struggled away from him, and stood at bay. + +"How _can_ you talk to me like this?" she cried, her voice +trembling with indignation, "after what I told you that day in the +wind-shelter?" + +"In the wind-shelter?" He looked at her in bewilderment. + +"Yea, about Hal Ford and the captain and all that. Why, you promised to +help me, and now--" + +"Hal Ford?" repeated Percival, dazed. "What has he to do with it?" + +"More than anybody else in the world. He's waiting for me in Wyoming, +and I'm counting the days and the hours and the minutes until I get back +to him. I thought you understood, and were helping me bring the captain +around." + +He stood before her too stunned to speak. + +Sheer amazement for the moment crowded out the pain. + +"But--but don't you love me?" he stammered at last. + +"Of course I don't," said Bobby, almost indignantly; "I never have loved +anybody, and I never will love anybody but Hal." + +Then Percival realized that it was quite possible for lightning to +strike twice in the same place. He felt a sudden pain in his throat, +a burning under his lids, and he sat down limply. + +[Illustration: "I'm so sorry!" whispered Bobby, putting her arm +impulsively around his heaving shoulders] + +"I'm so sorry!" whispered Bobby, putting her arm impulsively around his +heaving shoulders. "I thought we were playing a game. I thought you +understood. Please forgive me, Mr. Hascombe! Please! Won't you?" + +He shook off her arm and stood up. He was whiter than he had been on the +night of the accident, but he managed to achieve a smile. + +"Nothing whatever to forgive, I assure you. Just a bit of a bunker, you +know. Silly ass I was, not to have seen it all along. May I offer my +congratulations?" he added. + +She took the hand that he hold out, and for a longer time than either of +them knew they stood silent, looking out into the vast mystery of the +night, while the throbbing strains of "La Paloma" floated up from below, +mingling with the music of the rippling water. + +"I guess this is good-by," said Bobby, tremulously. + +Then it was that the Honorable Percival illustrated the fact that an +English gentleman is often greatest in defeat. + +"Not necessarily," he said gamely. "Quite possible you and your husband +may come to England." + +"Or you to Wyoming!" cried Bobby, brightening instantly, and turning +upon him the full splendor of her eyes. "Hal and I'd just _love_ to +give you a summer on the ranch. Do you suppose it ever will be +possible?" + +"Oh, I dare say," said the Honorable Percival, nonchalantly adjusting +his monocle. + + + + +XVI + +IN PORT + + +The next morning the long voyage of the _Saluria_ came to an end. +The steamer docked at Hong-Kong just as the first pink streaks of dawn +crept over the bay and the terraced city. + +Bobby was up with the officers, and breakfasted alone with the captain. + +"Can you spare me five minutes?" she asked as he was hurrying through +his second cup of coffee. + +"What for?" + +"For a talk. I've got something to tell you." + +"It'll have to wait," said the captain, gruffly. "We are landing a cargo +of sugar machinery here, and I've got my hands full." + +"I don't want your hands," said Bobby, quietly; "I want your ears. +There's something I've just got to tell you." + +"I can't listen. I'm due on the bridge now." + +He escaped for the time being, but later In the morning, when the +commotion of arrival was at its height, and the passengers were +beginning to go ashore, he found Bobby on the bridge beside him. He +fancied he saw defiance written all over her, from the crown of her +white hat to the tip of her white shoes. + +"Captain," she said, "It won't take a minute." + +He was on the point of refusing when she laid her hand on his. + +"Cut away!" he said, looking straight ahead of him. "Make it short." + +"It's about Mr. Hascombe. He's--he's asked me to marry him." + +The captain jerked his hand away and brought it down on the rail with a +resounding blow. + +"You sha'n't do it!" he thundered. "I'd see you sewed up in a bag and +dropped alongside first." + +"But, Captain--" + +"I won't have it! There's no use arguing. The idea of a girl of mine +being carried away by a condescending, conceited jack-in-the-box--" + +"He _isn't_! He's a darling!" Bobby flashed out hotly. "It's just +that you don't understand him." + +"What's more, I don't want to. I've had enough of him and his kind. If +I'd known you were going to run amuck of a thing like this, I'd have let +you bury yourself on the ranch for the rest of your life." + +"Well," agreed Bobby, carefully studying her pink palm, and weighing her +words as one who is quite open to reason, "I think I could have been +happy with Hal; but you thought we were both too young and that I ought +to see some other men first." + +"Yes, but I didn't know you were going to get your head turned by the +first fool that came lording it around with a valet and a title. The +Fords may be plain people, but, by Jugs! they are the sort to tie up to +in a squall." + +Bobby smiled broadly under the brim of her hat. + +"Then you advise me to take Hal?" + +"I advise you to let me send this fellow Hascombe about his business. +I'll make short work of him." + +Bobby slipped her arm through his, and looked up saucily. + +"You needn't bother, dear," she said. "Now that it's all settled about +Hal, I don't mind telling you that I refused Mr. Hascombe last night." + + * * * * * + +On the gangway below, the passengers were slowly filing ashore. Among +the last to debark was the Honorable Percival Hascombe, followed by a +fur coat, a gun-case, two pigskin bags, a hat-box, and a valet. On his +face was an expression of unutterable ennui. As he reached the wharf he +turned and casually surveyed the steamer. On the bridge he discerned a +small alert figure, clad in white, her dark head framed by the broad +brim of a Panama hat. She waved her hand and smiled, and he waved back, +but he did not smile. + +"Judson," said the Honorable Percival as they handed their bags to +Sister Cordelia's footman, "quite unnecessary to mention any--er--any +incidents of the voyage. You understand?" + +"Quite so, sir," said Judson. + + +FINIS + + * * * * * + +"When Alice Hegan Rice writes a little book, lovers of whimsical +fiction rejoice with open rejoicing."--_Chicago Tribune_. + +"Mrs. Rice has been paid the compliment of being compared with Dickens. +Those who appreciate her real merits will see that she is more natural, +more lifelike, and more unaffectedly humorous than the author of +'Pickwick Papers.'"--_Rochester Post-Express_. + +"There is a delicious humor in everything she writes, and it has +the virtue of non-boisterousness and sobriety in tone. There is +no straining for wit: everything has the merit of spontaneity and +naturalness."--_Philadelphia Record_. + +"She is one of the real humorists, for at the bottom of her humor there +is a deep well of human kindness."--_The Metropolitan_. + +_See next page for complete list of Mrs. Rice's books_ + + * * * * * + + +Books by Alice Hegan Rice + + +MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH + +"A sure cure for the blues, and a gay challenge to pessimists in +general."--_Chicago Herald_. + +_Price_ $1.00 + + +LOVEY MARY + +"For fun and pathos, for crisp wit and serene philosophy, and for the +charm that holds the reader spellbound, 'Lovey Mary' is as notable as +'Mrs. Wiggs.'"--_The Christian Intelligencer_. + +_Price_ $1.00 + + +MR. OPP + +"He is a figure that might hang without insidious +comparison in George Eliot's own immortal +character portrait gallery."--_New York Sun_. +_Price_ $1.00 + +A ROMANCE OF BILLY-GOAT HILL + +"The love story has the fragrance of a wild rose, and every character in +the book is worth knowing."--_Chicago Record-Herald_. + +_Price_ $1.25 _net, postage_ 10 _cents_ + + +SANDY + +Sandy is a lovable Irish waif, and his story overflows with sunshine and +humor. + +_Price_ $1.00 + + +CAPTAIN JUNE + +A happy story of a dear little American lad who has all kinds of +interesting and unusual experiences in Japan. + +_Price_ $1.00 + +At all booksellers. Published by THE CENTURY CO. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Honorable Percival, by Alice Hegan Rice + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL *** + +***** This file should be named 15180-8.txt or 15180-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/1/8/15180/ + +Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia and the PG +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Honorable Percival + +Author: Alice Hegan Rice + +Release Date: February 26, 2005 [EBook #15180] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL *** + + + + +Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia and the PG +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/ + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL +</h2> +<a name="image-0001"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-01.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="Their Boat had sailed" /><br /> +Their boat had sailed +</div> + +<a name="h2H_4_0001" id="h2H_4_0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h1> + THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL +</h1> +<h3> +BY ALICE HEGAN RICE +</h3> +<p style="text-align: center;"> +AUTHOR OF "MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH," <br /> +"A ROMANCE OF BILLY-GOAT HILL," ETC. +</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p style="font-size: 50%; text-align: center;"> + NEW YORK <br /> + THE CENTURY CO. <br /> + 1914 +</p> +<p> </p> +<hr /> +<p> </p> +<p style="font-size: 50%; text-align: center;"> +Copyright, 1914, by THE CENTURY CO. <br /> +Copyright, 1914, by MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE +</p> +<hr style="width: 10em;" /> +<p style="font-size: 75%; text-align: center;"> + <i>Published, October, 1914</i> +</p> +<p> </p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + CONTENTS +</h2> + +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0005"> +<span class="roman"> I </span>A BLIGHTED BEING +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0006"> +<span class="roman"> II </span>A COUNTER-IRRITANT +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0007"> +<span class="roman"> III </span>CONVALESCENCE +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0008"> +<span class="roman"> IV </span>COUNTER-CURRENTS +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0009"> +<span class="roman"> V </span>STRANDED +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0010"> +<span class="roman"> VI </span>IN THE WIND-SHELTER +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0011"> +<span class="roman"> VII </span>THE DAY THAT NEVER WAS +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0012"> +<span class="roman">VIII </span>IN THE CROW'S-NEST +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0013"> +<span class="roman"> IX </span>DRAGGING ANCHOR +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0014"> +<span class="roman"> X </span>ON THE SEARCH +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0015"> +<span class="roman"> XI </span>THE GYMKHANA +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0016"> +<span class="roman"> XII </span>THE SONG OF THE SIREN +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0017"> +<span class="roman">XIII </span>PERCIVAL PROCRASTINATES +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0018"> +<span class="roman"> XIV </span>NEPTUNE TAKES A HAND +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0019"> +<span class="roman"> XV </span>PERCIVAL RISES TO AN OCCASION +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2H_4_0020"> +<span class="roman"> XVI </span>IN PORT +</a></p> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</h2> + +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0001"> +Their boat had sailed</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0002"> +"Well, did you ever! Where did <i>you</i> come from?"</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0003"> +Her hair, still damp, was hanging about her shoulders, and she +carried a bundle of bath-towels under her arm</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0004"> +"Mr. Hascombe!" she demanded breathlessly, "you'll take me out +in the surf-boat, won't you?"</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0005"> +At a break-neck speed towards the wharf</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0006"> +"I don't know what makes me so everlastingly silly!" she said +fiercely trying to swallow the rising sobs, "but he <i>won't</i> +understand!"</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0007"> +"I like the way your mouth looks when you read it"</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0008"> +"Roberta!" he called sternly. "What are you doing out here?"</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0009"> +"You will have to join the crowd," suggested Bobby when +Percival complained of not seeing her as often as he wished</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0010"> +"If you want to hold my hand, Mr. Hascombe, you are welcome to it"</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0011"> +He sat on a table swinging his feet in unison with a lot of other +young feet, while he sipped lemonade from the same glass as Bobby +Boynton</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0012"> +"Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?" she asked, +glancing at him over her shoulder</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0013"> +"It's quite worth while," he said, "getting a jab in the wrist, +to have you looking after me like this"</a></p> +<p class="ill"><a href="#image-0014"> +"I'm so sorry!" whispered Bobby, putting her arm impulsively +around his heaving shoulders</a></p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<a name="h2H_4_0004" id="h2H_4_0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL +</h2> +<a name="h2H_4_0005" id="h2H_4_0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + I +</h2> +<h3> + A BLIGHTED BEING +</h3> +<p> +The Honorable Percival Hascombe came aboard the Pacific liner about +to sail from San Francisco, preceded by a fur coat, a gun-case, two +pigskin bags, a hat-box, and a valet. He was tall and slender, and +moved with an air of fastidious distinction. He wore a small mustache, +a monocle, and an expression of unutterable ennui. His costume consisted +of a smart tweed traveling-suit, with cap to match, white spats, and +a pair of binoculars swung across his shoulders. In his eyes was the +look, carefully maintained, of one who has sounded the depths of human +tragedy. +</p> +<p> +Since his advent into the world twenty-eight years before, he had +been made to feel but one responsibility. His elder brother, having +persistently refused to provide himself with a wife and heir, the duty +of perpetuating the family name fell upon him, Percival Hascombe, second +son of the late Earl of Westenhanger, of Hascombe Hall, fifth in descent +from the great Westenhanger whose marble effigy adorns the dullest and +most respectable cathedral in southern England. +</p> +<p> +From the time Percival had been able to cast a discriminating eye, his +adoring family had presented the feminine flowers of the country-side +for his inspection. One after another they had met with his grave +consideration and subsequent disapprobation. Fears had begun to be +entertained that he would follow in the solitary footsteps of his +bachelor brother, when Lady Hortense Vevay appeared on the scene. +</p> +<p> +Lady Hortense, with her mother, the Duchess of Dare, had come down +to Devon for the shooting one autumn, seeking rest after a strenuous +social season following her presentation at court. She had been there +less than a week when she bagged the biggest game in the neighborhood. +The explanation was obvious: the Lady Hortense had no faults to be +discovered. The closest inspection through two pairs of glasses, +Percival's and her own, failed to reveal a flaw. Her birth and position +were equal to his own; her beauty, if attenuated, was sufficient; while +her discriminating taste amounted to a virtue. The Honorable Percival +proffered his hand, and was accepted. Hascombe Hall rang with applause. +</p> +<p> +All might have been well had not mother and daughter been pressed to +seal the compact by a closer intimacy in a ten-days' visit at the hall. +The young people were allowed to bask uninterrupted in the light of each +other's perfections, and the result was disastrous. Two persons who have +achieved distinction as soloists do not take kindly to duets. A few days +after the Vevays' return to London, Lady Hortense wrote a perfectly +worded note, and asked to be released from the engagement. +</p> +<p> +The utterly preposterous fact that a Hascombe of Hascombe Hall had been +jilted was too amazing a circumstance to be concealed, and the county +buzzed with rumors. The Honorable Percival, whose pride had sustained +a compound fracture, set sail immediately for America. After a hurried +trip across the continent, he was embarking again, this time for +Hong-Kong, where a sympathetic married sister held out embracing arms, +and a promise of refuge from wagging tongues. +</p> +<p> +As he moved languidly down the deck and sank into the steamer-chair that +bore his name, he assured himself for the fortieth time since leaving +England that life bored him to tears. He had sounded its joys and its +sorrows, he had exhausted its thrills; it was like a scenic railway +over which he was compelled to ride after every detail had become +monotonously familiar. There was nothing more for him to learn about +life, nothing more for him to feel. At least that is what the Honorable +Percival thought. But when one reckons too confidently on having +exhausted the varieties of human experience, one is apt to get a jolt. +</p> +<p> +Carefully selecting a cigarette from a gold case, he struck a light, +and, after a whiff or two, lay back and, closing his eyes on the stir +and confusion, gave himself up to painful reflections. His shrunken +self-esteem, like a feathered thing exposed to wet weather, was +clamoring for a sunny spot in which to expand to natural proportions. +Had he been able to remain at home, the unending chorus of feminine +praise would soon have dried his draggled feathers and left him preening +himself contentedly in the comforting assurance that Lady Hortense was +in no way worthy of him. But being confronted thus suddenly with the +necessity of supplying his egotism with all its nourishment, he found +himself unequal to the task. Behind every consoling thought stalked that +totally incredible "No." He tortured his brain for possible reasons for +Hortense's deflection, but could find none. Detail by detail he reviewed +their acquaintance from the first time he had bowed over her fingers, +in Lord Carlton's hunting-lodge, to the moment he had touched his lips +to the same fingers in formal farewell on the terrace at Hascombe Hall. +It had been such a well-bred courtship from the start, so thoroughly +approved by both sides, so perfectly conducted throughout! +</p> +<p> +Then, following suddenly on this smooth course of events, came a series +of bumps that made Percival wince as he recalled them: protests, +evasions, humiliating questions on the part of the public, and then +ignominious flight. He shuddered as he thought of the dull, wet days on +the Atlantic and his hideous week in America. He had been in a perpetual +state of protest against everything from the hotel service to what he +termed the "crass vulgarity of the States." +</p> +<p> +There had been but one oasis in the desert of gloom through which he had +traveled, and that had been on his interminable trip across the +continent, when for ten brief minutes his blight had been lifted, and he +had caught a breath of the incense for which his soul hungered. +</p> +<p> +It was at a little station in Wyoming that he, a convalescent from love, +had for the first time in weeks managed to look up and take a bit of +amatory nourishment. He was standing alone on the rear platform of the +observation-car, arms on railing, watching with no interest whatever +the taking off of mail-bags. Suddenly within his line of vision came a +stalwart young chap and a girl, each astride a bronco. They drew rein at +the platform, cursorily scanned the waiting train, glanced at him, then +at each other, and, apparently without the slightest reason, burst into +unrestrained merriment. Percival continued to survey them calmly and +haughtily through his monocle. His first glance had revealed the fact +that the girl was strikingly pretty. Her lithe young body showed round +and comely in its khaki suit and brown leggings. Her black mane was +braided in two short, thick plaits with a dash of scarlet ribbons at the +ends. Blue eyes, full of daring, danced under the blackest of brows, and +the smile she flashed at her companion revealed a dimple of distracting +proportions. +</p> +<p> +As Percival gazed he was quite oblivious of the fact that the laugh +was at his expense. In fact, he accorded her darting glances a far +more flattering interpretation, and when her escort dismounted, and +disappeared within the station, he deliberately caught her eye and held +it. There was a touch of daring in her face and figure, an evident sense +of security in the fact that the train was already beginning to move. He +shifted his position from the end of the platform to the side next the +station, and she met the challenge by gathering up her reins and keeping +pace with the slow-moving train. +</p> +<p> +For a short distance road and track lay parallel, and as the train +slowly got under way, the bronco was put to a run. Side by side, not +ten feet apart, Percival and the girl moved abreast, their eyes keeping +company. He had never seen anything so vitally young and untrammeled +as she was. She rode superbly, like an Indian, leaning well forward, +gripping the bronco with her knees, with one hand grasping his mane. +Every muscle was tense with life, every nerve a-quiver with glee. +Before the young Englishman knew it, his own sluggish blood was stirring +in his veins through sympathy. Then the train began to gain upon her, +and throwing herself back in the saddle, she shook a vanquished head. +As Percival raised his cap she wheeled her horse, and, standing in the +stirrups, blew an audacious kiss from her finger-tips. The next instant +she was dashing away across the wide, bleak prairies, the only living +thing in sight, her scarlet ribbons a streak of color in the dull-gray +landscape. +</p> +<p> +Percival had taken heart of grace from that airy kiss. It stood to him +as a symbol that, though one of the sex had proved a deserter to his +standard, there were still volunteers. He treasured the incident as a +king treasures the homage of his humblest subject when rebellion is rife +in the kingdom. On such trifles often hang one's self-esteem. +</p> +<p> +When the stir and bustle on deck became so lively that he was no longer +able to indulge in introspection, he got up and indifferently joined the +moving throng. The warning had sounded for those going ashore, and the +numerous gangways were crowded. Passengers lined the promenade-deck, +shouting and waving to the crowd on the wharf below. From the +bridge-deck the captain could be heard cheerfully swearing through a +megaphone at the second officer below. Chinese deck-stewards glided +about in their felt slippers, trying to attach the right person to the +right steamer-chair. Cabin-boys scurried about with baskets of fruit and +flowers and other sea-going impedimenta that, after one appreciative +glance from the recipient, are usually consigned to the ice-box. All +was noise and confusion. +</p> +<p> +Percival's critical eye swept the line of human backs that presented +themselves at the railing. The same old types! He could describe them +with his eyes shut: the conventional globe-trotters, avid to obtain and +to impart information; business men comparing statistics and endlessly +discussing the tariff; rich wanderers in quest of health; poor +missionaries in quest of "foreign fields"; fussy Frenchmen; stolid +Germans; a few suspicious-looking Englishmen; and always the ubiquitous +Americans, who had the same effect upon him that a highly colored cloth +has on the delicate sensibilities of a certain large animal. +</p> +<p> +The most conspicuous example of the last class was a somewhat noisy +young person in a still more resonant steamer-coat who hung at an angle +of forty-five degrees over the railing, and exchanged confidences of a +personal nature with an old man on the wharf twenty feet below. Every +time Percival's walk brought him toward the bow of the boat, his eyes +were offended by that blue-and-lavender steamer-coat and by a pair of +beaded-leather slippers with three straps across the instep and absurdly +high French heels. Could any one but an American, he soliloquized, be +guilty of starting on a journey in such a costume? +</p> +<p> +The prospect of being imprisoned between decks for four weeks, with +this heterogeneous collection appalled him. His only safety lay in +maintaining a rigid and uncompromising aloofness. He would discourage +all advances from the start, he would promptly nip in the bud the first +sign of intrusion. He had left the only country an Englishman regards as +the proper place for existence, to cross two abominable seas and an even +more abominable continent, for the sole purpose of privacy, and privacy +he meant to have at all costs. +</p> +<p> +As the <i>Saluria</i> weighed anchor and steamed out of the Golden Gate, +he went below to see that his valet had made satisfactory disposition of +his varied belongings. His state-room was at the end of a short passage +leading from the main, one, and he was displeased at finding the deep +ledge under the passage window completely filled with flowers and fruit +that evidently belonged to some one occupying a room in the same passage. +</p> +<p> +He rang for the cabin-boy. +</p> +<p> +"Remove that greengrocer's shop!" he commanded peremptorily. "It is +abominably stuffy down here. We can't have the port-holes filled up like +that, you know." +</p> +<p> +The bland face of the young Chinaman assumed an expression of mild +inquiry. +</p> +<p> +"Take away!" ordered Percival, resorting to gesture. +</p> +<p> +"No can," said the boy, calmly. "All same b'long one missy. Missy b'long +cap'n." +</p> +<p> +Percival turned impatiently to his valet, who was coming through the +passage. +</p> +<p> +"Judson, get those things out of the window, and keep them out. Do you +hear?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, sir. But where shall I put them, sir?" +</p> +<p> +"On the floor—in the sea—wherever you like," said Percival, as he +slipped his arms into the top-coat that was being respectfully held +for him. +</p> +<p> +Once again on deck, he found that the wind had acquired a sudden edge. +The short chop of the waves and scudding of gray clouds indicated that +the customary bit of rough weather after leaving the Golden Gate was to +be expected. Percival was not happy in rough weather. He attributed it +to extreme sensitiveness to atmospheric conditions. Whatever the cause, +the result remained that he was not happy. +</p> +<p> +The motion of the vessel made him pause a moment. The casual observer +would have said he stopped to cast an experienced eye on a sky that +could not deceive him; but the casual observer does not always know. +It is a long distance between the prow and the stern of an ocean liner, +when the deck is composed of alternating mountains and valleys that one +has to climb and descend. Percival found it decidedly hard going before +he reached his steamer-chair. +</p> +<p> +When he did so, he encountered a sight that filled him with chagrin. +Wrapped in the folds of his rug was that obnoxious blue-and-lavender +steamer-coat, with its owner snugly ensconced within, her eyes closed, +and her cheek brazenly reposing on the Hascombe crest that adorned the +pillow under her head! +</p> +<p> +Percival paused, irresolute, and his nostrils quivered. He wanted +very much to sit down, and he was unwilling to occupy any other +steamer-chair, for fear its owner might claim it. There was nothing left +for him but to pace up and down that undulating deck until the young +person opened her eyes and discovered, by glances which he would render +unmistakable, that she was trespassing. +</p> +<p> +When his third round brought him in front of her, and he saw that she +was awake, he carefully adjusted his monocle, and turned upon her a look +that was not unfamiliar to certain menials in the employ of Hascombe +Hall. +</p> +<p> +But no withering blight followed his look. Instead, the wearer of the +gaudy coat sat up suddenly and said, with a radiant smile: +</p> +<p> +"Well, did you ever! Where did <i>you</i> come from?" +</p> +<a name="image-0002"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-02.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="'Well, did you ever! Where did _you_ come from?'" /><br /> +"Well, did you ever! Where did <i>you</i> come from?" +</div> + +<p> +By a curious twist, his mind suddenly beheld a rolling prairie in place +of the tumbling sea, and a comely figure in khaki and brown leggings in +place of the muffled form in the hideous coat. His suspicion was +confirmed when he met the frank gaze of the bluest eyes that ever held a +challenge. +</p> +<p> +Instead of being amused, Percival was profoundly annoyed. The incident +on the train had been pretty enough in its way, but it was closed. As it +stood, it had been rather artistic and satisfying. A wild, unknown bit +of femininity dashing into his life for ten throbbing minutes, then +vanishing into the sunset, was one thing, and this very tangible young +person in clothes of the wrong cut and color, addressing him in terms of +easy familiarity, was quite another. +</p> +<p> +"I beg your pardon," he said stiffly. "Did you address me?" +</p> +<p> +Her eyes clouded. +</p> +<p> +"Why, I thought—I thought you were some one I knew. Is this your chair?" +</p> +<p> +"It is. Pray do not discommode yourself?" +</p> +<p> +"That is all right," she answered, trying to disentangle her high heels +from his rug. "I've had my nap, thank you. Think I'll go down and get a +sandwich." +</p> +<p> +Percival waited in frigid silence until she had departed; then he sank +limply into the warm nest she had just left, and closed his eyes on a +world that failed in all respects to give satisfaction. +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0006" id="h2H_4_0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + II +</h2> +<h3> + A COUNTER-IRRITANT +</h3> +<p> +If there is a place on earth where one meets with the present face +to face, it is on shipboard. Whether salt water and sea air act as a +narcotic on memories of the past and dreams of the future has never been +proved, but it is undeniably true that at sea time becomes a static +thing and concerns itself solely with the affairs of the moment. +</p> +<p> +During that first long afternoon Percival slept; and if the faithless +Hortense essayed to haunt his dreams, she was drowned in the profundity +of his slumber. It was not until his valet touched his arm and +respectfully submitted the information that the first gong had sounded +for dinner that he woke to the fact that the <i>Saluria</i> was still +swinging from the trough to the summit of increasingly high waves and +that the deck was virtually deserted. +</p> +<p> +"If you are not feeling quite the thing, sir," said the valet, +solicitously, "shall I serve your dinner on deck, sir?" +</p> +<p> +Instantly Percival rose. +</p> +<p> +"By no means," he said coldly. "Get me a sherry and bitters. I'll dress +at once." +</p> +<p> +Proud indifference to every passing sensation was manifest in each +detail of his careful toilet when he took his place at the captain's +table some twenty minutes later. With a haughty inclination of the head, +he seated himself and, apparently unaware of the glances cast upon him, +devoted himself to an absorbed perusal of the menu. He was quite used to +being looked at; in fact, he suffered the admiration of the public with +noble tolerance: only it must keep its distance; he could have no +presuming. +</p> +<p> +On his arrival the conversation suffered a sudden chill; but the +captain, who knew the signs of approaching icebergs, soon steered the +talk back into warm waters. It was evident that the captain was in the +habit of occupying the center of the stage, a fact which should have +gratified Percival, inasmuch as it focused attention at the far end +of the table. Strange to say, he was not gratified. He conceived an +immediate dislike for the large, good-looking officer, who seemed built +especially to show off his smart uniform, and who brazenly ignored all +conventions save those of navigation, His peculiarities of speech, which +at another time might have gratified Percival and confirmed the report +he was bearing back to England that Americans were, if possible, more +obnoxious at home than abroad, now jarred upon him grievously. He found +it difficult to follow the story that was causing the present merriment. +</p> +<p> +"And when my Nelson eye discovered," the captain was concluding, "that +Ah Foo was perambulating an affair in Shanghai, I summoned the slave and +asked him if his mind was set on becoming festooned in matrimony. He +thought it was. So I up and bought the damsel for him, paid one hundred +Mex. for her, and, if you'll believe me, haven't had a dime's worth of +work out of Ah Foo since!" +</p> +<p> +Percival found himself on the dry beach of non-comprehension when the +tide of laughter followed the receding story, +</p> +<p> +"A cup of very strong tea and dry toast," he said over his shoulder to +the waiting Chinaman. +</p> +<p> +As his eyes returned to the study of the menu, he was for the first time +aware that the objectionable young person, with a glitter of rhinestones +in her hair, was sitting next the captain, giving him story for story, +and laughing much more than the occasion seemed to Percival to warrant. +He particularly disliked to hear a woman laugh aloud in public, and he +was vexed with himself that he looked up every time her laugh rang out. +To be sure, she was well worth looking at. Despite the clashing colors +of her costume, he could not deny the charm of her blue eyes and black +hair, and of the red lips whose only fault was that they smiled too +much. It was her dress, her freedom, her unrestrained gaiety that +offended Percival. In England a girl of her age would still be a +trembling bud, modestly hiding behind a mass of elderly foliage. +</p> +<p> +The absence of a chaperon puzzled him. The two other women at the table, +a Mrs. Weston and her daughter, had evidently just met her, and the +captain seemed to be the only one who had known her before. He called +her "Bobby," and treated her with the easy familiarity of a big brother. +</p> +<p> +"Don't talk to me about Wyoming!" he was saying now, in answer to some +boast of hers. "Anybody can have it that wants it. I make 'em a present +of it, with Dakota thrown in. You remember, Bobby, the last time I was +at the ranch? All hands on deck at two bells in the morning watch, a +twenty-mile sail on a bucking bronco, then back to the ranch, where we +shipped a cargo of food that would sink a tramp, A gallon or so of soup +in the hold, a saddle of venison, a broiled antelope, and six vegetables +in the forward hatchway, with three kinds of pie in the bunkers. It was +a regular food jag three times a day. It took me just two weeks at sea +to get over those two days on land." +</p> +<p> +Percival stirred uneasily. His tea and toast were long in coming, and a +certain haunted look was dawning on his face. Through the port-holes he +could see the deep-purple sky rising to give place to still deeper-purple +sea as the ship rose with sickening regularity. He took an olive. +</p> +<p> +"Isn't there a good deal of motion?" asked Mrs. Weston, a delicate, +appealing blonde, whose opinions were always tentative until they +received the stamp of masculine approval. +</p> +<p> +"Motion!" thundered the captain, bringing down a huge tattooed fist on +the table. "Isn't that like a woman? When I have ordered this calm +weather especially for Mrs. Weston's benefit! I've a good mind to +whistle for a hurricane." +</p> +<p> +"No, no, please!" she protested in mock terror. +</p> +<p> +Percival turned away from the foolish chatter. Matters of a deep and +sinister nature occupied his mind. He felt within him wars and rumors of +wars. He wished that the curtains would stop swinging out from the wall +in that silly fashion. It was deuced uncanny to see them hang at an +angle of twenty-five degrees, then slowly and mysteriously fall back +into their places. He tried not to watch them, but it was even more +dangerous to look at the man next him breaking soft-boiled eggs into a +glass tumbler. He took another olive. +</p> +<p> +An electric fan overhead whirred incessantly, and the bright, flashing +blades smote his eyes with diabolical precision. The circular motion, +instead of cooling him, brought beads of perspiration to his brow. +</p> +<p> +"Who'll have some Chinese chow?" asked the captain. "I always order a +dish or two the first night out. Can't give you any birds'-nest soup—" +</p> +<p> +A violent shudder passed over Percival, and he made a lightning +calculation of the distance from the table to the stairway. In doing so +he noted that it was a spiral stairway. Why in the name of heaven was +everything round? The port-holes, the revolving-chairs, the electric +fans, the plates, the olives— +</p> +<p> +At the thought of olives, all the pent-up possibilities became imminent +certainties. He rose dizzily, collided with the Chinaman bringing his +tea, and made blindly for the stairs. Half-way up, he staggered; each +step rose to meet him, then fell away from his foot the moment he +touched it. He grasped the baluster-rail, and stood wildly clinging, +like a shipwrecked sailor to a mast. He was dazed, dumb, paralyzed with +fear of the inevitable, and aware only of the burst of uncontrollable +laughter that had followed his abrupt retreat. Somebody from above held +out a succoring hand, at which he grasped frantically. Stumbling, half +blind, this unfortunate victim to atmospheric conditions was guided up +the remaining stops and out on deck, where he was anchored to the +railing and kindly left to his fate. +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0007" id="h2H_4_0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + III +</h2> +<h3> + CONVALESCENCE +</h3> +<p> +During the monotonous days that followed, the Honorable Percival +Hascombe discovered that the satisfaction of being exclusive is usually +tempered by the discomfort of being bored. So lofty and forbidding had +been his manner that no one had ventured to intrude even a casual good +morning. A bachelor under thirty, with a competence of such dimensions +that it had entailed incompetency, and a doting family that danced +attendance upon his every whim, he was figuratively as well as literally +at sea in this new environment. At times he faltered in his stern +determination not to allow any one to become acquainted with him. It was +only the fear that any leniency might result in undue liberty on the +part of some aggressive American that caused him to preserve his deep +seclusion. +</p> +<p> +Bored, blasé, blighted, he had one more affliction to endure. The young +person had gotten hopelessly on his nerves; in fact, she was the most +disturbing object on the horizon. She played shuffle-board in front of +his chair when he wanted to read; she practised new dance-steps with +the first officer when he wanted to sleep; she caused him to lift his +unwilling eyes a dozen times an hour by her endless circuits of the +deck. She was on terms of friendship with everybody on board except +himself, including the second class and steerage. There seemed no end to +her activities, no limit to her enthusiasm. The more she attracted his +unwilling attention, the more persistently he ignored her. +</p> +<p> +As the time passed and danger of intrusion lessened, his ennui +increased. One dull, humid day, when the whole world resembled a +dripping sponge, Percival reached the limit of his endurance. The canvas +was down, and nothing could be seen but long vistas of slippery decks, +with barefooted Chinese sailors everlastingly mopping and slopping about +in the wet. He had counted the five hundred and fiftieth raindrop that +clung to the red life-belt at the rail when he saw the young Scotchman +next him look at his watch. +</p> +<p> +"What time do you make it?" asked Percival, and his voice sounded almost +strange to him. +</p> +<p> +"Eleven," said the man, getting to his feet; "aboot time for the fun to +begin in the bathing-tank." +</p> +<p> +Ordinarily Percival would have allowed the conversation to end there, +but he felt now that he would be risking his sanity if he sat there any +longer counting raindrops. +</p> +<p> +"What's taking place?" he asked listlessly. +</p> +<p> +"The usual morning diversion: the captain's daughter is teaching a +couple of bairns to swim." +</p> +<p> +"Surely they won't go in on a beastly day like this!" +</p> +<p> +"I'll be bound they do. Shall we go find out?" +</p> +<p> +Forward a number of people were already hanging over the rail, highly +diverted at what was taking place in the big canvas tank on the deck +below. Percival, looking down, beheld the young person standing on +the lower rung of a ladder, coaxing a small boy to jump from the +platform above. Now, on several occasions in the past Percival had met +Disillusion face to face in a bathing-suit. A certain attenuated memory +of the faithless Hortense made him wince even yet. But the round and +graceful figure poised in dancing impatience on the ladder-rung defied +criticism. Much as he disapproved of the public exhibition, he could not +check a breath of admiration. +</p> +<p> +The small boy shivering on the platform vibrated between courage and +fear; then, urged by the shouts from above, and lured by that sparkling +face and those outstretched arms below, he leaped. Shrieks of laughter +followed as his fat little body spanked the water, and was quickly +righted and deposited, gasping, but victorious, on a life-buoy. Then the +small girl must dive, and after that all three must splash and jump and +float and swim like a trio of mad young porpoises. +</p> +<p> +The Honorable Percival was a good swimmer himself, and his interest +kindled as he watched the perfect ease with which the young person +handled herself in the narrow confines of the tank. While he deplored +the wretched taste of the proceeding, he had to admit that she carried +it off with admirable lack of self-consciousness. She swam as she did +everything else, with impetuous joy, and seemed as unaware of the +admiring glances of the spectators as the children themselves. +</p> +<p> +"Did ye see her the other day when she climbed to the crow's-nest?" +asked the Scotchman, with enthusiasm. +</p> +<p> +"No," said Percival, curtly. +</p> +<p> +"The wind was blowing at a bittie, but she went up the rigging like a +sailor. I doubt if the lass would be afraid of the de'il himself." +</p> +<p> +"Probably jolly well used to all this sort of thing," said Percival, +wearily. +</p> +<p> +"Indeed, no; this is her first sea-voyage. She never saw a ship before." +</p> +<p> +"I thought you said she was the captain's daughter." +</p> +<p> +"So she is; but he's had her out on a Western ranch since she was a bit +of a lass. Quite a romance!" +</p> +<p> +"Really?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes. Her mother was a play-actress. Ran off with an English nobleman. +Left the captain and the lassie in the lurch, and died before she +reached England. I had the story from the purser." +</p> +<p> +"Where's the girl going now?" +</p> +<p> +"The captain is fetching her the round trip to Hong-Kong, to break off +some love-affair at home, I believe. But if she's as canny as she's +bonny, I'll wager she'll outwit him before they have done." +</p> +<p> +Percival, who at first had remained in the back row of the spectators, +during this recital moved to the front, and now as he looked down he +suddenly encountered the laughing glance of the person under discussion. +She was lazily watching him from where she floated in the water, with +her loosened hair circling in a dark cloud about her head. The +expression on her face gave him instant cause for alarm. +</p> +<p> +Since that first day when she had spoken to him, he had studiously +avoided meeting her eye, and had even come to congratulate himself on +having removed from her mind the suspicion of a former encounter. But +there was that in the glance that now met and held his that dispelled +any such hope. It indicated all too clearly that she had not been +deceived, and that she was treating the matter with unbecoming levity. +</p> +<p> +Percival returned haughtily to his steamer-chair, but not to count +raindrops. He had food for new and most irritating reflections. The +girl's refusal to take his cue and ignore the very mild flirtation that +had occurred on the car-platform placed him in a situation at once +awkward and embarrassing. He rather prided himself on never taking +advantage of any tribute of admiration that might be tendered him by the +less experienced of her sex. On more than one occasion in the past he +had heroically extinguished the tender flames that his own charms had +kindled in susceptible bosoms. He had come to share the belief of his +mother that he possessed a rare degree of chivalry in protecting women +against himself. +</p> +<p> +But this impossible child of Nature either did not know the rules of +the game, or chose to ignore them. He would be forced to continue this +distasteful partnership memory, or else dissolve it with a casual +reference to the episode, which would dispose of it for good and all. +He had about decided upon the latter course when Fate forestalled him. +</p> +<p> +On his way down to luncheon he encountered Miss Boynton coming up the +companionway. Her hair, still damp, was hanging about her shoulders, and +she carried a bundle of bath-towels under her arm. Both stood politely +aside, then both started forward, meeting midway. +</p> +<a name="image-0003"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-03.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="Her hair, still damp, was hanging about her shoulders, and she carried a bundle of bath-towels under her arm" /><br /> +Her hair, still damp, was hanging about her shoulders, and she carried a bundle of bath-towels under her arm +</div> + +<p> +"I—I—beg your pardon," said Percival. +</p> +<p> +"What for?" she asked. +</p> +<p> +"For—for not recognizing you the other day." It was not in the least +what he had meant to say, but it was said, and he must go on as best he +could. "Not expecting to see you, you know, and all that." +</p> +<p> +She stood shaking her hair in the breeze and smiling. While she +evidently bore no resentment, she was not helping him out in his +apology. +</p> +<p> +"One sees so many faces in traveling," he went on lamely, "and all so +much alike." +</p> +<p> +"I'd have known your face anywhere," she said. +</p> +<p> +He took a step downward, but she did not move. Instead she leaned +nonchalantly against the wall and began braiding her hair. +</p> +<p> +"I know your name, too," she said, with a look half daring and half +quizzical. "I looked you up on the passenger-list." +</p> +<p> +"But how did you know—" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, it was easy to spot you. You were the only man on board who would +fit 'The Honorable Percival Hascombe and Valet.'" +</p> +<p> +Percival found her scoffing tone intolerable. He descended two more +steps, but she stopped him with a request. +</p> +<p> +"If you don't mind," she said, flinging the finished braid over her +shoulder, "I wish you'd write your grand name on my Panama hat sometime; +it's going to be a souvenir of the trip." +</p> +<p> +With an unintelligible answer, he made his escape. His worst fears were +realized: he had given an inch; she had taken an ell. The crack in the +shell of his privacy was widening alarmingly and peeping through, he +shuddered at what he saw. +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0008" id="h2H_4_0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + IV +</h2> +<h3> + COUNTER-CURRENTS +</h3> +<p> +Day after day the steamship <i>Saluria</i> sailed the most amiable of +seas. So clear was the atmosphere at times that a glimpse could be had +of the planet Venus disporting herself in the heavens at high noon. Life +on shipboard became permeated with that spirit of fellowship which is +apt to make itself felt the moment the restraints of convention are +lifted. Even the Honorable Percival succumbed in a measure to the +insidious charm of the long, lazy days that were punctuated only by the +ship's bells. +</p> +<p> +He was still an apparently indifferent spectator of all that was going +on, but the fact that he <i>was</i> a spectator showed that he was +relaxing the rigid rules he had laid down for himself. The only person +who addressed him during the day was Bobby Boynton, who gave him a free +and easy greeting when they met in the morning, and then seemed to +forget his existence. His fear that she would follow up the conversation +begun in the companionway was apparently groundless, for she seemed +ridiculously engrossed in other things. +</p> +<p> +Among the half-dozen young people on board who were perpetually +organizing tournaments, dances, card-parties, and concerts, she was the +most indefatigable. Not being responsible to any one for her actions, +and possessing a creative imagination, she indulged in escapades that +provided the older people with their chief topic of conversation. Her +sternest critics, however, smiled as they shook their heads. +</p> +<p> +The captain from the first had treated her very much as he treated the +other passengers. The parental rôle was not a familiar one, and he +shirked it. The only time that he rose to a sense of duty was when he +found her in the writing-room, her head bent over a desk. Then rumor +said authority was bruskly asserted, letters were confiscated, and tears +flowed instead of ink. +</p> +<p> +About the time the Honorable Percival was congratulating himself on +having put her in her proper place, and having kept her there, his +confidence received a shock. Coming on deck one day, he found her again +seated in his steamer-chair. This time she made no pretense of rising, +but obligingly made a place for him on the foot-rest. The invitation was +loftily declined. +</p> +<p> +"I've been waiting a coon's age for you," she said, with an audacious +upward glance. "I wanted to tell you that I've put you on the program +for a song at the concert to-morrow night." +</p> +<p> +"Quite impossible; I shouldn't think of such a thing for a moment," +he began; then curiosity got the better of his annoyance. "But if I may +ask, how on earth did you know that I sang?" +</p> +<p> +Bobby's eyes danced, and her submerged dimple came to the surface. +</p> +<p> +"I didn't," she said; "but they dared me to ask you, and I wouldn't take +a dare, would you?" +</p> +<p> +"I am afraid I don't quite follow you," said Percival. +</p> +<p> +"Well, you see," explained Bobby, "they dared me to ask you, and I didn't +mind, because I was dead sure you sang. A person ought to be able to do +anything with a voice like yours." +</p> +<p> +Percival stroked his small mustache meditatively. +</p> +<p> +"As a matter of fact, you know," he said in a tone from which the chill +had vanished, "I suppose an English voice is rather conspicuous among +Americans, isn't it?" +</p> +<p> +"Yours is," said Bobby; "that is, what I've heard of it." +</p> +<p> +And then she was gone like a flash, leaving the Honorable Percival to +cogitate upon the extraordinary manners of American girls, and a certain +cleverness they at times displayed. Lady Hortense Vevay, for instance, +had had four uninterrupted weeks in which to discover anything unusual +in his voice, and he must confess she had been rather stupid about it. +But why had that impossible young American ruined a pretty compliment by +her parting shot? Did she feel that she had any claim upon him? Did she +expect him to pay her any attention? Preposterous! +</p> +<p> +The first break in the lazy routine of the voyage came when the dim +outline of the Hawaiian Islands gradually took definite shape in the +form of old Diamond Head which loomed strangely out of the water. +Sea-gulls came out to meet the steamer, circling on white wings against +the blue, and the air grew soft and fragrant with the odors of flowers +and tropical fruits. +</p> +<p> +As the <i>Saluria</i> slowly swung into the harbor and dropped anchor, +the promenade-deck was full of lively, chattering people, all arrayed in +white, and all eager for the first glimpse of the strange land. Dozens +of naked native boys were swimming about the steamer, causing general +merriment by their dexterity in diving for coins. One saucy brown imp +who had just come up with a silver piece in his mouth, caught sight +of the Englishman in the crowd above, and with a shrewdness born of +experience called out: "Hi there, English Johnny! Me no 'Merican boy; +me Johnny Bull boy. Me no want dime; want shilling! Here you are! +Aw right!" +</p> +<p> +The invitation met no response. The Honorable Percival greeted with calm +disdain the laugh that followed it. He was not in the least interested +in impertinent young Hawaiians. A matter of much greater importance +occupied his attention. He had just been informed by the purser that, +owing to the crowded condition of the steamer, he would be compelled to +share his stateroom with another passenger during the remainder of the +voyage. This catastrophe darkened even the tropical sun. He was +indignant with the company in San Francisco that had failed to explain +this contingency; he was angry with the purser for not being able to +change the disagreeable order of things; but most of all he was furious +with the unknown stranger, whom in the blackness of his mood he pictured +as either a fat German or a chattering American. +</p> +<p> +So perturbed was he over this circumstance that he could not refrain +from venting his ill humor on somebody, and his valet being unavailable +at the time, he took it out upon himself. +</p> +<p> +"No, I am not going ashore," he said somewhat curtly to Bobby Boynton, +who had organized a party with sufficient diversions to last two days +instead of one. +</p> +<p> +"You'd better come along," said Bobby. "We are going to shoot up the +town of Honolulu." +</p> +<p> +"I don't know that I should particularly care for that," said Percival, +coldly. +</p> +<p> +She looked at him with frank curiosity. +</p> +<p> +"Say, why don't you ever let yourself have a good time?" she asked. +"Everybody else is going except the captain. He's got the gout. Says +he's carrying his grandfather's cocktails around in his starboard toe." +</p> +<p> +She waited for a response, but none came. +</p> +<p> +"It's going to be awfully stupid here with everybody gone," she +persisted. "Why won't you come?" +</p> +<p> +She was dressed in a short white serge and the Panama hat, which as yet +was innocent of autographs. It was astonishing what a difference the +absence of conflicting colors made in her appearance. +</p> +<p> +For a moment Percival's decision wavered before those pleading tones, +but the next he caught sight of Mrs. Weston and Elise evidently watching +with amused interest the result of Bobby's bold move. +</p> +<p> +"Another dare, as I think you call it?" he asked. "You'll have to excuse +me, Miss Boynton. Sight-seeing is quite out of my line." +</p> +<p> +He watched the gay party board the launch, Mrs. Weston, the two girls, +and the college boys whose raucous voices and offhand manners had grated +upon him ever since leaving San Francisco. As the small boat got away +from the steamer, one white-clad figure separated itself suddenly from +the rest, and waved a friendly hand to him. He started, then, lifting +his cap stiffly, moved away from the rail. The little minx was pretty; +in fact, he acknowledged for the first time that she was distractingly +pretty. But she was also presuming, and presumption was a thing he would +permit in no one. +</p> +<p> +For the next few hours Percival found life not worth living. He sat +on the hot deck in solitary state, gloved in white chamois, with a +newspaper over his white-clad knees, engaged in the forlorn hope of +trying to keep clean while the ship was coaling. Finding this an +impossibility, he took refuge in the deserted-writing-room, where all +the port-holes were closed and the air as dead as that of an Egyptian +tomb. +</p> +<p> +Satirical letters home were Percival's chief diversion. In them he +expressed his unqualified disapproval of the Western Hemisphere. The +assurance that they would be read by an adoring group of feminine +relatives gave wing to an imagination that was not wont to soar. Today, +however, inspiration was lacking. On opening the drawer of the first +desk he came to, he found a letter half begun which had evidently been +thrust there suddenly and forgotten. Across the top of the page was +written: +</p> +<p> +"My darling H——-" +</p> +<p> +Percival closed the drawer hurriedly. The conjunction of the letter H +with that particular adjective started echoes. He circled the room in +search of a desk not haunted by epistolatory ghosts. +</p> +<p> +"Particularly asinine brand of pen!" he exclaimed in disgust. "Must have +been used for a corkscrew!" +</p> +<p> +Corkscrews changed the current of his thought into a more pleasant +channel. But even the mild consolation thus suggested was denied him. +The smoking-room was closed. He wandered disconsolately to his +state-room and, flinging himself on the narrow sofa, stared at the +ceiling. Every fiber of his being shrieked for England and for the +revivifying warmth of adulation. +</p> +<p> +His mind dwelt longingly upon Hascombe Hall and the acres of parkland, +moorland, and farmland that were its inheritance. Then he thought +bitterly upon that paragon of perfection who had caused his banishment. +How completely she would have filled the rôle of mistress of that noble +hall! He pictured her in irreproachable toilets, pouring tea in the east +drawing-room, and receiving her guests with the exact shade of warmth +that their social positions demanded. +</p> +<p> +As he recalled her manner of cool distinction and her polished, +impersonal phrases, another feminine figure dared to flit between him +and this lady of manifold merit. No sooner would he indignantly banish +her image than she would come dancing back, a gay little figure, with +too much color in her checks and too much daring in her eyes. +</p> +<p> +"Why don't you let yourself have a good time?" she had asked, and the +question repeated itself now with maddening insistence. Was he, who had +always had everything, now missing something—something that other +people had? +</p> +<p> +When two bells sounded he reluctantly went below for lunch. The prospect +of a tête-à-tête with the captain was anything but pleasant. He +understood about half that the officer said, and with that half he +usually disagreed. His first remark was unfortunate: +</p> +<p> +"All this dirt means more washing down of the decks, I suppose. Beastly +racket it makes. Is there any earthly reason why it should always be +done at dawn?" +</p> +<p> +"Most one-sidedly," said the captain; "it gives the sailors a chance to +see the sunrise." +</p> +<p> +There was a short silence, then Percival asked: +</p> +<p> +"What's the name of that young South American who went ashore with your +daughter?" +</p> +<p> +"South American?" repeated the captain. "I pass." +</p> +<p> +"The blatant youth who sits at your left." +</p> +<p> +"Oh, you mean Vaughn. He's no South American. He hails from Virginia." +</p> +<p> +"Thought he said he was a Southerner. May I trouble you for the +mustard?" +</p> +<p> +"Did the Daughter of the Revolution go along?" asked the captain. +</p> +<p> +"Beg pardon?" +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Weston. She's a D.A.R. She has told me so five times; that's how +I know." +</p> +<p> +"Really, why was she chosen to be the Daughter of the Regiment?" +</p> +<p> +"The Revolution, not the regiment. You remember that little skirmish +that took place in '75?" +</p> +<p> +Percival considered this thrust beneath his notice. His simmering +antagonism for the captain was nearing the boiling-point. +</p> +<p> +"I say," he said, "will you kindly arrange for a bit of air to enter +this room? It's ghastly, perfectly ghastly." +</p> +<p> +"Sure," said the captain, dexterously mixing a salad of alligator pears. +"Ah Foo, open some of those ports and let in the coal-dust. Have some of +this tropical mess?" +</p> +<p> +"Thanks, no. I'm not specially fit today. Had a beastly night of it. +Fancy having to keep one's umbrella up in the berth to keep the light +from the passage out of one's eyes! I don't believe such a thing could +happen on a British steamer. Can't you manage to give me another +state-room?" +</p> +<p> +"That's the purser's job; he's the room-clerk," said the captain. "I'm +only the skipper." +</p> +<p> +Percival glanced quickly at the weather-beaten face, but found no +guiding expression. +</p> +<p> +"I can't say I found your purser over-civil," he went on. "He insists on +putting another passenger in my state-room. Nothing was said about it in +San Francisco, nothing whatever. I shall report the matter at my first +opportunity." +</p> +<p> +"I bet you've drawn that Chinese bigwig that's booked from here," said +the captain, grinning. +</p> +<p> +Percival pushed back his plate. A German or an American had appalled +him, but a Chinaman! +</p> +<p> +"I say, this is a bit thick, you know. What time does the next launch go +ashore?" he demanded, with, a fierce determination to find the purser +and demand satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +"About to start now," said the captain, adding, with a twinkle: "Better +think twice about that Chinaman. If he takes the upper berth, his +queue'd come in mighty handy to hang your umbrella on." +</p> +<p> +Percival dashed up the stairs. He had been seeking an excuse for going +ashore for the last four hours, and now he felt that he had one. It was +of the utmost importance, he assured himself, that he see the purser +without further delay. +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0009" id="h2H_4_0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + V +</h2> +<h3> + STRANDED +</h3> +<p> +When a man insists too strenuously upon his rights, the imps of +perversity invariably combine to thwart him. Percival was aware of their +pursuing footsteps from the moment he went ashore and lost his umbrella, +to the hour of his return to the dock, when he found himself face to +face with a situation of baffling perplexity. +</p> +<p> +No sooner had he stepped from the launch that had started him on his +double quest, which ostensibly had only the purser for its object, than +he was surrounded by a noisy, gesticulating crowd. Insistent requests +that he should buy a string of shells, adopt a chameleon, wear a wreath +of carnations, and take a drive, were proffered in broken English, and +he made his escape by jumping into a motor-car and slamming the door. +</p> +<p> +"Where to, sir?" asked the gratified chauffeur. +</p> +<p> +"Take me where everybody goes," directed Percival. +</p> +<p> +"The Pali? Waikiki? Punch-Bowl? Aquarium?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, yes. Go on. You see, as a matter of fact, I'm looking for some +one." +</p> +<p> +Percival's first impression of Honolulu was that of a futurist sketch, +a streak of green standing for the palm-shaded streets, a streak of +scarlet representing the royal Poinciana, and various impressionistic +dots indicating native Hawaiians. The motor in which he found himself +was very ancient, having evidently traveled from the center to the +circumference of civilization by easy stages. Its age and asthmatic +condition should have made it an object of veneration to the chauffeur, +but such was not the case. Like a belated express, it was driven +through the town and out into the open country. Luxurious villas, jungles +of cacti, Chinese tea-houses, taro patches, banana plantations—all +presented one mad panorama to Percival, who jolted from side to side +on the back seat. +</p> +<p> +Presently there was a precipitous halt, and the chauffeur indicated that +he was to get out. +</p> +<p> +"What for?" asked Percival, crossly. +</p> +<p> +"The Pali," said the chauffeur, impressively. "Eighteen hundred feet +above the level of the sea, where the early inhabitants of Oahu made +their last stand against the enemy." +</p> +<p> +"I'm quite sure she isn't here," said Percival. Then he caught himself, +and went into a rather elaborate explanation to cover his confusion. +"You see, I'm looking for the purser. The purser of the <i>Saluria</i>, +you know. He's put a nasty Chinaman in my state-room, and I've got to +find him before the ship sails." +</p> +<p> +"Everybody comes first to the Pali," said the man. +</p> +<p> +Percival glanced skeptically at the great granite cliff that seemed such +an unpromising retreat for pursers, then he stepped out of the motor, +and made his way around the sharp angle of stone wall. As he did so, a +gale struck him that sent his hat careening over the precipice. He gazed +after it in chagrin. The fact that one of the great panoramic views of +the world lay at his feet was quite obliterated by the unhappy knowledge +that an English Bowler had landed in the fork of a distant tree, defying +recovery. +</p> +<p> +"Where next, sir?" asked the chauffeur, surprised at his quick return. +</p> +<p> +"Anywhere out of this damned wind!" said Percival between his teeth. +</p> +<p> +"Your friend might be at Waikiki Beach," suggested the chauffeur, +amiably. +</p> +<p> +"He's <i>not</i> my friend. He's a purser, I tell you. Wants to put—" +</p> +<p> +But his words were lost in the whir of the engine. All the way back to +Honolulu and through the town Percival was seeing this strange, tropical +land through the blue eyes of a certain little untraveled Western +savage. What a revelation it must be to one used to the barren alkali +deserts of Wyoming, where, nothing grew but sage-bush and cacti! It +wouldn't be half bad, he thought, to hear what she had to say about it +all. But where was one to look for her? +</p> +<p> +"We might try the pool-rooms," suggested the chauffeur. +</p> +<p> +Percival looked at him blankly, then he remembered. +</p> +<p> +"Take me to a hat shop," he said peremptorily. +</p> +<p> +When they arrived at Waikiki Beach he got out of the motor with more +alacrity than was habitual to him, and entered the cocoanut-grove. By +Jove! he thought, it was not a bad sight to see the palms dangling over +the beach like that, with the jolly breakers rolling in, and the bay +full of changing colors. Coral reefs! That's what caused the color; he +had read it in a book somewhere. Air was good, too, fruity and salty and +not too hot. For the moment he forgot his cares; he even forgot that his +new hat was one of those peculiar shapes which Englishmen often pore +over in the advertising pages of American magazines for the sole purpose +of enjoying a sense of superb and vast superiority. +</p> +<p> +As he scanned the beach his eye was caught by three ladies and three +natives standing about a surf-boat in animated discussion. The youngest +of the ladies, who wore a bathing-suit of conspicuous hue and did most +of the talking, suddenly detached herself from the others and came +flying across the sand toward him. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Hascombe!" she demanded breathlessly, "you'll take me out in the +surf-boat, won't you? The boys haven't come, and Mrs. Weston is afraid +for me to go alone." +</p> +<a name="image-0004"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-04.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="'Mr. Hascombe!' she demanded breathlessly, 'you'll take me out in the surf-boat, won't you?' " /><br /> +"Mr. Hascombe!" she demanded breathlessly, "you'll take me out in the surf-boat, won't you?" +</div> + +<p> +"But my dear young lady, it's quite impossible. I'm looking for the +purser. They say he's going to put—" +</p> +<p> +"Bother the purser! We haven't a minute to lose. The steamer sails at +five." +</p> +<p> +"But really, I can't. And I quite agree with Mrs. Weston that it would +be most awfully improper for you to go alone." +</p> +<p> +"Well, if you don't take me, I <i>will</i> go alone!" she said defiantly; +then she suddenly changed her tactics, and added with childish insistence: +"But you <i>are</i> going to take me now, aren't you? Please?" +</p> +<p> +He could scarcely believe his senses when, a few minutes later, he found +himself frantically struggling into a rented bathing-suit in a steaming +little bath-house that gave evidence of recent use. But a glance into +the mirror that hung on the door not only convinced him of his identity, +but added the comforting assurance that he was not by any means looking +his worst in his present garb. He paused long enough to flex a +presentable bicep with pardonable pride. +</p> +<p> +"Hurry up!" called Bobby, joyfully, as he emerged. "There are three +Kanakas and you and I. Can you swim?" +</p> +<p> +"Rather," said Percival. +</p> +<p> +They ran down to the beach to where the canoe, a long, narrow affair +with curious outriders, awaited them. +</p> +<p> +"The last boat that went out capsized," cried Bobby, gleefully taking +her place behind the second Kanaka. "The men were in the water five +minutes, but the sharks didn't happen to notice them." +</p> +<p> +"Sharks!" exclaimed Percival in consternation. +</p> +<p> +The native in the front seat grinned and shook his head. +</p> +<p> +"No sharks this side of the reef," he said reassuringly. +</p> +<p> +As they paddled out over the blue water, Bobby's enthusiasm dashed like +spray against the rock of Percival's seeming indifference. +</p> +<p> +"Isn't this the most heavenly place that ever happened!" she cried. +"Look at the mountains back yonder against the sky, and the mists in the +valleys, and all the color spilling out over the edge of the land into +the sea!" +</p> +<p> +"Ye-es," said Percival; "but as a matter of fact I find the mosquitos +peculiarly trying." +</p> +<p> +Now, if the truth must be told, it was not the mosquitos which were +disturbing the Honorable Percival. It was not even his failure to find +the purser. It was the disconcerting discovery that this persistent +young woman from the States was making him do things he didn't in the +least want to do. He glared gloomily at the back of her white neck, +across which a dark lock floated tantalizingly. +</p> +<p> +As the space between them and the shore widened, the surf became +stronger and higher, until by the time they reached the reef the canoe +was dancing like a shell on the water. +</p> +<p> +"Afraid?" asked Bobby, teasingly, flashing a smile over her shoulder. +</p> +<p> +"I don't think," said Percival, and, immediately was chagrined at having +indulged in such a vulgar expression. +</p> +<p> +"I love it!" cried Bobby. "It's more fun than a bucking bronco. Is this +our wave? All right! Let her go!" +</p> +<p> +The Kanaka in the prow gave the signal, and the boat backed into the +monster wave just as it was about to break. Simultaneously the paddles +were plunged into the water, and a vigorous pull was made for the shore. +There was a merry whiz of rushing waters, a breathless suspension in +midair, then a gigantic upheaval as the boat plunged over the crest of +the wave and shot like an arrow two miles in two minutes to the beach. +</p> +<p> +Percival, as has been stated, rather prided himself on having exhausted +life's thrills. When one has made a reputation for luging at Caux and +has raced on skis with the professionals at St. Moritz, not to boast of +a daring flight in a French aëroplane, one is apt to be rather superior +to minor sports. But the present thrilling diversion, shared with a girl +as irresistibly pretty and as utterly abandoned to the joy of the moment +as Bobby Boynton, proved quite the most exhilarating pastime in which he +had ever indulged. +</p> +<p> +Again and again the boat went out, and again and again Mrs. Weston +beckoned frantically and imperatively from the pier. The last time she +looked at her watch, she seemed to give up the hope of getting the +delinquents back to shore. Gathering up scarfs and parasols, she and +Elise hurried back to the steamer. +</p> +<p> +For the two young people in the boat the steamer had ceased to exist. +Everything had ceased to exist except a narrow shell of wood, three +brown-backed natives, and one towering wave after another that shot +them through delicious realms of space and left them, with every nerve +a-tingle, laughing into each other's eyes. +</p> +<p> +"Ripping, isn't it?" cried Percival on the third return. "Shall we have +one more go?" +</p> +<p> +"I expect we ought to be going," said Bobby, shaking the salt spray out +of her hair. "I don't see anything of Mrs. Weston and Elise." +</p> +<p> +"I don't want to see anything of them," cried Percival, recklessly. +"Right ho! once more!" +</p> +<p> +She was nothing loath, and they went blithely forth to meet the next big +wave. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Weston <i>has</i> gone!" said Bobby when they again touched shore. +"Wouldn't it be a lark if we were left?" +</p> +<p> +No bullet ever brought a soaring bird to ground more promptly than this +remark brought the Honorable Percival to his senses. +</p> +<p> +"Gad!" he cried, "but it's impossible! My luggage is all on board!" +</p> +<p> +He scrambled frantically out of the boat and rushed to his bath-house. +The prospect of being stranded, on even a fairy island, with a +dangerously beguiling maiden of the middle class was even more appalling +than being divorced from his luggage. He struggled frantically into his +clothes, losing three precious minutes over a broken shoe-lace. When he +came out he found Bobby, very cool and collected, sipping an iced drink +at the pavilion. Not waiting for her to finish, he rushed her into the +waiting motor and implored the chauffeur to get them to the dock with +all possible speed. +</p> +<p> +He was aghast at his own folly. It was incredible that he should have +allowed himself to drift into such an awkward situation. They might not +be missed until after the steamer sailed, in which case it was quite +possible that the erratic captain would refuse to put back. The man +might even make capital of the incident and claim that his daughter was +compromised. What if he should demand satisfaction? What satisfaction +would be due in the circumstances? Percival felt the hot blood rush to +his head. +</p> +<p> +"Can't you speed her up a bit?" he urged, his elbows on the front seat +and his eyes on the small watch encased in the leather strap about his +wrist. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, do!" cried Bobby, excitedly. "I love to go fast!" +</p> +<p> +"Do you realize," asked Percival, assuming his sternest manner in order +to impress her with the gravity of the situation, "that we stand a very +good chance of being left?" +</p> +<p> +"I can't imagine a nicer place to be left in," said Bobby, adding +between bounces, "besides, you needn't—look so cross—at me. It is all +your—own fault." +</p> +<p> +The chauffeur at this point felt it incumbent upon him to avert a +quarrel, so he offered the cheering assurance that it was only four +forty-five, and he could get most anywhere in fifteen minutes. But even +as he spoke there was an ominous report, followed by the unmistakable +sound of escaping air. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, I say!" cried Percival in tones of horror, "not a puncture?" +</p> +<p> +"That's whut!" said the chauffeur, who had jammed on the brakes, and was +now ruefully inspecting a back wheel. +</p> +<p> +"Can't stop for that!" cried Percival, impatiently. "Every second +counts, my man. Doesn't matter how much we bounce so long as we get +there." +</p> +<p> +"But I ain't goin' to ruin my tire." +</p> +<p> +"What the deuce do I care about your confounded old tire? I'll pay for +it. I'll pay you anything you ask if you get me to the dock on time." +</p> +<p> +But after bumping furiously from cobblestone to cobblestone, the +chauffeur rebelled and positively declined to go farther until the tire +was changed. +</p> +<p> +"Then it's up to us to catch a streetcar!" cried Bobby, "What luck! Here +comes one now. They only run once a week." +</p> +<p> +"Street-car? Oh, you mean a tram. To be sure! Hadn't thought of it. +Shall we run for it?" +</p> +<p> +Thrusting a gold piece into the hand of the chauffeur, he made a +fifty-yard dash for the corner that did credit to his early training. +But the imperious signal with which he hailed the car was not heeded. +Instead, a fat conductor leaned from the rear platform and obligingly +volunteered the information that he was on the wrong corner. +</p> +<p> +"Intolerable insolence!" muttered Percival to Bobby, who had just come +up. "What are you laughing at?" +</p> +<p> +"At your face when the car went by. Here comes a wagon. Quick! Ask the +man if he can't take us the rest of the way." +</p> +<p> +"But we can't ride in a—" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, we can. We can ride on a broom-stick if we have to. Hurry!" +</p> +<p> +Percival plunged obediently into the street and made his request. He was +meeting with little encouragement from the driver, who evidently thought +he was mentally unsound, when Bobby came to his rescue. It was only by +resorting to some of those feminine tricks of persuasion which the +suffragists assure us are quite immoral that she succeeded in carrying +her point. +</p> +<p> +Ten minutes later the curiosity of the main thoroughfare of Honolulu +was raised to fever-heat by the singular spectacle of an austere and +distinguished-looking Englishman and a pretty, if somewhat disheveled, +young girl dangling their feet from the end of a dilapidated wagon that +was being driven at a breakneck speed toward the wharf. +</p> +<a name="image-0005"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-05.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="At a breakneck speed towards the wharf" /><br /> +At a breakneck speed towards the wharf +</div> + +<p> +For once in his life Percival was indifferent to appearances. Everything +else sank into insignificance beside the one supreme necessity of +catching that steamer. There would not be another sailing for the Orient +for ten days. The prospect of ten days in this lotus-land alone with a +perilously pretty girl who had evidently taken an enormous fancy to him +filled him with alarm. What possible explanation could he offer to +Sister Cordelia, that august representative of the family waiting in +Hong-Kong to minister to his broken and bleeding heart? +</p> +<p> +A violent lurch of the wagon caused him to grasp Bobby's arm to steady +her, and as he did so she got a glimpse of his rueful countenance. +</p> +<p> +"Cheer up!" she cried. "There's no use looking like that even if we +<i>are</i> left." +</p> +<p> +"Like what?" +</p> +<p> +"Like a trout on a hook." +</p> +<p> +He shot a glance at her. Was it possible that she had divined his state +of mind? Woman's intuition was a thing of which he stood in deadly awe. +</p> +<p> +But they were arriving at the dock, and there was no time to indulge in +subtleties. He sprang from the wagon before it came to a halt. +</p> +<p> +"The <i>Saluria!</i>" he demanded wildly of a man in uniform. "Has she +sailed?" +</p> +<p> +"The <i>Saluria?</i>" repeated the man with maddening deliberation. +"Let's see. Yellow funnels, ain't she? Yep, that's her a-going out of +the harbor now." +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0010" id="h2H_4_0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + VI +</h2> +<h3> + IN THE WIND-SHELTER +</h3> +<p> +When Mrs. Western, anxiously watching the passengers come aboard from +the last launch, had failed to see Bobby Boynton, she was partly +reassured by young Vaughn, who was quite confident he had seen her on +the dock. Not being satisfied, however, she made a tour of the crowded +decks, looking into the music room, the writing-room and even the +smoking-room, It was not until she went below and peeped into Bobby's +empty cabin that she became seriously alarmed. Hurrying back on deck, +she found, to her consternation, that the gang-planks had been lifted +and the ship had weighed anchor. In great excitement she rushed to the +bridge to find the captain, but he was not there. Five interminable +minutes had been lost before she found him and stated her case. +</p> +<p> +The captain of an ocean-liner is too used to false alarms to be easily +excited, and it was only after another thorough search was made, and no +trace of Bobby and the Englishman found, that Captain Boynton concerned +himself. Just what he said need not be chronicled. It was extremely +crude and extremely personal, and punctuated by phrases that would have +shocked the delicate sensibilities of the Honorable Percival. +</p> +<p> +His humor was not improved by the dictatorial messages that began to +arrive by wireless: +</p> +<p class="quote"> +Have chartered launch. Hold steamer, +<br /> +HASCOMBE. +</p> + +<p class="quote"> +Distance too great for launch. Meet us halfway. +<br /> +HASCOMBE. +</p> + +<p class="quote"> +Have started, Meet us. +<br /> +HASCOMBE. +</p> + +<p> +The exciting news that somebody was left soon traveled from deck to +deck, and when the steamer began slowly and laboriously to come about, +the railing's were crowded with passengers. Presently a small dark +object was visible in the distance, rising and falling unsteadily on the +waves that lay between the steamer and the dim shore-line. Gradually the +launch came nearer, and with some difficulty succeeded in getting +alongside. +</p> +<p> +A cheer of welcome went up as Bobby and Percival scrambled up the +ship's-ladder. Their hats were adorned with trailing wreaths of smilax, +and about their shoulders were garlands of carnations. It was a stage +entrance, sufficiently conspicuous and effective to have satisfied the +soul of the most exacting manager. +</p> +<p> +Percival's abhorrence of publicity, which had been overshadowed by his +anxiety, now took complete possession of him. With punctilious formality +he handed Bobby on deck, then, with a manner sufficiently forbidding to +discourage all questions and remarks, pushed his way haughtily through +the laughing crowd and went below. +</p> +<p> +It was not until he entered his state-room that he recalled the +grievance that ostensibly had sent him ashore. In the middle of his +berth was an open suitcase, with its contents widely distributed. Three +pairs of shoes lay in the middle of the floor, a bunch of variegated +neckties depended from the door-knob, and a stack of American magazines +and newspapers lay upon the sofa, Percival stood on the threshold +sniffing. There was no mistaking the odor. It was white rose, a perfume +forever associated with the perfidious Lady Hortense! Was he to suffer +this refinement of cruelty in having the very air he breathed saturated +with her memory? He rang furiously for his valet. +</p> +<p> +"Judson, see that that person's things are put upon his side of the room +and kept there, and under no condition allow the port-holes to be +closed." +</p> +<p> +"Very good, sir. Will you dress now for dinner!" +</p> +<p> +But Percival was in no mood for the long table d'hôte dinner, with its +inevitable comments upon the affair of the afternoon. He preferred a +sandwich and a glass of wine in a secluded corner of the smoking-room, +after which he played a few games of solitaire, then betook himself +to bed. His sleep was not a restful one, being haunted by departing +steamers, arriving Chinamen, and an endless procession of scornful +Lady Hortenses. +</p> +<p> +He was awakened the next morning long before his accustomed time by some +one stirring noisily about the state-room. After lying in indignant +silence for a while behind his drawn curtains, he touched the electric +bell. When Judson's respectful knock responded, he said in tones of icy +formality: +</p> +<p> +"Judson, tell the steward to draw my tub." +</p> +<p> +"I say," broke in a voice on the outer side of the curtain, "while you +are drawing things, I wish you'd try your hand at this cork." +</p> +<p> +There was a brief parley at the door, and a "Very good, sir," from +Judson. +</p> +<p> +Percival's anger rose. It was bad enough to share his room with a +stranger, but to share his valet as well was out of the question. When +a second tap announced that his bath was ready, he slipped a long robe +over his silk pajamas and emerged imperiously from his berth. It is not +easy to maintain a haughty dignity in a bath-robe, with one's hair on +end, but Percival came very near it. +</p> +<p> +The effort was wasted, however, for a cheerful "Good morning, Partner," +greeted him, and his cold eye discerned not a slant-eyed Oriental, but a +round, pink American face, partly covered with lather, beaming upon him. +</p> +<p> +"My name is Black," continued the new-comer—"Andy Black. And yours?" +</p> +<p> +"Hascombe," said Percival, haughtily aware of all that that name stood +for in the annals of southern England. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, you're the fellow that got left! Any kin to the Texas Hascombes?" +asked the youth, drawing the razor over his upper lip as if there were +real work for it to do. +</p> +<p> +"None whatever," said Percival. "I'll trouble you for my sponge-bag." +</p> +<p> +When Percival got down to breakfast he found that the enforced proximity +of Mr. Andy Black was not to be confined to the state-room. The plump, +red-headed young man, with the complexion of a baby and a smile that +impartially embraced the universe, was seated at his elbow. +</p> +<p> +"Who is the girl at the captain's right?" he demanded eagerly as +Percival took his seat. +</p> +<p> +"His daughter," Percival said curtly, painfully aware of the amused +glances that had followed his entrance. +</p> +<p> +"Some looker!" said Andy. "I see my finish right now." +</p> +<p> +The sight of it eventually pleased him, for he turned his back upon +Percival, and became hilariously appreciative of the captain's jokes, +even contributing one or two of his own. Before the meal was over he +had informed the whole table that he was on his way to Hong-Kong in +the interests of the Union Tobacco Company, that he had done business +in every State in the Union, and that he had crossed the Pacific five +times. +</p> +<p> +During the course of the day Percival visited the purser at regular +intervals, demanding that his room-mate be removed. But the purser +was a sturdy Hamburger, and the very sight of a monocle affected his +disposition. Meanwhile Mr. Andy Black had made good use of his time. +At the end of twenty-four hours he had spoken to virtually everybody +on board, including the gray-haired old missionary who passed +cream-peppermints about the deck at a quarter to ten every morning. He +had played quoits with Elise Weston, punched the bag with the college +boys, and taught Bobby Boynton to dance the tango. So obnoxious was +the sight of him to the Honorable Percival that he turned his chair +to the wall and buried himself in "Guillim's Display of Heraldry." He +considered it as a personal affront on the part of Fate that just as he +was beginning to find the voyage endurable this prancing young montebank +should appear to spoil everything. +</p> +<p> +For the next two days he sternly avoided Bobby Boynton. His somewhat +pompous letter of apology to the captain, in which he set forth at +length the various unforeseen accidents that had caused him to miss the +steamer, was curtly and ungraciously received, and strained relations +ensued. Moreover, as he viewed the recent adventure in retrospect, he +decided that he had been most negligent in observing those rules by +which the conduct of an English gentleman should be regulated. In +condescending to be amused he had gone too far, and it was now incumbent +upon him to nip in the bud any gossip that might have risen concerning +his attentions to the daughter of that odious captain. +</p> +<p> +Bobby survived the withdrawal of his favor with amazing indifference. +What puzzled and annoyed him beyond measure was that the more oblivious +of him she seemed, the more acutely aware of her he became. Twenty times +a day he assured himself that it made no earthly difference to him +whether she was playing quoits with the Scotchman or bean-bag with Andy +Black, and yet not a page of his book would become intelligible until he +made a round of the deck to find out what she was doing. The evenings +were even worse: midnight often found him wrapped in his rug in his +steamer-chair or morosely pacing the deck, waiting for some festivity +in which Bobby was engaged to come to an end. The shocking lack of +chaperonage and the liberty allowed young girls in the States served +as themes for more than one bitter letter home. +</p> +<p> +But his cold aloofness was not destined to last. One morning when most +of the passengers were concerned with the appearance of Bird Island on +the horizon, he stumbled quite by accident upon Bobby curled up behind a +wind-shelter on the other side of the deck, contributing some large salt +tears to the brine of the ocean. Now, in that circle of society in which +it had pleased Providence to place Percival it was considered the height +of bad form to exhibit an emotion. His imagination could not picture one +of the ladies of Hascombe Hall sitting in a public place with her hair +tumbled over her face, and her shoulders shaking with sobs. +</p> +<p> +Nevertheless, the sight of this hitherto buoyant young creature in +distress moved him to sit down beside her, and in the softly modulated +tones upon which we have already commented coax her to tell him what was +the matter. +</p> +<p> +Unlike the historic Miss Muffet who repulsed a similar attention from +the spider, she welcomed his arrival. She even asked him if he had an +extra handkerchief, her own having been reduced to a wet little ball. +He had. He not only proffered it, but helped to wipe away the tears. +</p> +<a name="image-0006"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-06.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="'I don't know what makes me so everlastingly silly!' she said fiercely trying to swallow the rising sobs, 'but he _won't_ understand!'" /><br /> +"I don't know what makes me so everlastingly silly!" she said fiercely trying to swallow the rising sobs, "but he <i>won't</i> understand!" +</div> + +<p> +"I don't know what makes me so everlastingly silly," she said fiercely, +trying to swallow the rising sobs, "but he <i>won't</i> understand!" +</p> +<p> +"Who won't?" +</p> +<p> +"The captain. I don't care if he is my father. Sometimes I don't like +him a bit." +</p> +<p> +Neither did Percival. It was strange how the common antagonism drew +them together. He was about to ask for further details when the old +Peppermint Lady scurried past and, seeing them, turned back to impart +the burning news that Bird Island was in sight. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," said Percival, shamelessly, "we have seen it." +</p> +<p> +"He doesn't know me if he thinks I'll give in," went on Bobby where she +had left off. "I am just as stubborn as he is." +</p> +<p> +"There, now, I shouldn't talk about it if it made me cry," advised +Percival, patting her shoulder. +</p> +<p> +"But I've got to talk to somebody," she said almost savagely. "What did +he give me to the Fords for if he didn't think they were good enough? +Pa Joe's as good as he is any day in the week." +</p> +<p> +"Who is Pa Joe?" asked Percival, groping in the dark. +</p> +<p> +"He's the darlingest old man in the world, and he owns the best cattle +ranch in Wyoming. Anybody'll tell you so. He's been a real father to me, +and the boys are real brothers—at least three of them are. They are +just as good as anybody that ever lived, I don't care what the captain +says." +</p> +<p> +There was another passionate burst of tears, and Percival had just +succeeded in stemming the tide when the Scotchman bore down upon them. +</p> +<p> +"I beg your pardon, but did you know we were passing Bird Island?" he +asked them. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," said Percival, hastily getting up and piloting him safely past. +"As a matter of fact, some one was just asking for you in the +smoking-room." +</p> +<p> +"I told the captain," sobbed Bobby, beating her hands together and +apparently oblivious of interruptions, "that I'd come on this trip with +him, but that it wouldn't make a bit of difference, and it hasn't." +</p> +<p> +"No, of course it hasn't," agreed Percival, soothingly, not in the least +comprehending the drift of her remarks, but pleasantly aware that he was +being confided in and that something very limp and lovely was under his +protection. +</p> +<p> +"Isn't there a—a—Mrs. Ford on the ranch?" he asked by way of +prolonging the interview. +</p> +<p> +"Not now. Dear Aunt Kitty died four years ago. That was when they sent +me in to Cheyenne to school. But I'm finished now, and I'm going to stay +on the ranch and take care of Pa Joe and the boys." +</p> +<p> +"Can't say it sounds exciting. How many children are there?" +</p> +<p> +"Children! Why, they are all as tall as you are, except Piffles. There's +Ted, and Dick, and Piffles, and—Hal. I guess you saw Hal that day at +the station." +</p> +<p> +For the first time since he had known her, her black lashes drooped +consciously over her blue eyes. They were very long and thick lashes, +and as they swept her flushed cheek, Percival not only forgot what she +was saying, but went so far as to forget himself. +</p> +<p> +"I saw only one thing that day at the station," he said, with such an +ardent look that it made Bobby smile through her tears. As a rule he +disliked dimples, especially the stationary kind. But the one that now +occupied, his attention was a very shy and elusive affair that kept the +beholder watching very closely for fear he should miss it. +</p> +<p> +"Come," he said, taking advantage of the momentary sunshine, "you are a +bit of a sportsman, you know. You mustn't come off by yourself and cry +like this. Makes you feel so beastly seedy afterward, doesn't it?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes. But you don't understand. I want to do something that the +captain's perfectly determined I sha'n't do. He didn't bring me on this +trip just to give me a good time. Not on your life! He brought me to +make me forget." +</p> +<p> +"Oh, that's the game, is it? Scuttling you off to sea to make you +forget. Deuced interesting! I don't mind telling you I'm in something of +the same sort of a hole myself." +</p> +<p> +"Really?" Her interest was roused instantly. +</p> +<p> +A mysterious change was taking place in their acquaintance. Bobby's +tears had in some unaccountable manner taken all the starch out of +Percival's manner. +</p> +<p> +"You mean," she went on, "that they are sending you off to keep you from +marrying some one they don't like?" +</p> +<p> +"Not exactly. I shouldn't put up with that for a moment, you know." +</p> +<p> +"Of course you wouldn't, because you are a man. But suppose you were +a girl, and your father was perfectly unreasonable. What would you do +then?" +</p> +<p> +"I'd drop the matter for a bit," advised Percival, at a venture. "Let +him think you didn't care a tuppeny. Pretend to be awfully keen about +something else, and, likely as not, he'll come round. Not a bad idea +that, by Jove! I've tried it." +</p> +<p> +"Do you think it would work?" asked Bobby, scanning his finely chiseled +profile as eagerly as if she were consulting the Delphic oracle. +</p> +<p> +"No harm in trying. Keep him on tenter-hooks, at any rate." +</p> +<p> +"Ship ahoy!" came in joyous tones from Andy Black as he rounded the +corner of the saloon, clinging to his cap. "Been looking for you all +over. Say, did you all know we were passing Bird Island?" +</p> +<p> +"If we don't," said Percival, with his most deliberate stare, "it is not +because we have failed to be informed of the uninteresting fact every +five minutes for the last half-hour." +</p> +<p> +"Consider me the third stanza," said Andy; "please omit me!" +</p> +<p> +Bobby laughed as he disappeared, and pushed back her tumbled hair. +</p> +<p> +"I love to hear you say 'hawf,'" she said; then she added impetuously, +"You aren't a bit like anybody I ever saw before." +</p> +<p> +"I dare say," said Percival, returning her smile. +</p> +<p> +"Not only your talk, but your walk, and the way you wear your clothes." +</p> +<p> +"I suppose my tailor does rather understand my figure," said Percival; +"but what puzzles you about my speech?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't know. It's different. And then I never can tell what you are +thinking about." +</p> +<p> +"Do you wish to know what I'm thinking about just now?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes." +</p> +<p> +"I am wondering why you wear high-heeled, gold-beaded slippers in the +morning." +</p> +<p> +Bobby thrust forth two dainty feet and contemplated them in surprise. +</p> +<p> +"What's wrong with them?" she asked. +</p> +<p> +"Rather dressy for the morning, aren't they?" he gently suggested. +</p> +<p> +"I don't know," she said good-humoredly. "I've got a trunkful of clothes +down in my state-room, but I never know which ones to put on. You see, +we never dike up like this on the ranch. When the captain brought me to +San Francisco, he handed me over to a woman at the hotel and told her to +rig me out for the trip." +</p> +<p> +"Did—did she buy your steamer-coat?" asked Percival. +</p> +<p> +Bobby's laugh rang out contagiously. +</p> +<p> +"Isn't it a tulip? I knew it was wrong the minute I came on board and +saw Elise Weston's. Honest, now, have I got anything else as bad as +that?" +</p> +<p> +"No, oh, no; I was a beastly cad to mention it. You are most awfully +charming in anything you choose to wear. But as a matter of fact, I do +like you best in white, with your hair low, as it is now." +</p> +<p> +"Hair low, shoes high, all in white. Anything else you'd like?" All +trace of tears had vanished, and her eyes were dancing audaciously. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," said Percival, leaning forward, "there is." +</p> +<p> +At this critical juncture a well-built figure in a uniform started down +the stairway above them, paused a moment unobserved, then quietly +retraced his steps to the bridge. +</p> +<p> +"See here, I must be going," said Bobby, rising abruptly. "I promised to +practise for the tableaux at ten, and it's half-past now. Say, you were +a brick to brace me up! I'm going to take your advice, too; you see if +I don't. May I count on your help!" +</p> +<p> +"At your service," said Percival, rising, and clasping the hand she held +out. +</p> +<p> +The captain's Chinese boy glided up unobserved and stood at attention. +</p> +<p> +"Captain say missy please come top-side right away. Wantchee see Bird +Island." +</p> +<p> +Percival, still holding her hand, smilingly shook his head. +</p> +<p> +"Damn Bird Island!" he murmured softly. +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0011" id="h2H_4_0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + VII +</h2> +<h3> + THE DAY THAT NEVER WAS +</h3> +<p> +Of all the places in the world where a flirtation can germinate, blossom, +and bear fruit overnight, an ocean-liner is the most propitious. Two +conventional human beings who in the city streets would pass each other +with utter indifference will often drop a conscious lid over a welcoming +eye when passing and repassing on the deck of a steamer. When men and +women are set adrift for four weeks, with thousands of miles of +sparkling water separating them from the past and the present, and with +nothing to do but observe one another, something usually happens. +</p> +<p> +The present voyage of the <i>Saluria</i> was no exception; in fact, it +threatened to break all former records. The love-epidemic started in +the steerage, where a Dutch boy en route to Java developed a burning +attachment for a young stewardess, and it extended to the bridge, where +Captain Boynton frequently consigned his duties to the first officer +in order to devote his energies to holding Mrs. Weston's worsted. When +he was not holding the skein, he was holding the ball, and during +the endless process of winding and unwinding he spun his own yarns, +recalling tales of wild adventure that alternately shocked and +fascinated his gentle listener. +</p> +<p> +The young people, meanwhile, were not by any means immune. Elise Weston +had discovered that the Scotchman's voice blended perfectly with her +own, and through endless practising of "Tales from Hoffman" they had +arrived at a harmony that promised to be permanent. Andy Black and Bobby +Boynton romped through the days, apparently wasting little time on +sentiment, but developing a friendship that might at any time become +serious. +</p> +<p> +Only the blighted being wandered the decks alone. Since that morning in +the wind-shelter he had decided to take no more risks. Alarming symptoms +had not been wanting to indicate the return of a malady from which he +never expected to suffer again. The grand affair with the Lady Hortense +had been a dignified, chronic ailment which he had learned to endure +with a becoming air of pensive resignation. The present attack +threatened to be of a much more disturbing character. It was acute; +it responded to no treatment, mental, moral, or physical. It was like +toothache or mumps or chicken-pox, an ignoble, complaint of which one +is ashamed, but before which one is helpless. +</p> +<p> +It was only at table that he found it impossible to maintain toward +Bobby that attitude of indifference which he had prescribed for himself. +With the arrival of the new passengers at Honolulu the places had been +slightly changed, and now that he found himself seated between Bobby and +Andy Black, the temptation to turn his chair slightly toward the former, +thus presenting an insolent and forbidding back to Andy, was more than +he could resist. Moreover, it afforded him unlimited satisfaction to +know that by the glance of his eye or a whispered half-phrase he could +instantly center all her sparkling attention upon himself. +</p> +<p> +The captain viewed these elusive tête-à-têtes with growing disfavor. One +morning when he was alone at breakfast with Mrs. Weston he unburdened +his mind after his own peculiar fashion. +</p> +<p> +"A seaman has to cultivate three things, my lady, a Nelson eye, a Nelson +ear, and a Nelson nose. I've got 'em all." +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Weston smiled with, flattering expectancy. +</p> +<p> +"I don't claim to know what's going on in the rest of the world," he +continued significantly, "but you can back your Uncle Ik to know +everything that's happening on board this wagon." +</p> +<p> +"What's happening now? Do tell me," said Mrs. Weston, leaning forward +and almost upsetting the salt in her eagerness. +</p> +<p> +"An Englishman, a poisonously funny Englishman, is running out of his +course. He'll hit a reef before long that will knock a hole in his +hull." +</p> +<p> +"Oh, you mean the Honorable Percival?" +</p> +<p> +"I do. And if he's like the majority of those titled Johnnies, he's so +crooked he can hide behind a corkscrew." +</p> +<p> +"O Captain, that's absurd! Why, he is one of the most absolutely +irreproachable and unapproachable young aristocrats I ever saw." +</p> +<p> +"That's all right. I don't tie up to the British aristocracy, nor any +other foreign nobility. Besides, what headway will I make by steering +that girl of mine off one shoal to land her on another?" +</p> +<p> +"Was the Wyoming affair quite out of the question?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, Hal Ford is a good-enough chap, but he's a perfect kid. They are +both too young to know what they want. Besides, I am not going to have +her drop anchor on a ranch for the rest of her days. I'll send her up to +'Frisco to school first. That's what the row was about before she left +home. The little minx defied me, so I picked her up and brought her with +me out to Hong-Kong." +</p> +<p> +"Poor child! She probably sees now that you were quite right." +</p> +<p> +"Maybe she does and maybe she doesn't. She's a wily little scamp all +right. I discovered that the second day out. I'd forbidden her to write +any letters to the ranch, so she was keeping a log-book which she was +going to mail at every port." +</p> +<p> +"And were you hard-hearted enough to confiscate it?" +</p> +<p> +"I was. At least I ordered her to give it to me on the spot, and she +said she'd chuck it overboard first." +</p> +<p> +"And did she!" +</p> +<p> +"She did," said the captain, with a grim chuckle. +</p> +<p> +"You don't understand that girl," said Mrs. Weston. "I'm quite sure +she'd be amenable if she were handled right. However, she doesn't seem +to be breaking her heart. Between Andy and the Honorable she's finding +consolation." +</p> +<p> +"Most women do," said the captain, with one of those flashes of +bitterness that sent all the good humor scurrying out of his face. +</p> +<p> +"Of course, she's just playing with Andy," Mrs. Weston hurried on, +fearful of the memories she had stirred; "but Mr. Hascombe is different. +He is so good-looking and so polished, almost any girl would have her +head turned a bit by his attentions." +</p> +<p> +"You don't mean to say that you think Bobby—" +</p> +<p> +"I can't quite make out. She doesn't seem to see much of him on deck, +but at the table she hasn't eyes or ears for any one else. You watch +her." +</p> +<p> +"Trust my Nelson eye!" said the captain. +</p> +<p> +When Antipodal Day arrived, every one felt called upon to celebrate it. +The guileless tried to see the imaginary line of the meridian which the +sophisticated pointed out to them on the water; the cream-peppermint +lady went so far as to say she felt the jar as the steamer passed over +it. Conjectures, witty, mathematical, or inane, were made as to the +identity of to-day, if yesterday was Friday and to-morrow going to be +Saturday. +</p> +<p> +During the morning Percival wandered disconsolately from one part of the +ship to another. Despite the fact that he was quite determined to keep +away from Bobby, he chafed under her seeming indifference. After that +intimate hour together in the wind-shelter it was strange that she could +be so oblivious of his presence. It was distasteful to him to have to +signal the train of her attention. To be sure, a very little signal +served,—a word, a look, a thoughtful gesture,—but he preferred a +homage that required no prompting. Moreover, she was guilty of "smiling +on all she looked upon," and her acceptance of Andy Black into the +ever-widening circle of her admirers offended him deeply. +</p> +<p> +The day dragged interminably. By five o'clock in the afternoon a +tango-tea was in progress, and it seemed to Percival that everybody on +board was dancing except the missionaries and himself. Even they were +taking part as spectators, having secured their places half an hour +before the appointed time in order not to miss a moment of the shocking +exhibition. +</p> +<p> +Percival went to the upper deck and sought the most secluded corner he +could find, but even there he was haunted by the soul-disturbing music. +Dancing was one of his accomplishments, and he had trod stately measures +through half a dozen London seasons, the admiration and the despair +of more than one aspiring mama. He looked with great disapproval upon +these new and boisterous American dances, he wondered if they were as +difficult as they looked. Seeing nobody about, he rose and tentatively +tried a few steps behind the shelter of a life-boat. He found it +interesting, and was getting quite pleased over his cleverness in +catching the syncopated time, when he spied an impertinent sailor +grinning at him from the rigging. Instantly his legs became rigid, and +he affected an interest in the horizon intended to convince the sailor +that he had been the victim of an optical illusion. Of course it was +quite beneath his dignity to take part in these rollicking dances, +especially in such a public place as on shipboard. He realized that +fully; yet he thought of Bobby and sighed. There were actually times in +his life when he almost wished he had been born in the middle class. +</p> +<p> +Then he drew himself up sharply. If there was one thing incumbent upon +the second son of the late Lord Westenhanger, it was that he maintain +his position. Though grievously disappointed in his failure to capture +the incomparable Lady Hortense, he must don his armor and ride forth +again to find another lady, differing in kind, perhaps, but not in +degree. In his scheme of things wild young daughters of American +sea-captains had no place whatever. +</p> +<p> +Yet even as he made this assertion he found himself moving toward the +companionway and down to the deck below. +</p> +<p> +"Will you sit out the next dance with me?" he heard himself murmuring to +Bobby over her partner's shoulder. +</p> +<p> +"You bet I will," said Bobby with a smile that made him forget the +awfulness of her language. +</p> +<p> +Ten minutes later they were leaning over the rail on the deserted +boat-deck, the wind full in their faces, watching the prow of the +steamer gently rise and fall as she sailed straight into the golden +heart of the sun. Up from the horizon spread wave after wave; of +perilous color, emerald melting into azure, crimson dying into rose. +There was just enough breeze to put a tiny feather on the windward slope +of the waves, and every white crest caught the glory. +</p> +<p> +"This is better than all the tangoing in the world," cried Bobby. "Have +you been up here all afternoon?" +</p> +<p> +"I have. You see, all those people below get rather on one's nerves." +</p> +<p> +"Do <i>I?</i>" she challenged him instantly. +</p> +<p> +"Not on one's nerves exactly," he said, thrillingly aware that her arm +was touching his on the railing and that the dangerous pink light was +playing over her face; "but I must say you do get on one's—one's mind!" +</p> +<p> +She laughed gaily. +</p> +<p> +"Well, that's next to having nothing on your mind. Say, you wouldn't +think I had the blues, would you?" +</p> +<p> +"Can't say I should." +</p> +<p> +"Well, I have. I've been so homesick all day that I could go round the +corner and cry if you—if you hadn't said I mustn't." +</p> +<p> +"What are you homesick for?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, for the old ranch and the ponies and my dogs and—and lots of +things. See the way the wind flecks the water over there? Well, that's +just the way it does the grasslands back home." +</p> +<p> +"But it's such a parched, barren sort of a place, Wyoming." +</p> +<p> +"It is <i>not</i>. You ought to see it in the early spring, when +everything is vivid green, and the cactus is in bloom—the red-flowered +kind that looks so pretty against the sides of the gray buttes. Why, you +can gallop for miles with your horse's hoofs sinking into beds of +prairie roses!" +</p> +<p> +"But it's virtually green in England all the year round. I'd like to +show you a well-run English estate. Rather a pretty sight. Hascombe +Hall's a fairly decent example. Some hundreds of acres, don't you know." +</p> +<p> +"Some hundreds!" repeated Bobby, scornfully. "Our ranch covers two +hundred thousand acres, and it takes Pa Joe four days' hard riding to +get over it!" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, I say, most extraordinary! But if I were you, I wouldn't think +about home affairs," said Percival, to whom her background in Wyoming +was of no consequence. He liked to think of her as having begun to live +when she met him, and as gracefully ceasing to exist when they parted. +</p> +<p> +"All right," said Bobby, resignedly. "I've kept bottled up this long; I +suppose I can manage the rest of the time. What's that book you've been +reading?" +</p> +<p> +"Shelley." +</p> +<p> +"Is it a love-story?" +</p> +<p> +Percival winced. +</p> +<p> +"It is poetry," he said. "I shouldn't mind reading you a bit, if you +like." +</p> +<p> +She did like. She evidently liked tremendously. She listened as an +inquisitive bird might listen to a strange wood note, with her head on +one side and her bright eyes intent upon his face. +</p> +<p> +When Percival's perfectly modulated voice ceased, she sighed: +</p> +<p> +"I didn't understand a word of it," she said, "but I could listen to you +read forever. It makes me think of the wind in the trees, and all the +lovely things that ever happened to me." +</p> +<p> +"But don't you like the poem?" +</p> +<a name="image-0007"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-07.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="'I like the way your mouth looks when you read it.'" /><br /> +"I like the way your mouth looks when you read it." +</div> + +<p> +"I like the way your mouth looks when you read it. Your chin's nice, +too, isn't it?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, I don't know," said Percival, with an unsuccessful effort at +indifference; "it's the Hascombe chin. Been in the family for +generations." +</p> +<p> +"Think of having a chin as old as that! Perhaps that's what makes you so +solemn." +</p> +<p> +"Am I solemn?" +</p> +<p> +"Awfully. Elise Weston says she believes you have been crossed in love." +</p> +<p> +The hollow chambers of Percival's heart reverberated with alarming +echoes. He shot a suspicious glance at Bobby, but her innocent gaze +reassured him. +</p> +<p> +"I am afraid your friend Miss Weston is romantic," he said stiffly. "Am +I keeping you too long from the dance?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, no," said Bobby, comfortably. "I've got the next with Andy Black. +He'll never think to look up here. But are you quite sure I'm not +getting on your nerves?" +</p> +<p> +"I am quite sure you are a most awfully charming girl," Percival +exclaimed with sudden warmth. "As a matter of fact, I—I like you +tremendously." +</p> +<p> +"That's nice," said Bobby, "because, you see, I like you!" +</p> +<p> +There was no reason why her avowal should have been regarded as more +serious than his own. But he took alarm instantly. +</p> +<p> +"You won't mind my telling you a few things for your own good, will +you?" he asked, taking refuge in the safe rôle of mentor. +</p> +<p> +"Not a bit," said Bobby; "fire away." +</p> +<p> +She listened for five minutes to his dissertation on the impropriety of +young ladies playing poker in the smoking-room, then she became restive. +</p> +<p> +"Isn't it funny," she said by way of changing the subject, "that +yesterday was Friday, and to-morrow is going to be Saturday, and to-day +isn't anything?" +</p> +<p> +"But it <i>is</i> something. It's a day I shall remember." +</p> +<p> +Percival was drifting again, and he knew it, but there was that in the +bewitching face upturned to his that demoralized him. +</p> +<p> +"No," said Bobby, "it's the day that never was. We just picked it up out +of the sea, and we are going to drop it back again. Whatever happens +to-day doesn't count." +</p> +<p> +"Why?" +</p> +<p> +"Because by to-morrow, you see, to-day never will have been." +</p> +<p> +"Deuced clever idea that, I call it. Never thought of it. Suppose we +celebrate by way of doing something that we wouldn't do if it counted." +</p> +<p> +Bobby clapped her hands. "What shall it be?" +</p> +<p> +"Well, suppose for the rest of the day you consider me the person you +quite like best in the world." +</p> +<p> +She considered it. +</p> +<p> +"All right. I don't mind for the rest of the day. And you promise to +forget all those girls over in England, and pretend that I am the nicest +girl you know?" +</p> +<p> +"I promise," said Percival. +</p> +<p> +When the second gong for dinner sounded, the two white-clad figures +were still leaning on the railing in the secluded angle made by two +life-boats. The color had gone from the sky, but every moment the +purpling waters were growing more vivid, more intense, more thrillingly +alive to the mystery of the coming night. The Honorable Percival's +cap was on Bobby's head, and his coat was about her shoulders. As to +himself, he seemed strangely indifferent to the tumbled state of his +wind-blown hair and the shocking informality of his shirt-sleeves. +It was quite evident that for the time being, at least, he had thrown +discretion to the winds, and was sailing away from his memories at the +rate of sixteen knots an hour. +</p> +<p> +That night at dinner the captain followed Mrs. Weston's advice and took +soundings. Nothing was lost upon him, from Bobby's late arrival in a +somewhat sophisticated white evening gown that she had hitherto scorned, +to the new and becoming way in which her hair was arranged. It did not +require a Nelson eye to discover a suppressed excitement under her high +spirits or to detect the side-play that was taking place between her and +the apparently stolid Englishman at her right. +</p> +<p> +Captain Boynton looked at Mrs. Weston and raised one eyebrow; she nodded +comprehendingly. Later in the evening, when he dropped into a +steamer-chair beside her, he asked if she had seen Bobby. +</p> +<p> +"Not since dinner. All the young people have been asking for her. Did +you look in the writing-room ?" +</p> +<p> +"I've looked everywhere except in the coal-bunkers," said the captain, +gruffly. "Talk to me about responsibility. I'd rather run a schooner up +the Hoogli than to steer that girl of mine." +</p> +<p> +"You've wakened to your duty rather late, haven't you!" asked Mrs. +Weston. "I suppose it's the Englishman who is making you anxious?" +</p> +<p> +The captain dropped his voice. +</p> +<p> +"Did you see the way she looked at him at dinner? By George! it was +enough to melt the leg off an iron pot!" +</p> +<p> +"It's been coming for a week," said Mrs. Weston, wisely. "If you really +oppose it, there is no time to be lost." +</p> +<p> +"Oppose it? Of course I oppose it. What's to be done?" +</p> +<p> +"The situation requires delicate handling. Would you like me to try and +help you out—share the responsibility of chaperoning her, I mean?" +</p> +<p> +"Permanently?" asked the captain, shooting a quizzical glance at her +from under his heavy brows. +</p> +<p> +"You wretch!" said Mrs. Weston, flushing. "Just to Hong-Kong, I mean." +</p> +<p> +That night about ten o'clock the captain, who happened to be crossing +the steerage deck, came quite unexpectedly upon Percival and Bobby +groping their way through the dark. +</p> +<a name="image-0008"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-08.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="'Roberta!' he called sternly. 'What are you doing out here?'" /><br /> +"Roberta!" he called sternly. "What are you doing out here?" +</div> + +<p> +"Roberta," he called sternly, "What are you doing out here?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh," cried Bobby, breathlessly, feeling her way around the hatch, +"we've been out on the prow for hours, and it was simply gorgeous. +All inky black except the phosphorescence, miles and miles of it! And +some dolphins, all covered with silver, kept racing with us and leaping +clear out of the water, like wriggly bits of fire. And the stars—why, +Mr. Hascombe's been telling me the most fascinating things I ever +heard about stars. We've had a perfectly wonderful time, haven't we, +Mr. Hascombe?" +</p> +<p> +"Topping!" said the Honorable Percival. +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0012" id="h2H_4_0012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + VIII +</h2> +<h3> + IN THE CROW'S-NEST +</h3> +<p> +The sea-voyage of thirty days, which in the beginning had threatened +to stretch into eternity, now seemed to be racing into the past with a +swiftness that was incredible. To Percival the one desirable thing in +life had come to be the sailing of the high seas under favoring winds, +in a big ship, with Bobby Boynton on board, and a conscience that had +agreed to remain quiescent until port was reached. +</p> +<p> +Not that Percival's conscience succumbed without a struggle; he had to +assure it repeatedly that he would refrain from rousing in Bobby any +hopes that might be realized. The moment she showed the slightest sign +of taking his attentions seriously he would kindly, but firmly, make her +understand. It would not be the first time he had had to do this. He +recalled several instances with sad complacency. But a man cannot always +be sacrificing himself. A mild flirtation, with a girl whom he never +expected to see again was surely a harmless way of consoling himself for +the harsh treatment he had recently received from another of her sex. +</p> +<p> +The one fly in his amber these days was Andy Black; only Andy was not a +fixed object. His activities were endless, and, strangely enough, they +exerted a powerful influence on Percival, causing him to change his +entire mode of life from his hour of getting up to his hour of retiring. +In order to get half an hour's conversation with Bobby Boynton it was +necessary to outwit Andy, and he was devoting himself assiduously to +the task. +</p> +<p> +What complicated the matter was that Andy had embraced him in his +general affection for humanity, and despite persistent snubbing +continued to treat him as the friend of his bosom. Percival could hate +him contemptuously when he was out of sight, but he found it difficult +to keep up the dislike when the fat, boyish fellow sat on the sofa +opposite his berth and poured out his innermost confidences. +</p> +<p> +"You see," he would say plaintively as he reached for Percival's silver +shoe-horn, "I never slide into love, like most fellows. I always splash +right in, head first. That's what I did the first night I came on board, +and I haven't come up yet. When I do, she'll hit me in the head. She +won't have me; you see if she does." +</p> +<p> +Of course Percival agreed with him, but in the meanwhile he wondered +what Bobby could find in him to afford her such constant amusement. +</p> +<p> +One sparkling morning when the white caps were dancing on the blue +water, and every bit of loose canvas was spanking the wind for joy, +Bobby announced that she was going again to the crow's-nest. She had +circled the deck some ten times between her two cavaliers, and the +difficulty of keeping mental step with either in the presence of the +other may have influenced her sudden decision. +</p> +<p> +"What do you want to do that for?" said Andy, whose weight made him +cautious. "It's a mean climb, and there's nothing to see when you get +up there." +</p> +<p> +"There's everything to see," said Bobby and she looked at Percival. +</p> +<p> +Ten days ago nothing could have induced him to do such an unconventional +and conspicuous thing. He remembered the exact phrase he had applied +to it when told by the Scotchman of Bobby's previous adventure. +"Characteristically American," he had remarked, with a disparaging +shrug. +</p> +<p> +Now, with assumed languor, he said, "I don't mind going with you." +</p> +<p> +Two sailors were found to tie the ropes around their waists and stand +guard below while they slowly and cautiously climbed from one swaying +rung to another. +</p> +<p> +"All right?" asked Bobby, looking down over her shoulder. +</p> +<p> +"Right as rain," called Percival, with suggestion of eagerness in his +voice. +</p> +<p> +He followed her cautiously as she scrambled like a squirrel from the top +of the ladder to the crow's-nest. Swinging through the clear sky one +hundred feet above the water below, they found themselves in the sudden +intimacy of a vast and magnificent solitude. The sapphire sky met the +sapphire sea in a sharply defined, unbroken line around them, while +shimmers of palpitating light rose from the sparkling waters until they +lost themselves in the zenith above. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, look! look!" cried Bobby, with an eager hand on Percival's arm. +Turning, he saw the water suddenly disturbed by hundreds of curved +bodies that glistened in the sunlight as they leaped together in a +perfect riot of joy. +</p> +<p> +"Silly old fish, the porpoise," he said, "always making circles in the +water like that" +</p> +<p> +But the ennui expressed in his words was not reflected in his face. Even +silly old porpoises acquire an interest when one's attention is called +to them by a small and shapely hand that forgets in the enthusiasm of +the moment to remove itself from one's arm. It was only by sharply +calling to mind the haughty faces of his mother and sisters that he +refrained from indiscretion. +</p> +<p> +"You don't mind?" he asked, drawing his cigar-case from his pocket. +"Deuced clever of you, I call it, to think of coming up here. How did +you know that Black fellow wouldn't come?" +</p> +<p> +"He's too fat to climb," said Bobby. "He doesn't even like to walk." +</p> +<p> +"Thought he was quite keen about it from the way he walked with us every +evening. A decent chap would not intrude." +</p> +<p> +"That's funny!" said Bobby, with twinkling eyes. "That's almost exactly +what he said about you, only he didn't say intrude." +</p> +<p> +"What did he say?" +</p> +<p> +"Butt in," said Bobby. +</p> +<p> +The Honorable Percival suffered one of those acute revulsions that had +become less frequent of late. At such times he marveled at himself for +permitting such vulgarity in his presence. +</p> +<p> +"You Americans have the most extraordinary expressions, Miss Boynton!" +he said. +</p> +<p> +"How queer that sounds!" +</p> +<p> +"What?" +</p> +<p> +"Miss Boynton. I thought you'd got to the Bobby stage. Perhaps you'd +rather make it Roberta." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I think I should, if I may." +</p> +<p> +For a few seconds they dropped into silence, he puffing away at his +cigar, and she gazing off to the horizon as if she had quite forgotten +his presence. +</p> +<p> +"Were you ever in love?" she asked, turning on him suddenly. +</p> +<p> +"Why do you ask?" he said, scrutinizing the ash of his cigar. +</p> +<p> +"Because it's so queer you never got married. I thought young Englishmen +with names and estates to keep up always married right away." +</p> +<p> +"Well, I suppose they do, as a rule. The Hascombes are rather +different. Of course there have been a lot of girls who were foolish +enough to—er—to think—" +</p> +<p> +"To think they were in love with you? Go ahead! I'll shut my eyes." +</p> +<p> +Instead, she opened them very wide, and he had to unbutton his coat just +for the sake of buttoning it up again. +</p> +<p> +"But I don't care about them," she went on; "I want to know if <i>you've</i> +ever been in love." +</p> +<p> +"Imagined I was once." +</p> +<p> +"Oh, what fun! Tell me about it from beginning to end!" +</p> +<p> +"How do you know it had an end!" +</p> +<p> +"I'd gamble on it," said Bobby, confidently. "But tell me!" +</p> +<p> +Just why Percival at this moment felt a sudden desire to discuss a +subject that hitherto he had shrunk from the slightest reference to can +be explained only by the fact that the confiding of an unhappy love +affair to a sympathetic member of the opposite sex seems a necessary +stage of convalescence. It was the first chance he had had to present +his version of the story to an unbiased listener, and if he omitted +certain details, and laid undue stress upon others, it must not be held +against him. +</p> +<p> +"Of course," he said in conclusion, "through a sense of honor I'd have +gone through with it. Fortunately, it was not necessary. Poor girl broke +it off herself." +</p> +<p> +He spoke as of one who had committed suicide, but in regard to whom a +kindly jury would have brought in a verdict of temporary insanity. +</p> +<p> +"Well, I think you were perfectly splendid, all through," cried Bobby. +"What sort of a girl could she have been to act like that?" +</p> +<p> +He took several long, satisfying pulls at his cigar; it was astonishing +how much he was enjoying it, and the conversation as well. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, she's quite one of the best, you know. Dare say she thought it was +all my fault." +</p> +<p> +"The idea! Was she pretty?" +</p> +<p> +"Opinions differ." +</p> +<p> +"Smart?" +</p> +<p> +"Rather!" +</p> +<p> +"Jolly?" +</p> +<p> +"Well, no, not exactly jolly; that's not quite the word." +</p> +<p> +"Very proper, I suppose," +</p> +<p> +"Oh, yes, absolutely; most decidedly so. Perfect stickler for form." +</p> +<p> +Bobby sighed. +</p> +<p> +"Just the opposite from me all the way through. Well, I'm glad you +wouldn't make up. Serves her right." +</p> +<p> +"Probably best for everybody," said Percival. "Now it's your turn. How +about yourself!" +</p> +<p> +"Well," she said with what struck him as the strangest irrelevance, "our +scheme seems to be working with the captain. We've got him guessing. He +told me last night I was not to go to the prow with you again." +</p> +<p> +"Why not?" +</p> +<p> +"He thinks you like me too much." +</p> +<p> +"What do <i>you</i> think?" +</p> +<p> +Percival bit his lip the moment he had asked it, but leaning there on +the railing, with her dancing eyes on a level with his own, and nothing +else on the entire horizon, it was difficult to keep the situation in +hand. +</p> +<p> +"I think you are getting a bully tan," she said, scrutinizing him +closely; "most men get a red nose or else they get all speckled around +the edges. Yours looks like a nice crust on an apple pie." +</p> +<p> +"I do tan rather decently," he said; "but you haven't told me what you +think." +</p> +<p> +"What about?" +</p> +<p> +"About my liking you too much." +</p> +<p> +"I think the captain exaggerated." +</p> +<p> +"He couldn't exaggerate that." +</p> +<p> +"But how can you like me when I'm all wrong?" +</p> +<p> +"I like you because of your possibilities. You've probably never met any +one before who understood you as I do. Quite extraordinary the way +you've improved since you came on board." +</p> +<p> +"And you've got fourteen days more to work on me! Do you think anybody +will recognize me when I get back to Wyoming?" +</p> +<p> +"Now you are chaffing!" complained Percival. "You never take me +seriously." +</p> +<p> +"Then you want me to be serious, and believe everything you say?" +</p> +<p> +He paused in awed contemplation of the direful consequences if she +should, but for the life of him he couldn't stop. +</p> +<p> +"I want you to believe me," he said tenderly, "when I say that you've +been most awfully sweet, and that I wouldn't give half a sovereign for +any other girl's chances if you were within ten miles. I want you to +know that I consider you the prettiest girl I've ever seen, and the +most—" +</p> +<p> +Bobby tightened the rope about her waist. +</p> +<p> +"It's time for me to be going," she exclaimed in mock alarm, "If you +keep on saying things like that, I may furnish another scalp to that +collection you were telling me about. I don't dare stay another minute." +</p> +<p> +Neither did Percival. He followed her down the ladder as if he had been +escaping from quicksands. +</p> +<p> +That night the crow's-nest was added to the prow on the list of places +about a ship which the captain felt young ladies should stay away from. +</p> +<a name="image-0009"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-09.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="'You will have to join the crowd,' suggested Bobby when Percival complained of not seeing her as often as he wished" /><br /> +"You will have to join the crowd," suggested Bobby when Percival complained of not seeing her as often as he wished +</div> + +<p> +"You will have to join the crowd," suggested Bobby when Percival +complained of not seeing her as often as he wished. "We sing up on the +boat-deck every night, and now the moon is up, it's perfectly gorgeous." +</p> +<p> +But Percival's abhorrence of crowds made him hold out resolutely until +the day before they were to land in Japan. Everybody was making plans +for the few days to be spent in port, and small parties were being +formed to leave the steamer at Yokohama and join it three days later +at Kobe. Percival was annoyed because the steamer had to stop at all. +Any interruption in the present routine was a nuisance. He vacillated +between the inconvenience of going ashore and the stupidity of remaining +on board. An invitation from Mrs. Weston to join her party, and an +insistent demand from Bobby Boynton, decided him. He made his +preparations accordingly. +</p> +<p> +But an unforeseen incident occurred the night before the <i>Saluria</i> +landed which caused him suddenly to change his plans. He was just ready +to go below for the night when an overmastering desire for one more word +with Bobby seized him. By a bit of Machiavellian strategy he had +outwitted Andy that afternoon, and had her entirely to himself for three +blissful hours. +</p> +<p> +It was in their old haunt behind the wind-shelter, and he had taken the +opportunity, if not to "shatter her to bits," at least "to remold her +nearer to the heart's desire." He had done it with consummate tact, and +she had responded with adorable docility. He never admired himself more +than in the rôle of cicerone to a young and trusting maid. By the +subtlest methods he knew how to convey approval or disapproval of +anything from a beaded slipper to a moral sentiment. He could stir +dormant ambition, rouse lagging courage, inspire patience, and all he +demanded in return was unfaltering homage from the fair one. +</p> +<p> +In the present instance, however, the entire time was not devoted to +correcting faults of manner and speech or to acquiring the higher +Christian virtues. It was incredible how many things they found to talk +about, considering the fact that art, literature, music, the drama, +foreign travel, and London gossip were not among them. Bobby's way of +diving unexpectedly from the general into the personal made a +tête-à-tête with her peculiarly exhilarating. +</p> +<p> +The trouble was that the more one had, the more one wanted, and going to +bed now without a parting word seemed to Percival really more than he +had a right to ask of himself. He circled the deck several times in +indecision, then he ascended the companionway and made his way aft. +</p> +<p> +A full moon hung high in the heavens, and a flood of silver poured in a +dazzling stream across the level surface of the sea. The quarter-deck, +the white boats amidships, and all the brass work abaft the funnels +reflected the radiance. +</p> +<p> +"See who is here!" cried the irrepressible Andy from an +indistinguishable group that huddled together under steamer-rugs against +the big blue-and-white smoke-stack. +</p> +<p> +"May I speak to Miss Boynton for a moment?" asked Percival, icily. +</p> +<p> +"I'm afraid I can't get out," said Bobby. "Elise is sitting on my feet, +and Andy and I've got on the same sweater. There's a place for you here, +if you will come." +</p> +<p> +It is really too undignified an act in the life of the Honorable +Percival to chronicle, but before he had time to contradict his impulse, +he had actually doubled up his long legs and crawled into the small +space Bobby made for him beside her. If she persisted in preferring this +noisy bunch of inanity to a quiet stroll on the promenade-deck with him, +then he supposed for the time being he must humor her. +</p> +<p> +Youth and love and moonlight at sea are a magic combination, however, +and Percival soon decided that even though it was deuced uncomfortable +to be huddled up like that, with both feet asleep, yet there were +compensations. +</p> +<p> +"Sing!" commanded Bobby, and he joined obediently in the chorus. As the +night wore on a caressing coolness crept into the air, and the crowd +gathered into a closer group. Percival could feel Bobby breathing near +him, and could look down undisturbed into her upturned face as she sang +with passionate abandon to the moon. She seemed to have entirely lost +sight of her surroundings and was off on some high adventure of her own, +leaving him free to watch her to his heart's content. +</p> +<p> +It was a situation fraught with danger; yet he lingered. He did more: +he slipped his hand beneath the rug and sought cautiously for hers. As +their palms met, and her small fingers closed responsively over his, +such a thrill of satisfaction passed over him as he had never felt +before. His old wounds were suddenly healed, life became a passionate +love-song on a languorous, moonlit sea. But his ecstasy ceased with the +music. Bobby's voice broke the spell with frightful distinctness: +</p> +<a name="image-0010"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure" style="width: 100%; margin-left: 0%; padding-left: 0%;"> +<img src="images/illustr-10.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="'If you want to hold my hand, Mr. Hascombe, you are welcome to it' " /><br /> +"If you want to hold my hand, Mr. Hascombe, you are welcome to it" +</div> + +<p> +"If you want to hold my hand, Mr. Hascombe, you are welcome to it. +Andy's got the other one; but if you don't mind, we'll put them all +together, like that, on top of the steamer-rug." +</p> +<p> +During the laugh that followed he managed to got to his feet and make +his escape. He had never been so angry in his life; he even included +himself in his devastating wrath. Why shouldn't he have been insulted, +laughed at, jeered at! When one allows oneself to associate with such +people, he ought to expect such behavior. +</p> +<p> +<i>"Plebeians!</i>" he snarled as he jerked together the curtains of his +berth and turned his face to the wall. +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0013" id="h2H_4_0013"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + IX +</h2> +<h3> + DRAGGING ANCHOR +</h3> +<p> +Of course, after what had happened, nothing could induce Percival to +join the Weston party in Japan. He left a note of formal regret, and +hastened ashore on the first launch in the morning. His one desire was +to avoid those detestable young Americans, whose diabolical laughter had +rung in his ears all night. The wounds received by vanity are never +serious, but they are very hard to heal, and as Percival stopped ashore +in this strange land he felt that he was the most unhappy of mortals. +</p> +<p> +"Call a hansom," he demanded impatiently of Judson, who stood grinning +at the queer sights on the hatoba. +</p> +<p> +"There ain't none, sir." +</p> +<p> +"Of course; I forgot. But how are we to get to the hotel?" +</p> +<p> +"Carn't say, sir, unless we go in a couple of them perambulators." +</p> +<p> +Percival took an instant dislike to a country that forced him to ride +in a ridiculous vehicle, pulled by a small bare-legged brown man in a +mushroom hat. All the way to the hotel he was unhappy in the conviction +that he was making a spectacle of himself. +</p> +<p> +The rooms which he had engaged in advance were not satisfactory, and it +was not until he had inspected all the suites that were unoccupied that +he decided upon one that commanded a view of the bay. Once established +therein, he despatched Judson for his mail and for any English papers +that might be found, then took up his position by a front window and +sternly watched the bund. +</p> +<p> +The picturesque harbor, full of sampans and junks, the gay streets, full +of color and movement, the thousand unfamiliar sights and sounds, held +no interest for the Honorable Percival. His whole attention was focused +upon the jinrikishas that constantly arrived and departed at the +entrance below. +</p> +<p> +He wanted to see Bobby's face and read there the signs of contrition, +which he felt sure must have followed her unfeeling conduct of the night +before. But he intended to punish her before he forgave. Such a violence +to their friendship could not go unrebuked. Even when he received the +note of apology which he felt sure she would send up the moment she +reached the hotel, he would delay answering it. She must be made to +suffer in order to profit by this unhappy experience. +</p> +<p> +His reflections were interrupted by a rap at the door, which called him +away from the window. It proved to be a sleek Chinaman, who proffered +his card, bearing the inscription: +</p> +<p> +"G. Lung Fat, Ladies' and Gents' Tailer." +</p> +<p> +G. Lung Fat, it seemed, had beheld Percival in the lobby and been +greatly impressed with his bearing. It would be an honor, he urged, with +the fervor of an artist craving permission to paint a subject that had +captured his fancy, to cut, fit, and finish any number of garments for +such a figure before the ship sailed on the morrow. +</p> +<p> +Percival was impressed. He examined the samples with the air of a +connoisseur. Like most Englishmen, he had a weakness for light clothes +and sun-helmets. The regalia suggested English supremacy in foreign +lands. He had ordered his fourth suit and was earnestly considering a +white dinner-jacket when familiar voices from the street below made him +spring to the window. +</p> +<p> +It was Bobby Boynton and Andy Black, who were evidently setting forth in +jinrikishas alone, Mrs. Weston and the other young people remaining to +inspect the fascinating array of curios that were being displayed on the +pavement. If any sorrow for past misdeeds dwelt in Bobby's bosom, there +was certainly no trace of it on her face as she called gaily back over +her shoulder: +</p> +<p> +"We are off for a lark; you needn't look for us until you see us." +</p> +<p> +Percival dismissed the Chinaman peremptorily, and paced his room in +indignation. It was incredible that a girl who had basked in the sun of +his approval could find even temporary pleasure in the feeble rushlight +of Andy Black's society. Not that it made the slightest difference to +him where she went or with whom. If her father saw fit to permit her to +go forth in a strange city with a strange man, unchaperoned, of course +it was not for him to interfere. But that she should have, at the first +opportunity, disregarded his counsels, to which she had listened with +such flattering attention, angered him beyond measure. He bitterly +assured himself that all women were alike, an assertion which seems to +bring universal relief to the masculine mind. +</p> +<p> +His ill humor was not decreased when Judson returned, after a long +delay, and reported that the mail had been sent to the steamer. Not +content with being the bearer of this unpleasant news, Judson committed +the indiscretion of waxing eloquent over the charms of Japan. Percival +considered it impertinent in an inferior to express enthusiasm for +anything that was under the ban of his disapproval. Before the +discussion ended it became his painful duty to remind Judson of the fact +that he was an ass. +</p> +<p> +At tiffin-time, when he descended to the dining-room, owing to the +recent arrival of two steamers, all the tables were engaged. There was +one in the corridor, he was told, if he did not mind another gentleman. +He did mind; he much preferred a table alone, but he also wanted his +luncheon. He followed the unctuous head waiter the length of the big +dining-room, winding in and out among the small tables, only to emerge +finally into the corridor and find himself face to face with his <i>bête +noire</i>, Captain Boynton. +</p> +<p> +"Hello! Can't lose you," was the captain's gruff greeting. "How does it +happen that you aren't off with the crowd doing the sights?" +</p> +<p> +"Sights bore me," said Percival, unfolding his napkin with an air of +lassitude. +</p> +<p> +"Crowds, too, eh? Twoing more in your line?" +</p> +<p> +The remark was treated with contemptuous silence while Percival devoted +himself to the menu. +</p> +<p> +"Seen that girl of mine since she came ashore?" continued the captain. +</p> +<p> +"Miss Boynton?" asked Percival, as if not quite sure of the identity of +the person inquired for. "Oh, yes, I believe I did see her early this +morning. She went out with Mr. Black." +</p> +<p> +"Good! He'll show her a thing or two." +</p> +<p> +"Rather extraordinary," Percival could not help commenting, "the way +young American girls go about alone like that." +</p> +<p> +"Alone? What's the matter with Andy?" +</p> +<p> +"But I mean unchaperoned. Dare say young Black is very good in his way, +but he can't be called discreet." +</p> +<p> +"How do you mean?" +</p> +<p> +"Taking your daughter into that nasty mess of Chinamen in the steerage, +for instance, to watch them play fan-tan." +</p> +<p> +"What of that? She only lost a couple of quarters and had a dollar's +worth of fun. Can't see it was any worse than keeping her out at the +prow until midnight, or taking her up to the crow's-nest." The captain +pushed back his chair, and smiled with maddening significance. "See +here, my young friend, you needn't worry about Bobby. She's been taking +care of herself for twenty years. You better look after yourself." +</p> +<p> +The Honorable Percival did not answer. He got his eye-glass right and +looked straight ahead of him. +</p> +<p> +But the captain was not through. He leaned across the table and shook a +warning finger: +</p> +<p> +"Beware of J. Lucy," he said, then he took a smiling departure. +</p> +<p> +Through the rest of the meal and well into the afternoon Percival +puzzled his brain over that cryptic warning. When its meaning dawned +upon him he flung "Guillim's Display of Heraldry" clear across the room, +and used language not becoming an English gentleman. He assured himself +for the hundredth time that Americans were the most odious people in the +world, and the captain the most convincing proof of it. +</p> +<p> +The afternoon dragged miserably, and the prospect of waiting about the +hotel until the steamer sailed at noon the next day appalled him. The +obvious thing, of course, was to go out and see the city, but he had +declared to Judson that there was nothing worth seeing, and one must be +consistent before one's servants. Even the morrow offered no abatement +to his misery. Most of the people he knew were going from Yokohama to +Kobe by rail, and he pictured himself the only guest at the captain's +table for three mortal days. +</p> +<p> +At three o'clock he went down to the terrace and took his seat at a +small table that commanded a view of the hotel entrance. To one with +a free mind the scene was highly diverting, with jinrikishas and +occasional victorias thronging the bund, and gay parties constantly +arriving and departing. Coolies in blue, with mysterious Chinese +lettering on their kimonos and with bright towels about their heads, +trotted past; women with blackened teeth and with babies strapped on +their backs clattered by on wooden shoes; street venders sang their +savory wares; merchants displayed treasures of lacquer and ivory, street +dancers posed and sang to the tinkle of the samisen. +</p> +<p> +But to Percival it was at best a purgatory where he seemed to be doomed +to wait through eternity. Not that he meant to speak to Bobby Boynton +when she arrived or make the slightest sign of forgiveness. That she +should have allowed Andy Black to keep her out from eleven in the +morning until after three in the afternoon was even more shocking than +her behavior to him the night before. He was resolved to show her by +every means in his power that to even a disinterested acquaintance like +himself her conduct was wholly unpardonable. Meanwhile that emotion to +which the captain had so grossly alluded took entire and absorbing +possession of him. +</p> +<p> +Toward the middle of the afternoon Mrs. Weston joined him on the terrace +in an anxious mood. +</p> +<p> +"Have you seen anything of that naughty Bobby Boynton?" she asked. "I am +quite distracted about her. Our train for Kioto leaves in half an hour. +You don't suppose anything has happened to her, do you?" +</p> +<p> +"I really can't say," said Percival, with a shrug that suggested the +direst possibilities. +</p> +<p> +"We simply must go on to Kioto tonight," continued Mrs. Weston, +anxiously nervous. "My cousin would never forgive me if I disappointed +him. You see, he's lived in Kioto for years, and he's promised to take +us out to an old Buddhist temple on a wonderful sacred mountain that I +can't pronounce. We've been looking forward to it for weeks." +</p> +<p> +Percival stood back of his chair and watched his tea getting cold. The +suggestion of something having happened to Bobby had changed his anger +to sharp solicitude. Gruesome tales of brutality toward foreigners in +Eastern ports came back to him. +</p> +<p> +"I wonder," said Mrs. Weston, persuasively, "if you would mind taking a +jinrikisha and going down to Benten Dori to see if they are there. I +have no one else to send." +</p> +<p> +"I don't know that I should care to go myself," said Percival, "but I'll +send my man." +</p> +<p> +Judson having been despatched, Percival with difficulty refrained from +following him. Mrs. Weston's solicitude as she hovered between the +telephone-booth and the desk was infectious, and he found himself pacing +from entrance to entrance, imagining the most calamitous causes for the +delay. +</p> +<p> +It was not until a joyful exclamation from Elise Weston announced the +approach of the truants that he drew a deep breath of relief and retired +to the reading-room. He was more than ever resolved not to see Bobby; to +her former transgressions was now added the new and unpardonable offense +of having made him acutely anxious about her. +</p> +<p> +He took up an old copy of the "Graphic," and resolutely read of events +that had taken place before he left England. He even glanced through the +pages of the innocuous "Gentlewoman," and tried to concentrate upon an +article entitled "Favorite Fabrics for Autumn." In vain were his +efforts; every sound from the lobby or the street claimed his instant +attention. At last, when an unmistakable commotion without gave evidence +that the Weston party was leaving, he got up, despite himself, and went +to the window. +</p> +<p> +They were all there, Mrs. Weston, Elise, the Scotchman, Andy, and Bobby, +all climbing into their jinrikishas in the greatest possible haste and +in the highest possible spirits. One after another the jinrikishas +trundled away, until only Bobby's was left while her runner adjusted his +sandal. Percival saw her turn in her seat and eagerly scan the terrace +and the windows of the hotel. Then suddenly she caught sight of him, and +her face broke into a radiant smile as she waved her hand and nodded. +</p> +<p> +A moment later and his eyes were straining after a figure that was fast +disappearing up the bund. It was a small, alert figure, disturbingly +young and sweet and buoyant. The flying jinrikisha, the hair blowing +across her cheek, the scarf that fluttered in the breeze, all suggested +flight, and flight to the masculine mind is only another term for +pursuit. +</p> +<p> +He flung down his paper and strode out to the lobby. +</p> +<p> +"When is the next train for Kioto?" he demanded. +</p> +<p> +"At ten to-night, sir." +</p> +<p> +"Make out my bill, and get my luggage down; I'm leaving on that train." +</p> +<p> +"But, sir, you have made no reservation. You may have to sit up all +night." +</p> +<p> +"Have you any objections?" asked the Honorable Percival in his most +insular manner. +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0014" id="h2H_4_0014"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + X +</h2> +<h3> + ON THE SEARCH +</h3> +<p> +The clerk's prophecy proved all too true. Percival and his valet sat all +night in a crowded, smoke-dimmed car, between a fat Japanese wrestler +and a fatter Buddhist priest, both of whom squatted on their heels and +read aloud in monotonous, wailing tones. The air was close, and the +floor was strewn with orange peel, spilt tea, and cigarette ends. +Percival's fastidious senses were offended as they had never been +offended before. Under ordinary circumstances nothing could have induced +him to submit to such discomfort, but the circumstances were not +ordinary. +</p> +<p> +The alternative of remaining calmly in Yokohama and allowing an +aggressive young American to monopolize the girl of his even temporary +choice was utterly intolerable. Moreover, he was coming to see that +while Bobby had failed to droop under the frost of his displeasure, it +was still probable that she would melt into penitence at the first smile +of royal forgiveness. +</p> +<p> +During the long hours of that interminable night he had ample time to +reflect upon the folly of pursuing an object which he did not mean to +possess. But though wisdom urged discretion, a blue eye and a furtive +dimple beckoned. +</p> +<p> +When morning came, he straightened his stiff legs and, picking his way +through the wooden sandals that cluttered the aisle, went out to the +small platform. The train had stopped at a village, and a boy with a +tray suspended from his shoulders, bearing boxes of native food, was +howling dismally: +</p> +<p> +"Bento! Eo Bento!" +</p> +<p> +Percival beckoned to him. "I say, can't you get me a roll and a cup of +coffee!" +</p> +<p> +"Bento?" asked the boy, expectantly. +</p> +<p> +"Coffee!" shouted Percival. "Rather strong, you know, and hot." +</p> +<p> +"Tan San? Rhomenade?" asked the boy. +</p> +<p> +"Coffee. Café. What a silly fool!" Percival muttered. +</p> +<p> +About this time several windows in the car went up, and many voices took +up the cry of "Bento." When Percival reëntered, he found that a large +pot of boiling water had been deposited in the aisle, and small tea-pots +had been distributed among the passengers. Everybody was partaking of +breakfast, and everybody seemed to be enjoying it, especially Judson, +who was attacking his neatly arranged bamboo sprouts, pickled eels, and +snowy rice with avidity. +</p> +<p> +"This is a bit of all right, sir," he said with enthusiasm. "Shall I +fetch you a box, sir!" +</p> +<p> +Percival lifted a protesting hand. And yet the pungent odor of the +pickle and the still smoking rice was not unpleasant. He watched with +increasing appetite the disappearance of the various viands. There were +occasions when a man might even envy his valet. +</p> +<p> +At the Kioto Hotel there was no record of the Weston party, so he +snatched a hasty bite, and rushed on to the other large hotel. It was +on a hillside well out from the city, and two coolies were required for +each jinrikisha. Seeing that they had a newly arrived tourist, they were +moved to show him the sights, much to Percival's annoyance. +</p> +<p> +"San-ju-san-gen-do Temple," the man in front said, putting down the +shafts of the jinrikisha confidently. "Thirty-three thousand images of +great god Kwannon. Come see? No? So desu ka?" +</p> +<p> +Later he stopped at a flower-girt tea-house. +</p> +<p> +"Geisha maybe! Very fine dancers. Come see? No? So desu ka?" +</p> +<p> +So it continued, the two small guides trying in vain to arouse some +interest in the stern young gentleman who sat so rigidly in the +jinrikisha, with his mind bent solely on reaching the Yaami Hotel in the +shortest possible time. +</p> +<p> +On his arrival, he met with disappointment. The effusive proprietor +informed him that a party of five, "one single lady, and two young +married couples, he thought," had breakfasted there and left immediately +with Dr. Weston for Hieizan. They would not return until night. +</p> +<p> +"What, pray, is Hieizan?" Percival asked, dimly remembering Mrs. +Weston's outlined plan. +</p> +<p> +"Very grand mountain," said the proprietor; "view of Lake Biwa. Biggest +pine-tree in the world." +</p> +<p> +The last thing that Percival desired to see was a big pine-tree, but the +prospect of sharing the sight of it with Bobby Boynton spurred him to +further inquiry. +</p> +<p> +"But they must come back, mustn't they? Perhaps I could meet them +halfway?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, yes. They go by <i>kago</i> over mountain; you go by 'rickisha to +Otsu, and wait. Very nice, very easy. All come home together. I furnish +fine jinrikisha and very good man, Sanno; spik very good English." +</p> +<p> +Percival had an early lunch, and, leaving Judson sitting disconsolately +among the hand-bags, started for Otsu. From the first his runner +justified his reputation of speaking English; he began by counting up +to fifty, looking over his shoulder for approval, and expecting to be +prompted when his memory failed. He received Percival's peremptory +order to be silent with an uncomprehending smile and a glib recitation +of the Twenty-third Psalm. He was an unusually tall coolie, and the +jinrikisha-shafts resting in his hands were a foot higher than they +ought to be, throwing his passenger at a most awkward angle. Before Otsu +was reached a sudden rainstorm came on, and Percival was made yet more +uncomfortable by having the hood of the jinrikisha put up, and a piece +of stiff oilcloth tucked about him. +</p> +<p> +By the time he rattled into the courtyard of the small Japanese inn, he +was cramped and cold and very cross. Even the voluble welcome of the +proprietor and the four girls, who received him on their knees, failed +to revive his spirits. It was going to be deuced awkward explaining his +sudden appearance to the Weston party. There might even be jokes at his +expense. He decided to take a room and not make his appearance unless +everything seemed propitious. +</p> +<p> +An animated discussion was in progress between Sanno and the innkeeper, +the import of which Sanno explained with much difficulty. Owing to the +autumn festival of the imperial ancestors, the inn was quite full, but +hospitality could not he refused to so distinguished a foreign guest. +</p> +<p> +"Foreign bedstead is not," concluded Sanno; "foreign food is not; hot +bath is." +</p> +<p> +"I sha'n't want a bed, and I sha'n't want a bath," said Percival, then, +seeing that a diminutive maiden was unloosing his shoes, he added +petulantly: "My boots are quite dry. Tell her to go away." +</p> +<p> +But Sanno was getting his jinrikisha under cover, and Percival had to +submit to the gentle, but firm, determination of the <i>nesan</i>. She +was small and demure, but her attitude towards him was that of a nurse +towards a refractory child. She conducted him, with much sliding of +screens, through several compartments, to a room at the back of the +house that opened out on a tiny balcony overhanging a noisy stream. +</p> +<p> +Percival, standing in his stockinged feet on the soft mats, looked about +him. The room was devoid of furniture, its only decoration being a vase +of carefully arranged flowers in an alcove, and a queer kakemono that +hung on an ivory stick. As he was inspecting the latter, the nesan again +approached him. +</p> +<p> +This time she seemed to have designs upon his coat, and despite his +protest began to remove it. When he forestalled her at one point she +attacked another, until the situation became so embarrassing that he +shouted indignantly for Sanno. +</p> +<p> +"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded furiously. "Why doesn't the +girl go away, and leave me alone?" +</p> +<p> +"Gentleman bass already," said Sanno, soothingly. "Kimono? So?" he +joined forces with the nesan to get Percival out of his clothes and into +the fresh-flowered kimono that lay on the mat. +</p> +<p> +"But I never take a tub in the afternoon," persisted Percival. +</p> +<p> +Preparations went politely, but steadily, forward. +</p> +<p> +"What's this she's putting on me?" he cried. "I say, I <i>won't</i> wear +a sash; the whole thing's too beastly silly. Tell her to take it off." +</p> +<p> +But despite his protests, the long red scarf was wound about his waist +and tied with many deft twists and pats into a butterfly bow at the +back. Seeing that protests were quite useless, and being still chilled +from his long ride, he decided to resist no longer, but to take the bath +that was so insisted upon, and be free to watch undisturbed for the +returning party. +</p> +<p> +The nesan produced a sponge and towel from her long sleeves and, taking +Percival by the hand, led him down the hall. Once in the big, square +wooden tank, with the hot water up to his chin, he forgot his trouble, +and gave himself up to the luxury of the moment. Even the knowledge that +the determined little nesan was waiting outside the door, and that she +frequently applied a round, black eye to a hole in the screen, did not +interfere with his enjoyment. +</p> +<p> +When he was again in his room, clothed except for his shoes, his +troubles once more assailed him. Suppose the Weston party did not return +by this route! The possibility of missing Bobby fired his desire to see +her at once. He had never known twenty-four hours to contain so many +minutes. +</p> +<p> +During the early stages of his malady it had only been necessary for him +to recall the aristocratic faces and bearing of his mother and sisters +to have his vision instantly cleared and his reason enthroned. Later it +became necessary to add the captain's sturdy countenance to his list of +exorcising spirits. Now Bobby routed them all, not only taking entire +possession of his mind, but actually invading Hascombe Hall, dancing +through the gloomy, corridors, and waking the echoes with her youth and +merriment. +</p> +<p> +Of course the Honorable Percival tried to stamp out these wild +imaginings, and assured himself repeatedly that the moment he landed in +Hong-Kong the whole episode would be relegated to oblivion. But +Hong-Kong was yet ten days away, and Percival saw no use in forgetting +before he had to. He went out to the courtyard and impatiently surveyed +the rain-soaked road. +</p> +<p> +"No come," said Sanno, cheerfully, from the step where he was keeping +watch. "Tea?" +</p> +<p> +Without waiting for an answer, he clapped his hands, calling, "<i>O +Cha!</i>" +</p> +<p> +Another small maiden in a cherry-blossom kimono, carrying a brazier full +of live coals, trotted around the corner and conducted Percival back to +his apartment. She proved even more irritating than the first one, for +during the tea-making she stopped many times to examine his cuff-links, +wrist-watch, and ring, making purring exclamations of delight over each +discovery. When he used his monocle she tried it also, and when he took +out his cigarette-case, she must examine every detail and help herself +to a cigarette into the bargain. Percival was acutely bored. He regarded +her as a persistent fly that refused to be brushed away. He sat with his +back against the paper screen, his stockinged feet rigidly extended, +drinking his tea as solemnly as if he had been in the most formal +drawing-room of Grosvenor Square. +</p> +<p> +The rainy afternoon closed in to twilight, and still the Weston party +did not come. Percival's impatience gave place to anger, but he doggedly +waited. +</p> +<p> +"Could they have gone back another way?" he demanded of Sanno. +</p> +<p> +"Way?" repeated Sanno. +</p> +<p> +Percival made a drawing on paper and tried to convey his meaning, but it +was useless. +</p> +<p> +"'Merican game?" asked Sanno, grinning. +</p> +<p> +At last, in desperation, Percival decided to return. +</p> +<p> +"Yaami Hotel, Kioto," he directed. +</p> +<p> +"Very sorry," said Sanno. "No come Kioto to-night. Big rain. Bridge him +very bad. Jinrikisha upset, maybe." +</p> +<p> +Percival declared this to be nonsense; he insisted that he would start +immediately. But as Sanno refused to bring out the jinrikisha, it was +not possible to carry out his intention. Then the Honorable Percival, +who was not used to being crossed, lost his temper, and the entire +household came out to see him do it. Sanno and the proprietor watched +him with bland and smiling faces, and the girls tucked their heads +behind their sleeves and laughed immoderately at his scowls and vehement +gestures. +</p> +<p> +Seeing that he was gaining nothing by argument, he stalked sullenly back +to his room, where active preparations were in progress for dinner. The +brazier which had been used for the tea still stood in the middle of the +floor, and all around it were porcelain bowls and lacquer trays, and a +wooden bucket full of steaming rice. +</p> +<p> +He took refuge on the two-foot balcony and gazed gloomily on the +sprawling stream below. The Westons were probably back in Kioto by this +time, and would be off again in the morning before he could possibly get +there. What headway might not that presumptuous Andy Black make with +Bobby Boynton in forty-eight uninterrupted hours! +</p> +<p> +His tragic reflections were interrupted by the announcement that dinner +was served. Seated on the floor before a twelve-inch table, with disgust +written on every feature, he drank fish-soup out of a bowl, and tasted +dish after dish as it was borne in and respectfully placed before him. +</p> +<p> +"Haven't you a fork?" he asked when the chop-sticks were proffered him. +</p> +<p> +"Forku?" repeated one of the three maidens who knelt before him; then +she joined the other two in a giggling chorus. +</p> +<p> +There had been moments in the Honorable Percival's life when his dignity +trembled on its pedestal, but never had it swayed so perilously as when +he tried to use chop-sticks for the first time under the fire of those +six mischievous black eyes. It was only by maintaining his haughtiest +manner that he remained master of the situation. +</p> +<p> +When bedtime came, a new difficulty arose. Sanno's prophecy that +"foreign bedstead probably is not" proved true. A neat pile of quilts +in the middle of the floor was offered as a substitute, and Percival, +after a long argument, stretched himself on the soft heap and courted +oblivion. But the Fates were against him. As if his thoughts were not +sufficient to torment him, hundreds of mosquitos swarmed up from the +stream below, and assailed him so viciously that at midnight he rose +and called loudly for Sanno. +</p> +<p> +With Sanno came the household, all eager to know what new excitement +the foreign gentleman was creating. When the trouble was explained, +elaborate preparations were set on foot to remedy it. After much +discussion, hooks were driven into the corners of the ceiling, and +a huge net cage, the size of the room, suspended therefrom. +</p> +<p> +During this performance Percival suffered great embarrassment, owing to +the fact that the pink silk underwear in which he was arrayed was an +object of the liveliest interest to the ladies. +</p> +<p> +When at last he was left alone, he fell into a troubled sleep. He +dreamed that the world was peopled solely by mosquitos, and he knew them +all, Captain Boynton, Andy Black, Sanno, the Lady Hortense, and even +Bobby herself. One by one they came and nipped him while he lay +helpless, clad only in a pink suit of silken underwear. +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0015" id="h2H_4_0015"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + XI +</h2> +<h3> + THE GYMKHANA +</h3> +<p> +The experiences of his first twenty-four hours in Japan were repeated +with variations three times before Percival reached Kobe. His mad desire +to overtake Bobby had carried him from Kioto to Nara, where he went to +the wrong hotel and missed the Weston party by fifteen minutes. From +Nara he made a night journey to Ozaka, during which the small engine +broke down in the middle of a rice-field, proving a sorry substitute for +the wings of love. +</p> +<p> +It was with a sigh of relief that he at last boarded the <i>Saluria</i> +and sank into his steamer-chair. At least there was one satisfaction, +no one but Judson knew of his futile search, and Judson was too well +trained to discuss his master's affairs. How good it was to be on board +once more! He felt an almost sentimental attachment for the steamer +which three weeks ago had fallen so short of what an ocean-liner ought +to be. Then the <i>Saluria</i> was only an old Atlantic transport +transferred to the Pacific to do passenger service, but now she was +a veritable ship of romance, freighted with memories and dreams. +</p> +<p> +The passengers, coming aboard, seemed like old friends, and he found +himself greeting each in turn with a nod that surprised them as much +as it did him. At any moment now Bobby Boynton might appear, and the +prospect of seeing her raised his spirits to such a height that he +wondered if he would be able to play the rôle he had assigned himself. +</p> +<p> +He had definitely decided to be an injured, but forgiving, friend. She +should be made no less aware of his wounds than of his generosity. She +would doubtless recall another incident in which he had met ingratitude +with noble forgiveness, and she would rush to make reparation. If there +was one thing he prided himself upon it was a knowledge of women. Never +but once had his judgment erred, and even then, could he but remember +all his impressions, he doubtless had had moments of misgiving. +</p> +<p> +Bobby's voice sounded on the ladder, and the next moment she was +tripping down the deck toward him. It was in vain that he kept his eyes +on the letter in his hand, and assumed an air of complete absorption. +She came straight toward him, and dropped into the chair next his own. +</p> +<p> +"Oh, but you missed it!" she said. "I never had so much fun in all my +life." +</p> +<p> +He did not answer. Instead, he lifted a pair of melancholy eyes, and +looked at her steadfastly. +</p> +<p> +"Oh," she said after a puzzled moment, "I forgot. We are mad, aren't we? +One of us owes the other an apology." +</p> +<p> +"Which do you think it is!" he asked gently, as if appealing to her +higher nature. +</p> +<p> +Bobby, with her head on one side, considered the matter. "Well," she +said, "you did something I didn't like, and I did something you didn't +like. Strikes me the drinks are on us both." +</p> +<p> +"The—" Percival's horrified look caused her to exclaim contritely: +</p> +<p> +"Excuse me, I'll do better next time. Come on, let's make up. Put it +there and call it square!" +</p> +<p> +It was impossible to refuse the small hand that had been the cause of +the trouble, but even as Percival thrilled to its clasp he realized his +danger. During the course of his twenty-eight years he had always been +able to prescribe a certain course for himself and follow it with +reasonable certainty. Exciting moments were now occurring when he was +unable to tell what his next word or move was going to be. It is quite +certain that he never intended to take her hand in both of his and look +at her in the way he was doing now. +</p> +<p> +"What a bunch of letters!" she said, getting possession of her hand. +"You see, I have some, too. I'll read you some of mine if you'll read me +some of yours. Will you?" +</p> +<p> +"Which will you have?" +</p> +<p> +"May I choose? What fun! Read me the one with the sunburst on it." +</p> +<p> +He obediently adjusted his monocle, broke the seal, and began: +</p> +<p> +<i>"'My Dear Son:</i> +</p> +<p> +"'I cannot, I fear, make my letter so long or so interesting as I could +desire, owing to the fact that I am afflicted with a slight lumbago, but +I will proceed without further preliminary to set down the few incidents +of interest that have occurred since my last writing. Your brother is +sorely harassed by affairs in the city, and when here he is in constant +altercation with the grooms about exercising your horses. I fear you +will find them sadly out of condition upon your return.'" +</p> +<p> +"I call that a darn shame!" said Bobby, sympathetically, then her hand +flew to her mouth as she saw Percival's raised eyebrows. +</p> +<p> +"There I go again! You see, I've been running around with Andy Black, +and nobody ever puts on airs with Andy." +</p> +<p> +Percival gave a sigh of discouragement, then resumed his reading: +</p> +<p> +"'We have had few guests at the hall since your departure until +yesterday, when who should call but the Duchess of Dare!'" Percival +paused, and glanced hurriedly down the page. +</p> +<p> +"Go on!" commanded Bobby. +</p> +<p> +"It won't interest you in the slightest." +</p> +<p> +"But it <i>does</i>. Unless there's something you don't want me to +hear." +</p> +<p> +"Not at all. Where was I? Oh, yes, 'call but the Duchess of Dare! She +has let her house to some friends, and has come away from London for a +fortnight's rest. It was rather queer of her calling, wasn't it? She was +less embarrassed than you would imagine and actually had the effrontery +to mention Hortense.'" +</p> +<p> +"Who is Hortense?" asked Bobby, all curiosity. +</p> +<p> +"Her daughter." +</p> +<p> +"Well, why shouldn't her mother mention her?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, I don't know," said Percival, in deep water; "rather bad form, +perhaps." +</p> +<p> +"For a mother to mention her own child?" Then the light dawned. "Perhaps +she is the one you were telling me about." +</p> +<p> +Percival hastily folded the letter and slipped it into its emblazoned +envelop. +</p> +<p> +"Is she?" persisted Bobby. +</p> +<p> +"Is she what?" +</p> +<p> +"The girl you let down easy?" +</p> +<p> +"Well, really, Miss Boynton—" +</p> +<p> +"Roberta," corrected Bobby. +</p> +<p> +"Very well, Roberta. It's your time to read to me. May I choose a +letter?" +</p> +<p> +"No, I'll choose one myself." +</p> +<p> +"But that isn't fair. I let you select any one you liked." +</p> +<p> +She thought it over, then somewhat reluctantly held out three envelops. +It was so evident that she was trying to keep back the bulky one with +the bold address that Percival instantly selected it. +</p> +<p> +"Some of it's secrets," she warned him, "and you mustn't peep." +</p> +<p> +"Of course not. But who is it from?" +</p> +<p> +"That wasn't in the game. I didn't ask you." +</p> +<p> +"You didn't need to; but go ahead." +</p> +<p> +"It's all about the ranch," said Bobby, looking over the pages +and smiling to herself. "They've had an awful row with the new +broncho-buster, and Hal had to punch his head for being cruel to the +horses. I knew that fellow wasn't any good." She read on for a while +to herself. "Says the shooting promises to be great this year. My! but +I hate to miss it!" +</p> +<p> +"Whatever do you find to shoot?" +</p> +<p> +"A little of everything from teal duck to Canada goose." +</p> +<p> +"Really!" exclaimed Percival, with interest. "And do you shoot?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, yes, some. I'm not as good as the boys. You see, I have to use Pa +Joe's old No. 10 choke-bore shot-gun, when I really ought to have a +16-bore fowling-piece." +</p> +<p> +Here was a new and wholly unsuspected bond of sympathy between them. +Percival would have plunged at once into a dissertation on a subject +upon which he considered himself an authority had not the fluttering +sheets of the letter stirred vague misgivings in his bosom. +</p> +<p> +"You aren't playing fair!" he cried. "You are telling me what is in your +letter without reading it to me." +</p> +<p> +"So I am!" She looked over page after page. "Here, this will do. It +says: 'I wish you could have been along last night when I hit the trail +for the Lower Ranch. You know what that old road looks like in the +moonlight, all deep black in the gorges, and white on the cliffs, and +not a dog-gone sound but the hoof-beats of your horse and the clank of +the bridle-chains. Why, when you come out in the open and the wind gets +to ripping 'cross the grass-fields, and the moon gets busy with every +little old blade, and there's miles of beauty stretched out far as your +eye can reach, I'd back it against any sight in the world. Only last +night I wasn't thinking much about the scenery. I was thinking—'" +Bobby stopped short, declaring that she had a cinder in her eye. +</p> +<p> +"Can't be a cinder, out here in the bay," protested Percival. +</p> +<p> +"Well, it's whatever they have out here." +</p> +<p> +"And sha'n't I ever know what your friend was thinking?" +</p> +<p> +"He was probably thinking of his dinner," said Bobby, gazing at him +reassuringly with her free eye. +</p> +<p> +After she had departed to make sure that the steamer got properly under +way, he tortured himself with suspicions. What possible secrets could +she have with this unknown friend, who waxed sentimental over moonlit +trails and wind-swept grassfields? Had not some one told him of an +unhappy love-affair? He searched his memory. Suddenly there came to him +the disturbing figure of a stalwart young man on a broncho, with leather +overalls, jingling spurs, a silk handkerchief knotted about his throat, +and a pair of keen, humorous eyes lighting up a sun-bronzed face. +</p> +<p> +Then he smiled at his quick alarm. Hadn't she told him it was one of her +foster-brothers, one of those lads whom he persisted in regarding as +children? It was the most natural thing in the world that an impulsive, +big-hearted creature like Bobby would be on terms of affectionate +intimacy with those boys with whom she had been brought up. +</p> +<p> +He did not feel fully reassured, however, until he put the question to +her flatly: +</p> +<p> +"That letter you were reading me," he said at his first opportunity—"you +won't mind telling me if it is from that chap I saw at the station?" +</p> +<p> +"I don't mind telling you. But you mustn't tell the captain." +</p> +<p> +"The captain? Oh, to be sure. Doesn't fancy your friends, the Fords. I +remember." +</p> +<p> +From that time on he boldly and openly entered the lists for Bobby's +favor. The ten days he had allowed himself to drift with the tide of his +inclination were passing with incredible swiftness, and he resorted to +every means, from the subtlest strategy to the most domineering +insolence, to monopolize every waking moment of her time. +</p> +<p> +She responded to all his suggestions with flattering promptness until +preparations were set on foot to hold a huge gymkhana, in which +everybody on board should take part. The enterprise fired her enthusiasm +instantly. She was a born organizer, and the prospect of a whole day +devoted to sports captivated her. The project served as a peg on which +she and Percival hung their first quarrel. +</p> +<p> +"Of course I'm going into it," she exclaimed hotly, "and so are you." +</p> +<p> +"The idea!" said Percival. "I shouldn't think of it for a moment. Fancy +me chasing an egg around the deck in a teaspoon, and all that sort of +thing!" +</p> +<p> +"But there are lots of other contests. There's the long jump, and the +tug-of-war—" +</p> +<p> +"And pinning tails on donkeys," added Percival, bitterly. "Dare say +you'd like to see me doing that." +</p> +<p> +"I'd like to see you doing anything that would make you more sociable," +flashed Bobby. +</p> +<p> +For the rest of the day Percival sulked in the smoking-room, raging at +the time that was stolen from him, and given to the making of silly +rules and the buying of trifling prizes. +</p> +<p> +On the morning of the sports he arrayed himself in one of the white +creations of G. Lung Fat's, giving special attention to the accessories +of his toilet. Then, with marked indifference to the games, which were +the all-absorbing topic of the day, he had his chair moved to the far +side of the deck, and sat there in superior isolation during the whole +morning. +</p> +<p> +But even there he could not avoid hearing what was taking place; shouts +of laughter, groans, and jeers over a failure, and frantic applause over +a victory, were wafted to him constantly. Now and then some one hurried +by with the information that Andy Black had won the quoits prize or that +Andy Black had won the bottle-race. His lip curled contemptuously at +sports that required a mere trickster's turn of the wrist or an animal's +sense of direction. He would like to see Andy attempt a long jump or a +mile race. Imagine the fat pink-and-white youth on a polo pony! +</p> +<p> +At luncheon Andy's praises were passed from lip to lip. The affair +had assumed an international significance. A Scotchman, a German, a +Japanese, and an American were striving for first place. The captain's +patriotism ran so high that he offered to set up the handsomest dinner +the Astor Hotel in Shanghai could afford if Andy came out victorious. +</p> +<p> +In vain Percival sought to hold Bobby's attention. The tapers in her +eyes were lighted for Andy, and he was obliged to undergo the new and +intolerable sensation of sitting in a darkened niche and watching the +candles burn at an adjoining shrine. +</p> +<p> +The slightest hint of deflection in one upon whom he had bestowed his +favor maddened him. He had showered upon this ungrateful girl attentions +the very husks of which would have sustained several English girls he +knew through a lifetime of patient waiting. He recalled their unswerving +loyalty with a glow at his heart. +</p> +<p> +Ah, he thought, one must look to England for ideal womanhood. Where else +was to be found that beautiful deference, that blind reliance, that +unswerving loyalty—At the word "loyalty" a stabbing memory of Lady +Hortense punctured his eloquence. +</p> +<p> +During the afternoon he found it impossible to escape the games. The +potato and three-legged races brought the contestants to his side of the +deck, and his reading was constantly interrupted by an avalanche of +noisy spectators who rushed through the cross passages from one side of +the boat to the other, exhibiting a perfectly ridiculous amount of +excitement. +</p> +<p> +Andy, it seemed, had only one more entry to win before claiming the +day's championship. +</p> +<p> +"He'll get it!" Percival overheard the captain saying gleefully to Mrs. +Weston. "None of 'em are in it with America when it comes to sports." +</p> +<p> +Percival flicked the ashes from his cigar, and, carefully adjusting his +tie, rose, and made his way to the judges' table. +</p> +<p> +"How many more events are there?" he asked in a superior tone. +</p> +<p> +"One," was the answer. +</p> +<p> +"How many entries?" +</p> +<p> +"Two. Mr. Black and the Scotch gentleman." +</p> +<p> +"Make it three," said Percival, as if he were ordering cocktails. +</p> +<p> +In the confusion of preparing for the last and most elaborate feature of +the day, Percival's enlistment was not discovered. It was not until the +contestants ranged themselves in front of the judges' table that a buzz +of fresh interest and amazement swept the deck. First came the Scot, +lean, wiry, and deadly determined; then came Andy, plump and pink, with +his fair hair ruffled, and a laughing retort on his lips for every sally +that was sent in his direction. Last came the Honorable Percival, a +distinguished figure in immaculate array, wearing upon his aristocratic +features a look of contemptuous superiority. +</p> +<p> +"What are the rules of the game?" he inquired, looking into space. +</p> +<p> +"There's just one rule," called Captain Boynton from the +background—"Get there." +</p> +<p> +"The American motto, I believe," said Percival, quietly, and the crowd +laughed. +</p> +<p> +The Scot was the first to start, and Percival watched anxiously to see +the nature of the race he had entered. He saw his adversary dash forward +as the signal sounded, climb over a pile of upturned chairs, scramble +under a table, scale a high net fence, then disappear around the deck, +only to emerge later from the mouth of a funnel-shaped tunnel, through +which his contortions had been followed by shrieks of merriment. +</p> +<p> +Percival realized too late what he had let himself in for. Not for +worlds would he have subjected himself to such buffoonery had he known. +It was not the sport of a gentleman; it was the play of a circus clown! +He watched with horrified disgust as the Scot's grimy face and tousled +head emerged from the canvas cavern. +</p> +<p> +"Four minutes and five seconds," called the umpire. +</p> +<p> +Andy Black stepped confidently forward amid a burst of applause. +</p> +<p> +"The champion Roly-Poly of the Pacific," some one called. +</p> +<p> +"The <i>Saluria's</i> Little Sunbeam," suggested another. +</p> +<p> +Andy smiled blandly, and kissed his fingertips. The signal sounded, and +he bounded off, bouncing from one obstacle to another like a rubber +ball. It was only in the twenty-yard dash from the net fence to the +canvas tunnel that he lost ground. +</p> +<p> +"Four minutes, two seconds," announced the umpire as Andy scrambled out +on all fours. +</p> +<p> +At that moment Percival would willingly have exchanged places with the +grimiest stoker in the hold. Was it possible that he had, of his own +accord, placed himself in this absurd and undignified position for the +sole purpose of defeating a common, commercial traveler who had dared to +deflect the natural course of a certain damsel's smiles! He writhed +under the ignominy of it. What if he were defeated? What if— +</p> +<p> +The signal sounded, and instinctively he hurled himself forward. As he +scrambled over the upturned chairs he heard a sound that struck terror +to his soul: it was the unmistakable hiss of tearing linen. The hastily +made garments of G. Lung Fat had proved unequal to the strain put upon +them. Percival lost his head completely when he realized that his +waistcoat was split up the back from hem to collar, and that he had +become an object of the wildest hilarity. +</p> +<p> +He might have fled the scene then and there, leaving Andy to enjoy +his laurels undisturbed, had he not caught sight of Bobby frantically +motioning him to go on. Setting his teeth grimly, he went down on all +fours and scrambled under the table, then resolutely tackled that +swaying, sagging network of ropes that barred his progress. Again and +again he got nearly to the top, only to have his foot go through the +wide bars and leave him hanging there in the most awkward and ungainly +position. It seemed to him an eternity that he hung ignominiously, like +a fly in a spider's web, while the crowd went wild with merriment. +</p> +<p> +Then suddenly all his fighting blood rose, and forgetting the +spectators, and even forgetting Bobby, he doggedly grappled with those +yielding ropes until he got a foothold, swung himself over the top, +cleared the entanglement below, and made a flying dash for the yawning +mouth of canvas at the far end of the deck. It was incredibly hot and +suffocating inside, but he wriggled frantically forward, clawing and +kicking like a crab. At last a dim light ahead spurred him to one final +gallant effort. +</p> +<p> +"Four minutes!" called the umpire as the Honorable Percival Hascombe +emerged, blinking and breathless, and staggered to his feet. His clothes +were soiled and torn, his hair was on end, there was dust in his eyes, +and dirt in his mouth. +</p> +<p> +The fickle audience went wild. The dark horse had won, and public favor +immediately swung in his direction. But it was not the favor of the +public that Percival sought; it was the homage of a certain rebellious +maiden, who must be taught that he was the master of any situation in +which he found himself. +</p> +<p> +Bobby was not slow to proffer her congratulations. She gave them with +both hands, to say nothing of her eyes and her dimple. +</p> +<p> +"I pulled for you!" she whispered eagerly. "I almost prayed for you. I +wouldn't have seen you beaten for the world." +</p> +<p> +As Percival, elated by her enthusiasm, stood shaking hands right and +left, he felt a curious and unfamiliar warmth stealing over him. All +these people whom he had looked upon until to-day as so many figureheads +stalking about suddenly became human beings. He found, to his surprise, +that he knew their names and they knew his. He sat on a table, swinging +his feet in unison with a lot of other young feet, while he sipped +lemonade from the same glass as Bobby Boynton. +</p> +<a name="image-0011"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-11.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="He sat on a table swinging his feet in unison with a lot of other young feet, while he sipped lemonade from the same glass as Bobby Boynton" /><br /> +He sat on a table swinging his feet in unison with a lot of other young feet, while he sipped lemonade from the same glass as Bobby Boynton +</div> + +<p> +As a matter of fact, the Honorable Percival Hascombe was experiencing a +novel sensation. He was enjoying a sense of fellowship, to which all his +life he had been a stranger. +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0016" id="h2H_4_0016"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + XII +</h2> +<h3> + THE SONG OF THE SIREN +</h3> +<p> +By the time the <i>Saluria</i> anchored off Shanghai, the fires in +Percival's bosom had assumed the proportions of a conflagration. No +sooner were they seemingly conquered by the cold stream of reason that +was poured upon them than they broke forth again with fresh and alarming +violence. +</p> +<p> +On the launch coming up the Hwang-pu River he took the precaution of +engaging Bobby Boynton's company not only for the day on shore, but for +the evening as well. With hardened effrontery he bore the young lady +away in exactly the high-handed manner so bitterly condemned in Andy +Black at Yokohama. +</p> +<p> +The day on shore was one he was destined never to forget. The glamour of +it suffused even material old China with a roseate hue. With gracious +condescension he visited gaily decked temples and many-storied pagodas, +he loitered in silk and porcelain shops, and wound in and out of narrow, +ill-smelling streets, even allowing Bobby to conduct him through that +amazing quarter known as Pig Alley. He not only submitted to all these +diversions; he demanded more. He seemed to have developed an ambition to +leave no place of interest in or about Shanghai unvisited. +</p> +<p> +Tiffin-time found them at a well-known tea-house in Nanking Road—a +tea-house with golden dragons climbing over its walls and long wooden +signs bearing cabalistic figures swinging in the wind like so many +banners. Percival secured a table on the upper balcony, where they could +look down on the passing throng, and here in the intimate solitude of a +foreign crowd they had their lunch. +</p> +<p> +Bobby was too excited to eat; she hung over the balcony, exclaiming at +every new sight and sound, and appealing to Percival constantly for +enlightenment. Fortunately he had spent part of the previous day poring +over a Shanghai guide-book, so he was able to meet her inquiries with +the most amazing satisfaction. +</p> +<p> +"I don't see how any one human being can know as much as you do!" she +exclaimed, with a look that Buddha might have envied. +</p> +<p> +"Even I make mistakes occasionally," said Percival, modestly. "Can't +always be right, you know." +</p> +<p> +"But you are," she persisted; "you are always abominably right, and I am +always wrong." +</p> +<p> +"Adorably wrong," amended Percival, assisting with the tea-things. +</p> +<p> +"Two, three, four?" she asked, holding up the sugar-tongs. +</p> +<p> +"Doesn't matter so long as I have you to look at." +</p> +<p> +Now, when an Englishman ceases to be particular about the amount of +sugar in his tea, you may know he is very far gone indeed. By the time +he had drained three cups of the jasmine-scented beverage and basked in +the brilliance of Bobby's smiles through the smoking of two cigars, he +was feeling decidedly heady. +</p> +<p> +"If we are going to the races, we really <i>must</i> start," declared +Bobby when she found the situation getting difficult. +</p> +<p> +"What's the use of going anywhere?" asked Percival, blowing one ring of +smoke through another. +</p> +<p> +"Why, we are seeing the sights of Shanghai. You said you were crazy +about China." +</p> +<p> +"So I am. You are quite determined on the races?" +</p> +<p> +"Quite," said Bobby. +</p> +<p> +Their way to the track lay along the famous Bubbling Well Road, and as +they bowled along in a somewhat imposing victoria, with a couple of +liveried Chinamen on the box, Bobby sat bolt upright, her cheeks +flushed, and her eager eyes drinking in the sights. +</p> +<p> +It was a scene sufficiently gay to hold the interest of a much more +sophisticated person than the untraveled young lady from Wyoming. The +whole of society, it appeared, was on route to the races. The road was +thronged with smart traps full of brilliantly dressed people of every +nationality. There were gay parties from the various legations, French, +Russian, Japanese, German, English, American. In and out among the +whirling wheels of the foreigners poured the unending procession of +native life, unperturbed, unconcerned. A Chinese lady in black satin +trousers and gorgeous embroidered coat, wearing a magnificent head-dress +of jade and pearls, rode side by side with a coolie who trundled a +wheelbarrow which carried his wife on one side and his week's provisions +on the other. Water-carriers, street vendors, jinrikisha-runners, women +with bound feet, children on foot, and children strapped on the backs of +their mothers, crossed and recrossed, surged in and out. +</p> +<p> +But the Honorable Percival concerned himself little with these petty +details. To him China was only a pleasing background for Miss Roberta +Boynton; he saw no further than her eager, smiling eyes, and heard +nothing more distant than the ripple of her laughter. +</p> +<p> +At the races they found an absorbing bond of interest. The love of +horse-flesh was ingrained in both, and the merits of the various ponies +provoked endless discussion. Lights were beginning to twinkle on the +bund when they drove back to the hotel. +</p> +<p> +"Where shall we go to-night!" asked Percival, as eager at the end of +this eight hours' tête-à-tête as he had been at the start. +</p> +<p> +"To the ball, of course," said Bobby. "The hotel is giving it in honor +of the <i>Saluria</i>." +</p> +<p> +"Heavens! what a bore! Can't we dodge it?" +</p> +<p> +"You can if you want to. Andy'll take me. He's just waiting to see if +you renig." +</p> +<p> +"Renig?" repeated Percival. +</p> +<p> +"Yes," said Bobby—"fluke, back out; you know what I mean." +</p> +<p> +That settled it with Percival. Five minutes before the hour appointed he +was waiting impatiently in one of the small reception-rooms to conduct +Miss Boynton to that most abhorred of all functions, a public ball. What +possible pleasure he was going to get out of standing against the wall +and watching her dance with other men he could not conceive. He assured +himself that he was acting like a fool, and that if he kept on at the +pace he was going, Heaven only knew what folly he might commit in the +four days that must pass before he reached Hong-Kong. +</p> +<p> +Hong-Kong! The word had but one association for him. It was the home of +his eldest and most conservative sister, a lady of uncompromising social +standards, who recognized only two circles of society, the one over +which her mother presided in London, and the smaller one over which she +reigned as the wife of the British diplomatic official in the land of +her adoption. +</p> +<p> +At the mere thought of presenting Bobby to this paragon of social +perfection, Percival shuddered. He could imagine Sister Cordelia's +pitiless survey of the girl through her lorgnette, the lifting of her +brows over some mortal sin against taste or some deadly transgression in +her manner of speech. Of course, he assured himself it would never do; +the idea of bringing them together was wholly preposterous. And yet— +</p> +<p> +A Chinese youth, with a handful of trinkets, slipped into the room, and +furtively proffered his wares. +</p> +<p> +"Very good, number-one jade-stone. Make missy velly plitty. Can buy?" +</p> +<p> +Percival motioned him away, only to have him return. +</p> +<p> +"Jade-stone velly nice! Plitty young missy wanchee jade-stone." +</p> +<p> +"Did she say she wanted it?" demanded Percival, with sudden interest. +</p> +<p> +The boy grinned. "Oh, yes. Wanchee heap! No have got fifty dollar'. +Master have got. Wanchee buy?" +</p> +<p> +Percival tossed him the money and lay the pendant on the table. Then he +resumed his pacing and his disturbed meditations. If he could only keep +himself firmly in hand during those next four days, all would be well. +Once safely anchored in the harbor of his sister's eminently proper +English circle, the song of the siren would doubtless fade away, and he +would thank Heaven fervently for his miraculous escape. Meanwhile he +listened with increasing impatience for the first flutter of the siren's +wings, +</p> +<p> +"Wanchee Manchu coatt?" whispered an insidious voice at his elbow, and, +looking down, he saw the enterprising lad with a pile of gorgeous silks +over his arm and cupidity writ large in his narrow eyes. +</p> +<p> +"No, no; go away!" commanded Percival. +</p> +<p> +"Velly fine dragon coat. Him all same b'long mandarin. How much?" +</p> +<p> +Percival turned away, but at every step was presented with another +garment for inspection. Despite himself, his artistic eye was caught and +held by the beauty of the fabrics. +</p> +<p> +"How much?" he asked, picking up a marvelous affair of silver and gray, +lined with the faintest of shell pinks. It was the exact tone and sheen +to set Bobby's beauty off to the greatest advantage. The argument over +the price was short and fierce, and Percival laid the coat beside the +pendant on the table. +</p> +<p> +He promised himself to offset the effect of these gifts by a more +detached and impersonal manner than he had shown Bobby during the day. +So far, he congratulated himself, he had given her no occasion for false +hopes. On the contrary, he had gone out of his way on several occasions +to express his bitter disapproval of international marriages. When the +hour came for them to part, his heart might be mortally wounded, but his +conscience, save for a few scratches, would be uninjured. +</p> +<p> +A quick step in the corridor made him look up. Standing in the doorway +was a vision of girlish beauty that had the acrobatic effect of sending +his blood into his head and his heart into his eyes. She wore the +diaphanous gown of white that he liked best, her hair was coiled at the +exact angle he had prescribed, and at her belt were the orchids he had +sent up half an hour before. No rhinestones in her hair, no gold beads +on her slippers, nothing to mar the simplicity that her all too vivid +beauty required. Percival's eyes appraised her at her full value. Even +Sister Cordelia would have been propitiated by the sight. +</p> +<p> +"What's this lovely thing?" cried Bobby, pouncing upon the coat. +</p> +<p> +"Something I bought to be rid of a troublesome lad. Don't know what I +shall do with it, exactly." +</p> +<p> +"Take it to your sister, of course," +</p> +<p> +"She probably has heaps of them." +</p> +<p> +Bobby slipped her round, bare arms into the loose sleeves, and surveyed +herself in the long mirror. +</p> +<p> +"Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?" she asked, glancing at +him over her shoulder. +</p> +<a name="image-0012"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-12.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="'Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?' she asked, glancing at him over her shoulder" /><br /> +"Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?" she asked, glancing at him over her shoulder +</div> + +<p> +"It is," said Percival, emphatically. His judgment about the +becomingness of the color had, us usual, been unerring. +</p> +<p> +"I should be no end grateful," he said, "if you'd take it off my hands. +My trunks are fearfully stuffed now." +</p> +<p> +"But I haven't any money," said Bobby, with characteristic frankness; +"besides, we don't need things like that in Cheyenne." +</p> +<p> +"Silly girl! Do you think I have turned merchant, and have got wares for +sale? The coat is for you." +</p> +<p> +Bobby gave a cry of delight, then she looked up dubiously. +</p> +<p> +"But is it all right for me to take a present like this? I never had +anything so big given me—yes, I did, too!" She laughed. "A fellow from +Medicine Bow sent me a barrel of mixed fruit once, with nuts and raisins +in between, and ten pounds of candy on top!" +</p> +<p> +"Then why scruple at my gift?" +</p> +<p> +Her brow clouded. "But you said girls oughtn't to take things from men +they weren't engaged to. You remember that day on deck you got me to +give back Andy's scarf-pin?" +</p> +<p> +Percival cleared his throat. +</p> +<p> +"Quite a different matter," he said; "now, between you and me—" +</p> +<p> +Bobby shook her head as she took off the coat. +</p> +<p> +"No, I guess not. I want it so bad I can taste it, but I think you'd +better keep it for somebody in the family." +</p> +<p> +Percival slipped the jade pendant into his waistcoat pocket, and tossed +the coat on a chair. +</p> +<p> +"As you like," he said. "Shall we go to the ball-room?" +</p> +<p> +In his secret soul he was inordinately gratified. Of course she should +not have accepted the coat, and he should not have tempted her. She had +done exactly right in firmly adhering to his former instructions. +Altogether she was a remarkable little person indeed. +</p> +<p> +The moment they appeared in the ballroom she was confiscated, and he had +a miserable quarter of an hour watching her whirl from one masculine arm +to another. For the first time dancing struck him as pernicious. He +declared that the clergy had something on its side when it denounced the +amusement as evil. He doubted gravely if he should ever permit a wife of +his to dance. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Hascombe, aren't you going to ask me to dance?" It was Bobby who +had stopped before him, flushed and breathless. +</p> +<p> +"I don't dance at public balls," he said disapprovingly. +</p> +<p> +"Why not?" asked Bobby, in surprise. +</p> +<p> +"Hardly the thing. A person in my position, you know—" +</p> +<p> +"You mean because of the Honorable? How stupid! Let's pretend you aren't +one just for to-night!" +</p> +<p> +"But I don't dance these dances, you see." +</p> +<p> +"That doesn't matter; I'll teach you." +</p> +<p> +"Really, now, I can't make a spectacle of myself." +</p> +<p> +"Nobody wants you to. We'll practise out here in the loggia. Come +ahead!" +</p> +<p> +He was seized by two small, determined hands and drawn this way and +that, apparently without the slightest method. +</p> +<p> +"But I haven't the vaguest idea what to do with my feet," he protested +helplessly. +</p> +<p> +"Don't do anything with them; let them do something with you. Shut your +eyes and listen to the music; let it get into your bones, and the first +thing you know you will be doing it." +</p> +<p> +With British solemnity Percival closed his eyes and tried to feel the +music. Suddenly he was aware that he was moving in rhythm to the +insistent beat of the drum. +</p> +<p> +"That's it!" cried Bobby, excitedly. "You are doing the Grape-Vine; let +yourself go. That's it!" +</p> +<p> +So intent was he upon keeping out of time instead of in it, that he +was guided from the loggia into the ball-room before he knew it. His +awakening came when a firm hand was laid upon his shoulder. He stopped +indignantly. The ship's doctor had not only arrested the development of +his new-found talent, but was actually dancing off with his partner! +</p> +<p> +"Most unwarrantable impertinence!" he stormed to the Scotchman, whom he +joined at the door. "Clapped me on the shoulder quite as if I had been +under suspicion for felony. Almost expected to hear him say, 'My man, +you're wanted.' I shall demand satisfaction of the cub the instant the +dance is over." +</p> +<p> +The Scotchman laughed. "He meant ye no harm. It's a trick they have in +the States of changing partners. Watch the game; ye'll see." +</p> +<p> +"And I can take any man's partner away by simply laying my hand on his +shoulder?" +</p> +<p> +This changed the complexion of things considerably. The Honorable +Percival spent the remainder of the evening laying his hand upon the +shoulder of whosoever claimed Bobby for a dance. +</p> +<p> +It was remarkable with what facility he acquired the new steps. He knew +that he had a good figure and that he carried it with distinction. The +admiring glances that followed his entrance into any public assembly +made him pleasantly aware of the fact. To-night, however, if any of his +thoughts turned upon himself, they were but stragglers from the main +army that marched in solid file under Bobby's banner. +</p> +<p> +During the intervals when he could not dance with her he retired to +the loggia, and thought about her. She was not only the most beautiful +creature he had ever seen, but the most adorably responsive. He likened +her poetically to an Æolian harp and himself to the wind. +</p> +<p> +No one, not even his fond mother, had accepted him so implicitly at +his own valuation as Bobby. Other women frequently insisted upon their +own interpretations. He looked upon this as a form of disloyalty. +Lady Hortense had once decried his taste for Tennyson; that, and her +persistent use of a perfume which he disliked had been symbolic to him +of a difference in temperament. Bobby had no predilections for perfumes +or poets. She blindly accepted his judgment of all things, and if she +sometimes failed to conform to his wishes, it was through forgetfulness +and not opposition. He gloried in her plasticity; after all, was it not +among the chief of feminine virtues? +</p> +<p> +While he paced the loggia and thus recounted her charms, he became +increasingly intolerant of the fact that his Æolian harp was being swept +by <i>various</i> winds. He thirsted for a complete monopoly of her +smiles, of all her glances, grave and gay, of the thousand and one +little looks and gestures that he had quite unwarrantably come to look +upon as his own. +</p> +<p> +After all, why should he consider his family before himself? Why should +he ever go back to England at all? It was the most daring thought he had +ever had, and for a moment it staggered him. Lines from "Locksley Hall" +began ringing in his ears: +</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i12"> "... Oh for some retreat </p> +<p class="i2"> Deep in yonder shining-Orient when; my life began to heat: </p> +<p class="i2"> Larger constellations burning, mellow moons and happy skies, </p> +<p class="i2"> Breadths of tropic shady, and palms in clusters, Knots of Paradise. </p> +<p class="i2"> There the passions, cramp'd no longer, shall have scope and breathing space; </p> +<p class="i2"> I will take some savage woman—" </p> +</div> +</div> + +<p> +Of course, he told himself, Bobby wasn't exactly a savage woman; but +then again she was, you know, in a way. She was from the point of view +of Sister Cordelia. But why consult Sister Cordelia at all? Why not seek +some "blossomed bower in dark purple spheres of sea"? Not in China; it +was too beastly smelly. Not in Japan; mosquitos. Not in America; never! +It should be some South Sea Island, where they would dwell, "the world +forgetting, and by the world forgot." +</p> +<p> +Once an Englishman slips the leash of his sentiment and quotes even a +line of poetry, it carries him far afield. In this case it led Percival +a headlong chase over walls of tradition and barriers of pride. He +begrudged every moment that must elapse before he had Bobby to himself, +and told her of his great decision. +</p> +<p> +"But isn't it too late to be taking a walk?" she protested when the last +dance was over, and he was urging a turn on the bund. +</p> +<p> +"Just a breath of fresh air. Won't take five minutes. Where's your +wrap?" +</p> +<p> +"I haven't any but my steamer-coat. I don't suppose you could stand +that." +</p> +<p> +"You will wear the Manchu coat," said Percival, with tender authority; +"there's every reason why you should." +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0017" id="h2H_4_0017"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + XIII +</h2> +<h3> + PERCIVAL PROCRASTINATES +</h3> +<p> +The little park that stretched between the bund and the water-front way +deserted save for a few isolated couples who had strolled out from the +hotel to cool off after the heat of the ball-room. Percival and Bobby +found a vine-clad summer-house where they could watch the tall ships +riding at anchor in the bay, their riding-lights swaying amid the more +stationary stars. Closer to the water were the bobbing lights of the +sleeping junks, while behind them twinkled the myriad lights of that +vast native city the hem of whose garment they were merely touching. +</p> +<p> +The setting was all that Percival's fastidious taste could desire, but +now that he had "the time and the place and the loved one all together," +he found an epicure's delight in lingering over his rapture. This hour +had a flavor, a bouquet, that no other hour would ever contain, and he +preferred to sip it deliriously moment by moment. He coaxed her to talk +at length about himself, to put into her own words the impressions he +had made upon her mentally, morally, and physically. He never tired of +beholding in the mirror of her mind the very images he had placed before +it. +</p> +<p> +"You are a perfect little wizard!" he exclaimed in ecstasy. "You read me +like a book. Quite sure you aren't cold!" +</p> +<p> +"No," said Bobby; "but I'm getting awfully sleepy." +</p> +<p> +His pride took instant alarm. After all, it was not the hour to press +his suit. He rose, and tenderly drew the shining folds of her wrap about +her. +</p> +<p> +"I shall take you in. Can't allow you to lose your roses, you know. +To-morrow I must take better care of you." +</p> +<p> +Bobby gave a sleepy little laugh. +</p> +<p> +"What is it!" he asked. +</p> +<p> +"I was just thinking how mad we are making the captain. He wouldn't +speak to me all through dinner." +</p> +<p> +"I shall have a word to say to the captain to-morrow that will quite +change his attitude." +</p> +<p> +"What sort of a word?" +</p> +<p> +"Can't you guess?" +</p> +<p> +Before Bobby could answer, their attention was arrested by angry shouts +in the street behind them. A drunken sailor, evidently from an English +gunboat, was in fierce altercation with his jinrikisha-man, and was +announcing to the world, in language compounded of all the oaths in his +vocabulary, that he wished to be condemned to Hades if any more +pumpkin-headed, pig-tailed Chinks got another bob out of his pocket. +</p> +<p> +Percival was for hurrying his precious charge past the belligerents and +into the hotel, but Bobby insisted upon seeing the end of it. +</p> +<p> +"That sailor is fixing to get into trouble," she cried. "He doesn't know +what he is doing or saying." +</p> +<p> +"I dare say he'll manage very well," said Percival, urging her on. +</p> +<p> +"But he <i>isn't</i> managing, He's making the coolie furious. Don't let +him hit at him like that! See, he's caught hold of his queue!" +</p> +<p> +The patient Chinaman had received the supreme insult, and in a second he +had flashed a short knife from his belt, and was lunging at the stupid, +upturned face of the half-recumbent sailor. +</p> +<p> +Percival sprang forward and seized the descending arm. He was not quick +enough to arrest the force of the blow, but he succeeded in deflecting +its course, and the blade, which would have given the sailor a decent +burial at sea, sharply grazed Percival's wrist, and buried itself in the +side of the jinrikisha. +</p> +<p> +It was all so quickly done that by the time a crowd collected and the +big Sikh policeman arrived in his yellow clothes and huge striped turban +Percival had got Bobby safely into the hotel lobby. He was exasperated +beyond measure that this very evening, of all, should have ended in his +participation in a vulgar street brawl. So far he had succeeded in +keeping Bobby from knowing that he was wounded, but the beastly scratch +was bleeding furiously, and he had to keep his hand behind, him to +prevent her from seeing it. +</p> +<p> +They hurried through the empty lobby and down the long corridor that led +to the elevator. Bobby was full of excitement over the recent adventure +and the part Percival had played in it. +</p> +<p> +"My, but you were quick!" she said as they went up on the elevator. "I +had just time to shut my eyes and open them again, and it was all over." +</p> +<p> +"Nothing to speak of," said Percival, twisting his handkerchief tighter +around his throbbing wrist. +</p> +<p> +"But you don't mind my being proud of you, do you?" asked Bobby as the +elevator stopped at his floor. "When I see a man show courage like that, +I just feel as if—as if I'd like to squeeze him." +</p> +<p> +Percival's left hand shot out and caught hers to his lips. +</p> +<p> +"Why, Mr. Hascombe!" she cried "What's the matter with your arm? No, +I mean the other one." +</p> +<p> +"A mere scratch." +</p> +<p> +"But your sleeve's cut, and the handkerchief is all blood-stained. Why +didn't you tell me you were hurt?" +</p> +<p> +"I assure you it is nothing. Quite all right in the morning. Breakfast +with you at nine. Happy dreams!" +</p> +<p> +Bobby was not to be so easily put off. She insisted upon following him +out of the elevator and inspecting the wound, +</p> +<p> +"Why, it's dreadful!" she cried. "And it must have been bleeding like +this for five minutes! Quick! Where's your room?" +</p> +<p> +"But really, my dear girl, I can't allow this. You must get back into +the lift straight away and go up to your room." +</p> +<p> +"I sha'n't do anything of the sort until you get Judson or a doctor or +somebody." +</p> +<p> +Percival would have carried his point but for a certain dizziness that +had come over him. He put out a hand to steady himself. +</p> +<p> +"Give me your key!" he heard Bobby saying, and the next instant his door +was flung open, the lights were switched on, and he was staggering +blindly toward the couch at the foot of the bed. Then there was a +furious ringing of bells, a long wait, followed by the appearance of +a sleepy Chinese night watchman. +</p> +<p> +"Gentleman hurt!" cried Bobby. "Get a doctor! Send somebody up here +quick! Do you understand?" +</p> +<p> +"Me savvy," said the Chinaman, calmly. "Doctor no belong Astor Hotel. +All same belong Oliental Hotel." +</p> +<p> +"I don't care where he belongs," Bobby cried impatiently. "Get him over +the telephone. And send somebody up from the office, do you understand?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, yes, me savvy," he said, with the imperturbability of his race. +</p> +<p> +Percival heard the man's footsteps dying in the distance, and he made a +mighty effort to rouse himself. +</p> +<p> +"Silly of me to behave like this. Quite all right now, thanks. You must +run away before any one comes." +</p> +<p> +"Why?" demanded Bobby. +</p> +<p> +"Looks rather queer your being here like this at midnight, you know. +Wouldn't compromise you for the world." +</p> +<p> +Bobby was standing at his dressing-table searching for something, and +she wheeled upon him indignantly. +</p> +<p> +"This is no time to be thinking about looks. You lie down and stop +talking. Hold your arm up straight, like that. Keep it that way until +I come." +</p> +<p> +He did as she told him, grasping his right wrist in his left hand; but +the bright-red blood continued to spurt through his fingers, showing no +signs of abating. +</p> +<p> +"If I could only find a string!" cried Bobby, tossing the contents of +his bag this way and that. "Here's the strap on your toilet-case; +perhaps it'll do." +</p> +<p> +She knelt beside the couch, and, ripping his sleeve to the elbow, +hastily wrapped the leather thong twice about his forearm and slipped +the strap into the buckle. +</p> +<p> +"I've got to hurt you," she said resolutely, pulling with nervous +strength. +</p> +<p> +"It's most awfully good of you," murmured Percival, wearily, setting his +teeth and closing his eyes. Despite the pain, the drowsiness was getting +the better of him. He felt himself sinking through space, away from the +world, from himself, and, worst of all, from the tender, reassuring +voice that kept whispering words of comfort in his ear. +</p> +<p> +From time to time he was aware of bellboys coming and going, and of +apparently futile inquiries for Judson, for the doctor, for Mrs. Weston, +for the captain. Then for a long time he was aware of nothing whatever. +</p> +<p> +A sudden sharp pain in his arm roused him, and he opened his eyes. Bobby +still knelt on the floor beside him, unflinchingly holding the strap in +place. +</p> +<p> +"I won't have this!" he cried, struggling to sit up. "Your lips are +trembling. It's making you ill." +</p> +<p> +She laid her free hand on his shoulder. +</p> +<p> +"Please lie still! They'll be here in a minute. I thought I heard the +elevator. It won't be much longer." +</p> +<p> +There was the sound of hurrying feet in the hall, and the next instant +a quick rap at the door. Bobby looked up with great relief as a burly +English physician bustled into the room. +</p> +<p> +"How long have you had the tourniquet on, Madam?" he asked, stripping +off his gloves and falling to work. +</p> +<p> +"The what?" said Bobby. +</p> +<p> +"The strap on his arm?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, since a quarter past twelve." She got up from her knees stiffly, +and shook out the shining folds of the Manchu coat. "It was the only +thing I could think of; it's what the boys do back home for a +rattlesnake bite." +</p> +<p> +The doctor's glance expressed complete and unqualified approval, but +whether it was for her course of action or her very lovely and disturbed +appearance it would be hard to say. As she slipped out of the room he +turned to Percival. +</p> +<p> +"It's a severed artery, sir; no special harm done except the loss of +blood. A few days' rest—" +</p> +<p> +"But I am sailing in the morning," murmured Percival. "Must patch me up +by that time." +</p> +<p> +"We shall see. You don't seem to realize that you stood an excellent +chance of remaining permanently in Shanghai." +</p> +<p> +"You mean?" +</p> +<p> +"I mean that you owe your life to that plucky little wife of yours." +</p> +<p> +Percival's heart leaped at the word. "She's not my wife, Doctor," he +said, smiling feebly, "not yet." +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0018" id="h2H_4_0018"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + XIV +</h2> +<h3> + NEPTUNE TAKES A HAND +</h3> +<p> +The evolution of a hero is seldom a gradual process; he usually springs +into public favor suddenly and dramatically. Not so with the Honorable +Percival. He had to scramble ignominiously on all fours through a canvas +tunnel, he had to brave the smiles of the on-lookers while he learned +new steps on the ball-room floor, he had to participate in a street +fight and have an artery severed before he was accorded the honor of +a pedestal. +</p> +<p> +Bobby's graphic account of his defense of the drunken sailor, together +with his own vigorous disavowal of any heroism in the affair, won for +him a halo. After months of tedious anchorage in the dull harbor of +seclusion, he found himself once more afloat on a sea of approval, +tasting again the sweet savor of adulation, and spreading his sails to +catch each passing breath of admiration. +</p> +<p> +Reclining in his deck-chair, with his arm in a sling and a becoming +pallor suffusing his classic features, he became an object of the +greatest solicitude to his fellow-passengers. The fluttering attentions +he received warmed him into geniality, and in return he dispensed regal +favors. He allowed Mrs. Weston to consult him concerning her +presentation at court the following spring, he let Andy Black arrange +his tie, and permitted Elise Weston to cut the leaves of his magazine. +He graciously submitted to endless inquiries concerning his hourly +progress, and even went so far as to accept two cream peppermints from +the old missionary, who had acquired a new box. +</p> +<p> +The only drawback to this feast of brotherly love lay in the fact that +he could not obtain the tête-a-tête he so earnestly desired with Bobby +Boynton. She was always with him, to be sure, but so was everybody else, +especially Mrs. Weston, who had been officially appointed to stand guard +over the situation. +</p> +<p> +The captain had been stung to active measure by a chance remark of Andy +Black's when they were alone at breakfast. +</p> +<p> +"Accept my condolences," that youth had lugubriously remarked. "You have +missed the chance of your young life." +</p> +<p> +"How's that?" asked the captain. +</p> +<p> +"By not getting me for a son-in-law. Miss Bobby broke the news to me at +the dance last night." +</p> +<p> +"Did she give you a reason?" asked the captain, arresting his cup in +mid-air. +</p> +<p> +"I didn't need one. I've been rooming with it ever since we left +Honolulu." +</p> +<p> +"She didn't say it was—" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, she as good as told me. Same old chestnut I've been handed out all +my life. Said she cared for somebody else, but that she'd never forget +me. I can't see much satisfaction in occupying a pigeon-hole in a girl's +heart when, another fellow's got the key to it." +</p> +<p> +The captain, was concerned with something far more serious than Andy's +matrimonial failures. +</p> +<p> +"What makes you think it's Hascombe?" he asked. +</p> +<p> +"What makes everybody think so?" asked Andy. "What makes him think so +himself?" +</p> +<p> +The captain lost no time in finding Mrs. Weston, and laying the case +before her. +</p> +<p> +"He's got to be headed off," he said anxiously. "It 's getting serious." +</p> +<p> +"It certainly looks so after yesterday and last night. But I can't for +the life of me see why you oppose it. He's really a tremendous catch, +and it's no wonder Bobby's head is turned. We are all a bit daft over +him since he condescended to notice us." +</p> +<p> +"Suffering Moses!" exploded the captain. "Let any fool come along and +shed a few drops of blood, then kiss his hand to the grand stand, and +he's got the women at his feet! I thought Bobby had more sense than to +cotton to that gilded rooster. I've a good mind to lock her up in her +stateroom until we reach Hong-Kong." +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Weston shook her head and smiled. +</p> +<p> +"You can't manage her that way. She is the sweetest thing that ever was, +but she is the kind of girl that can't be forced." +</p> +<p> +"Well, she shall be!" cried the captain, with savage determination. "I +headed her off once, and I'll do it again. I tell you, I'd rather see +her dead than married to an Englishman." +</p> +<p> +"Why, Captain Boynton!" +</p> +<p> +"I would. It's the Lord's truth. Her mother before her got caught by +just such a high-headed British fool. She was welcome to him, and he to +her, though Heaven knows she paid for it. If I thought my girl was going +the same way—" +</p> +<p> +His square jaw quivered suddenly, and he turned away abruptly. +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Weston was wise enough to keep silent until he had mastered +himself, then she said kindly: +</p> +<p> +"I don't wonder you feel as you do. You leave the matter to me, and I'll +do my best to keep things in abeyance until we reach Hong-Kong. Once +they are separated, the danger is practically over." +</p> +<p> +It is doubtful, however, whether the combined efforts of the captain, +Mrs. Weston, and even Percival himself could have kept things <i>in +statu quo</i> had a timely typhoon not arrived and taken things into its +own hands. It was about four in the afternoon that the sky darkened and +the bright blue water turned to gray. The wind shifted and came on to +blow dead ahead. +</p> +<p> +"What a queer light there is on everything!" cried Mrs. Weston, who was +dutifully stationed between Bobby and Percival, doing sentry duty. "I +wonder if it is going to blow up a storm." +</p> +<p> +"I hope so," said Bobby. "I love for things to happen." +</p> +<p> +Percival glanced despairingly at Mrs. Weston, who was beginning on a +fresh ball of yarn. If she continued to sit there and knit the rest of +her life, nothing ever would happen. +</p> +<p> +"I ought to close my port-hole if it's going to rain," she said. "Do you +think it is?" +</p> +<p> +"Sure to," said Percival, with unusual alacrity. "Hard shower any +minute." +</p> +<p> +Mrs. Weston rose reluctantly. +</p> +<p> +"Don't you think you'd better come down, too, Bobby, and close yours?" +</p> +<p> +"Mine's closed, thanks. I'll take your place and hold Mr. Hascombe's +tea-cup." +</p> +<p> +Now, when a person with outrageously blue eyes is leaning on the arm of +your steamer-chair, steadying your saucer for you, and the wind has +blown everybody else off the deck except a bow-legged Chinese steward +who is absorbed in tying things down, it does look as if Fate meant to +be propitious. +</p> +<p> +Percival put his cup in his saucer and let his fingers touch the small +hand that held it. +</p> +<a name="image-0013"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-13.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="'It's quite worth while,' he said, 'getting a jab in the wrist, to have you looking after me like this'" /><br /> +"It's quite worth while," he said, "getting a jab in the wrist, to have you looking after me like this" +</div> + +<p> +"It's quite worth while," he said, "getting a jab in the wrist, to have +you looking after me like this. I wonder if you realize that you saved +my life last night?" +</p> +<p> +"I bet I know what this is leading up to," cried Bobby, accusingly. +</p> +<p> +"What?" asked Percival, catching his lip between his teeth and looking +at her with devouring eyes. +</p> +<p> +"A medal!" +</p> +<p> +"Much more serious. As a matter of fact, the truth is, I've been trying +to get a minute alone with you all day. There's something I want—" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, yes, I know. It's that Manchu coat. You want it to pack, of course. +I'll get it now." +</p> +<p> +But his fingers held hers fast to the saucer. +</p> +<p> +"You stupid child! You don't understand. It's yours, everything I have +is—" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, goody! Here's the rain!" cried Bobby. "Andy bet me ten pounds of +candy it wouldn't come before night. Quick, let me put your cup under +the chair. Don't bother about the cushions." +</p> +<p> +"But there's something I've <i>got</i> to say to you. You must listen to +me!" +</p> +<p> +"I'll listen to anything you like in the music-room just so it isn't +'Tales from Hoffman.' Come, we'll have to hurry!" +</p> +<p> +Percival, with his passion once more arrested, strode after her +furiously. He was intolerant of every moment that passed before be +claimed her for his own, and unable longer to restrain his mad desire to +fold her in his arms. +</p> +<p> +In the midst of these fervent anticipations he was unpleasantly aware of +the increased motion of the ship. It was the first time he had felt that +pitching, rolling motion since leaving the Golden Gate, and he shuddered +involuntarily. +</p> +<p> +"Here's a cozy little corner all to ourselves!" cried Bobby, tossing the +cushions into a nook in the music-room, and inviting him to a place +beside her. +</p> +<p> +But Percival remained standing in the doorway, supporting himself with +his free hand, his eyes fixed on space, and a leaden color spreading +over his face. +</p> +<p> +"If you don't mind," he said slowly, "I think I'll go below. Feel the +storm a bit in my head. Atmospheric pressure, you know." +</p> +<p> +"Of course you do," cried Bobby, all solicitude. "It's no wonder, after +the blood you lost last night. Sit right down there until I find +Judson." +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0019" id="h2H_4_0019"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + XV +</h2> +<h3> + PERCIVAL RISES TO AN OCCASION +</h3> +<p> +During the two nights and days that followed the typhoon had everything +its own way. The sea bellowed with rage, and battalion after battalion +of mountainous waves charged the ship, only to fall back and form again. +For thirty consecutive hours the captain stayed on the bridge watching +every variation in the glass, and keeping all of his Nelson features in +active service. Whatever frivolities might fill his idle hours, there +was no question of his attention to duty when the call came. +</p> +<p> +As for the Honorable Percival, he had ample opportunity during his long +hours of solitary confinement to make a complete inventory of his varied +emotions. Two things which should never be interrupted are a sneeze and +a proposal. That second declaration, so ardently begun and so ruthlessly +arrested, still hung in mid-air, and lying on his back in his darkened +stateroom, he had ample time in which to survey it from every angle. +</p> +<p> +Never for a moment did he question the undying nature of his affection +for Bobby. His emotion was too insistent and too consuming to be +doubted. It was the proprieties that he questioned, and they all shook +emphatic and disapproving heads. The proprieties in Grosvenor Square, to +be sure, loomed rather dim through the distance; but that immediate +propriety in Hong-Kong, toward whom he was speeding with every turn of +the screw, towered ominously. +</p> +<p> +If only he could hold things in abeyance until after the <i>Saluria</i> +sailed from Hong-Kong, all might be well. It was of the utmost +importance that he should not present Bobby to Sister Cordelia until the +die was irrevocably cast. Faults that in Miss Boynton of the Big Gully +Ranch would be glaring iniquities would, in the wife of the Honorable +Percival Hascombe, dwindle away to charming eccentricities. +</p> +<p> +A daring plan occurred to him. With proper strategy he might go down +to see the steamer off, get left on board, have the return trip in +uninterrupted bliss with Bobby, then boldly cable from America that +he had met his fate and succumbed to it, and that remonstrances were +useless. The scheme appealed to him the more he considered it. +Cablegrams were necessarily unemotional, and by the time letters were +exchanged, the proprieties would probably have decided to accept the +will of Providence and try to make the best of dear Percy's strange +choice of an unknown American girl. +</p> +<p> +In the meanwhile he would devote all his energies to fitting her for +the honor about to be conferred upon her, For he had quite given up the +idea of the "blossomed bower in dark purple spheres of sea," and had +definitely decided to take her back to England as the future mistress of +Hascombe Hall. All he asked was six months in which to cut and polish +his priceless gem. +</p> +<p> +It was not until the evening before the <i>Saluria</i> was due in +Hong-Kong that the sea got over its fit of temper and decided to make +that last night the most beautiful one of the crossing. Everybody was +down for the farewell dinner. Even those who had been invisible for two +days emerged from their state-rooms like gorgeous butterflies from their +cocoons. Speeches were made, toasts were drunk, and a general air of +festivity prevailed. +</p> +<p> +Percival raged inwardly at the length of the dinner. The golden moments +were racing by, and he was in a fever to get Bobby away to himself, +he had decided on a course which he felt did credit to his power of +self-control. He would permit himself the luxury of showing her that her +affection for him was wholly returned, without in any way committing +himself to a definite engagement. He would, in short, ask her to accept +a sort of promissory note on his affections, to be presented at any time +after the steamer left Hong-Kong. +</p> +<p> +It was ten o'clock before he contrived, to escape Mrs. Weston's vigilant +eye and whisk Bobby off to a certain favored nook on the boat-deck just +outside the captain's state-room. Here they had spent many happy +evenings, notwithstanding the fact that their figures, silhouetted +against the light, had never failed to provoke the captain to a +profanity that was not always inaudible. +</p> +<p> +To-night, however, the captain was detained below, and they had the +entire Yellow Sea to themselves as they sat on a projecting ledge and +leaned their elbows comfortably on the rail. +</p> +<p> +It was an enticing night, with nothing left of the recent storm save a +subtle thrill that still lingered in wind and wave. Overhead spread a +canopy of luminous, subtropical stars; in undisturbed silence they gazed +up at their brilliance. From below floated faint strains of music +mingling with the sound of rippling: water. +</p> +<p> +"And to think it's our very last night!" murmured Bobby, her chin on her +palm. "I'll never bear 'La Paloma' that I sha'n't think of this trip and +of you." +</p> +<p> +Percival dared not answer. He had reached that stage when, according +to the philosopher, the moonlight is a pleasing fever, the stars are +letters, the flowers ciphers, and the air is coined into song. He +regarded her gaze as she bent it upon the stars as the most exquisitely +pensive thing he had ever behold. +</p> +<p> +"My! but there are some dandy billiard-shots up there!" she exclaimed +suddenly. "Do you see that lovely carom over there beyond the Dipper?" +</p> +<p> +"I am not thinking of caroms," he said impatiently, "I am thinking of +you." +</p> +<p> +"What have I done now?" she asked indignantly. +</p> +<p> +"You've made me forget that there's anything else in the whole universe +but just you!" +</p> +<p> +"And now you've got to begin to remember," said Bobby, sympathetically. +</p> +<p> +He searched her face for a clue as to what was passing in her mind, but +he found none. +</p> +<p> +"You are a most awfully baffling girl," he said. "Sometimes I can't +determine whether you are subtle or merely ingenuous." +</p> +<p> +"I'd give it up," advised Bobby. +</p> +<p> +"But I sha'n't give it up. I sha'n't be content until I know every +little corner of your mind and heart." +</p> +<p> +She stirred uneasily. From, the way he was looking at her it was +evidently a good thing that his near arm was in a sling. +</p> +<p> +"You need a cigar," she said soothingly. "Get one out; I'll light it for +you." +</p> +<p> +He obediently produced his cigar-case, and together they selected a +cigar. She made a great point of cutting off the end, and then, when he +had got it into his mouth, she struck a match and, sheltering the blaze +with her scarf, held it close. The sudden intimacy of that beautiful +face in the little circle of light, with the darkness all around, was +quite too much for Percival. He looked straight into her eyes for one +resolution-breaking second, then he blew out the match and catching her +to him, passionately kissed those smiling, upturned lips. +</p> +<p> +"Mr. Hascombe!" she protested, shrinking away; but Percival had made his +leap and nothing could stop him. +</p> +<p> +"You are mine!" he cried rapturously, pressing her hand again and again +to his lips. "It's all quite right, my darling. Don't be frightened. We +shall be married any time, anywhere you say, to-morrow, if you like, in +Hong-Kong." +</p> +<p> +"But, Mr. Hascombe—" +</p> +<p> +"Not Mr. Hascombe. Percival, Percy, if you will. Fancy! Love at first +sight. One glance on those desolate plains, and you were mine!" +</p> +<p> +"But I'm not. That's what I'm trying to tell you." +</p> +<p> +He looked at her fatuously. "But you will be! My little lady of the +manor! My beautiful little mistress of Hascombe Hall!" +</p> +<p> +She struggled away from him, and stood at bay. +</p> +<p> +"How <i>can</i> you talk to me like this?" she cried, her voice +trembling with indignation, "after what I told you that day in the +wind-shelter?" +</p> +<p> +"In the wind-shelter?" He looked at her in bewilderment. +</p> +<p> +"Yea, about Hal Ford and the captain and all that. Why, you promised to +help me, and now—" +</p> +<p> +"Hal Ford?" repeated Percival, dazed. "What has he to do with it?" +</p> +<p> +"More than anybody else in the world. He's waiting for me in Wyoming, +and I'm counting the days and the hours and the minutes until I get back +to him. I thought you understood, and were helping me bring the captain +around." +</p> +<p> +He stood before her too stunned to speak. +</p> +<p> +Sheer amazement for the moment crowded out the pain. +</p> +<p> +"But—but don't you love me?" he stammered at last. +</p> +<p> +"Of course I don't," said Bobby, almost indignantly; "I never have loved +anybody, and I never will love anybody but Hal." +</p> +<p> +Then Percival realized that it was quite possible for lightning to +strike twice in the same place. He felt a sudden pain in his throat, +a burning under his lids, and he sat down limply. +</p> +<a name="image-0014"><!--IMG--></a> +<div class="figure"> +<img src="images/illustr-14.png" style="width: 100%;" +alt="'I'm so sorry!' whispered Bobby, putting her arm impulsively around his heaving shoulders" /><br /> +"I'm so sorry!" whispered Bobby, putting her arm impulsively around his heaving shoulders +</div> + +<p> +"I'm so sorry!" whispered Bobby, putting her arm impulsively around his +heaving shoulders. "I thought we were playing a game. I thought you +understood. Please forgive me, Mr. Hascombe! Please! Won't you?" +</p> +<p> +He shook off her arm and stood up. He was whiter than he had been on the +night of the accident, but he managed to achieve a smile. +</p> +<p> +"Nothing whatever to forgive, I assure you. Just a bit of a bunker, you +know. Silly ass I was, not to have seen it all along. May I offer my +congratulations?" he added. +</p> +<p> +She took the hand that he hold out, and for a longer time than either of +them knew they stood silent, looking out into the vast mystery of the +night, while the throbbing strains of "La Paloma" floated up from below, +mingling with the music of the rippling water. +</p> +<p> +"I guess this is good-by," said Bobby, tremulously. +</p> +<p> +Then it was that the Honorable Percival illustrated the fact that an +English gentleman is often greatest in defeat. +</p> +<p> +"Not necessarily," he said gamely. "Quite possible you and your husband +may come to England." +</p> +<p> +"Or you to Wyoming!" cried Bobby, brightening instantly, and turning +upon him the full splendor of her eyes. "Hal and I'd just <i>love</i> to +give you a summer on the ranch. Do you suppose it ever will be +possible?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, I dare say," said the Honorable Percival, nonchalantly adjusting +his monocle. +</p> +<a name="h2H_4_0020" id="h2H_4_0020"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2> + XVI +</h2> +<h3> + IN PORT +</h3> +<p> +The next morning the long voyage of the <i>Saluria</i> came to an end. +The steamer docked at Hong-Kong just as the first pink streaks of dawn +crept over the bay and the terraced city. +</p> +<p> +Bobby was up with the officers, and breakfasted alone with the captain. +</p> +<p> +"Can you spare me five minutes?" she asked as he was hurrying through +his second cup of coffee. +</p> +<p> +"What for?" +</p> +<p> +"For a talk. I've got something to tell you." +</p> +<p> +"It'll have to wait," said the captain, gruffly. "We are landing a cargo +of sugar machinery here, and I've got my hands full." +</p> +<p> +"I don't want your hands," said Bobby, quietly; "I want your ears. +There's something I've just got to tell you." +</p> +<p> +"I can't listen. I'm due on the bridge now." +</p> +<p> +He escaped for the time being, but later In the morning, when the +commotion of arrival was at its height, and the passengers were +beginning to go ashore, he found Bobby on the bridge beside him. He +fancied he saw defiance written all over her, from the crown of her +white hat to the tip of her white shoes. +</p> +<p> +"Captain," she said, "It won't take a minute." +</p> +<p> +He was on the point of refusing when she laid her hand on his. +</p> +<p> +"Cut away!" he said, looking straight ahead of him. "Make it short." +</p> +<p> +"It's about Mr. Hascombe. He's—he's asked me to marry him." +</p> +<p> +The captain jerked his hand away and brought it down on the rail with a +resounding blow. +</p> +<p> +"You sha'n't do it!" he thundered. "I'd see you sewed up in a bag and +dropped alongside first." +</p> +<p> +"But, Captain—" +</p> +<p> +"I won't have it! There's no use arguing. The idea of a girl of mine +being carried away by a condescending, conceited jack-in-the-box—" +</p> +<p> +"He <i>isn't</i>! He's a darling!" Bobby flashed out hotly. "It's just +that you don't understand him." +</p> +<p> +"What's more, I don't want to. I've had enough of him and his kind. If +I'd known you were going to run amuck of a thing like this, I'd have let +you bury yourself on the ranch for the rest of your life." +</p> +<p> +"Well," agreed Bobby, carefully studying her pink palm, and weighing her +words as one who is quite open to reason, "I think I could have been +happy with Hal; but you thought we were both too young and that I ought +to see some other men first." +</p> +<p> +"Yes, but I didn't know you were going to get your head turned by the +first fool that came lording it around with a valet and a title. The +Fords may be plain people, but, by Jugs! they are the sort to tie up to +in a squall." +</p> +<p> +Bobby smiled broadly under the brim of her hat. +</p> +<p> +"Then you advise me to take Hal?" +</p> +<p> +"I advise you to let me send this fellow Hascombe about his business. +I'll make short work of him." +</p> +<p> +Bobby slipped her arm through his, and looked up saucily. +</p> +<p> +"You needn't bother, dear," she said. "Now that it's all settled about +Hal, I don't mind telling you that I refused Mr. Hascombe last night." +</p> +<hr /> +<p> +On the gangway below, the passengers were slowly filing ashore. Among +the last to debark was the Honorable Percival Hascombe, followed by a +fur coat, a gun-case, two pigskin bags, a hat-box, and a valet. On his +face was an expression of unutterable ennui. As he reached the wharf he +turned and casually surveyed the steamer. On the bridge he discerned a +small alert figure, clad in white, her dark head framed by the broad +brim of a Panama hat. She waved her hand and smiled, and he waved back, +but he did not smile. +</p> +<p> +"Judson," said the Honorable Percival as they handed their bags to +Sister Cordelia's footman, "quite unnecessary to mention any—er—any +incidents of the voyage. You understand?" +</p> +<p> +"Quite so, sir," said Judson. +</p> +<h3> +FINIS +</h3> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<div class="advert"> + +<p style="font-size: 125%; text-indent: -1em; margin-left: 1em;" > +<b>"When Alice Hegan Rice writes a little book, lovers of whimsical +fiction rejoice with open rejoicing."</b>—<i>Chicago Tribune</i>. +</p> +<p> +"Mrs. Rice has been paid the compliment of being compared with Dickens. +Those who appreciate her real merits will see that she is more natural, +more lifelike, and more unaffectedly humorous than the author of +'Pickwick Papers.'"—<i>Rochester Post-Express</i>. +</p> +<p> +"There is a delicious humor in everything she writes, and it has +the virtue of non-boisterousness and sobriety in tone. There is +no straining for wit: everything has the merit of spontaneity and +naturalness."—<i>Philadelphia Record</i>. +</p> +<p> +"She is one of the real humorists, for at the bottom of her humor there +is a deep well of human kindness."—<i>The Metropolitan</i>. +</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> +<i>See next page for complete list of Mrs. Rice's books</i> +</p> +<p> </p> + +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + +<h2 style="text-decoration: underline;"> +Books by Alice Hegan Rice +</h2> + +<div class="advert"> + +<h3> +MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH +</h3> +<p> +"A sure cure for the blues, and a gay challenge to pessimists in +general."—<i>Chicago Herald</i>. +</p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"> +<i>Price</i> $1.00 +</p> +<h3> +LOVEY MARY +</h3> +<p> +"For fun and pathos, for crisp wit and serene philosophy, and for the +charm that holds the reader spellbound, 'Lovey Mary' is as notable as +'Mrs. Wiggs.'"—<i>The Christian Intelligencer</i>. +</p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"> +<i>Price</i> $1.00 +</p> +<h3> +MR. OPP +</h3> +<p> +"He is a figure that might hang without insidious +comparison in George Eliot's own immortal +character portrait gallery."—<i>New York Sun</i>. +</p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"> +<i>Price</i> $1.00 +</p> +<h3> +A ROMANCE OF BILLY-GOAT HILL +</h3> +<p> +"The love story has the fragrance of a wild rose, and every character in +the book is worth knowing."—<i>Chicago Record-Herald</i>. +</p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"> +<i>Price</i> $1.25 <i>net, postage</i> 10 <i>cents</i> +</p> +<h3> +SANDY +</h3> +<p> +Sandy is a lovable Irish waif, and his story overflows with sunshine and +humor. +</p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"> +<i>Price</i> $1.00 +</p> +<h3> +CAPTAIN JUNE +</h3> +<p> +A happy story of a dear little American lad who has all kinds of +interesting and unusual experiences in Japan. +</p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"> +<i>Price</i> $1.00 +</p> +<p> </p> +<p style="text-indent: 0em; text-align: center;"> +At all booksellers. Published by<br /> THE CENTURY CO. +</p> + +</div> + +<div style="height: 6em;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Honorable Percival, by Alice Hegan Rice + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL *** + +***** This file should be named 15180-h.htm or 15180-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/1/8/15180/ + +Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia and the PG +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Honorable Percival + +Author: Alice Hegan Rice + +Release Date: February 26, 2005 [EBook #15180] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL *** + + + + +Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia and the PG +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/ + + + + + + + + + + + +THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL + + +[Illustration: Their boat had sailed] + + + + +THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL + +BY ALICE HEGAN RICE + +AUTHOR OF "MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH," +"A ROMANCE OF BILLY-GOAT HILL," ETC. + + + + NEW YORK + THE CENTURY CO. + 1914 + + * * * * * + + Copyright, 1914, by THE CENTURY CO. + Copyright, 1914, by MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE + + * * * * * + + _Published, October, 1914_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I A BLIGHTED BEING + + II A COUNTER-IRRITANT + + III CONVALESCENCE + + IV COUNTER-CURRENTS + + V STRANDED + + VI IN THE WIND-SHELTER + + VII THE DAY THAT NEVER WAS + + VIII IN THE CROW'S-NEST + + IX DRAGGING ANCHOR + + X ON THE SEARCH + + XI THE GYMKHANA + + XII THE SONG OF THE SIREN + + XIII PERCIVAL PROCRASTINATES + + XIV NEPTUNE TAKES A HAND + + XV PERCIVAL RISES TO AN OCCASION + + XVI IN PORT + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +Their boat had sailed + +"Well, did you ever! Where did _you_ come from?" + +Her hair, still damp, was hanging about her shoulders, and she carried +a bundle of bath-towels under her arm + +"Mr. Hascombe!" she demanded breathlessly, "you'll take me out in the +surf-boat, won't you?" + +At a break-neck speed towards the wharf + +"I don't know what makes me so everlastingly silly!" she said fiercely +trying to swallow the rising sobs, "but he _won't_ understand!" + +"I like the way your mouth looks when you read it" + +"Roberta!" he called sternly. "What are you doing out here?" + +"You will have to join the crowd," suggested Bobby when Percival +complained of not seeing her as often as he wished + +"If you want to hold my hand, Mr. Hascombe, you are welcome to it" + +He sat on a table swinging his feet in unison with a lot of other young +feet, while he sipped lemonade from the same glass as Bobby Boynton + +"Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?" she asked, glancing at +him over her shoulder + +"It's quite worth while," he said, "getting a jab in the wrist, to have +you looking after me like this" + +"I'm so sorry!" whispered Bobby, putting her arm impulsively around his +heaving shoulders + + * * * * * + + + + +THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL + + + + +I + +A BLIGHTED BEING + + +The Honorable Percival Hascombe came aboard the Pacific liner about +to sail from San Francisco, preceded by a fur coat, a gun-case, two +pigskin bags, a hat-box, and a valet. He was tall and slender, and +moved with an air of fastidious distinction. He wore a small mustache, +a monocle, and an expression of unutterable ennui. His costume consisted +of a smart tweed traveling-suit, with cap to match, white spats, and +a pair of binoculars swung across his shoulders. In his eyes was the +look, carefully maintained, of one who has sounded the depths of human +tragedy. + +Since his advent into the world twenty-eight years before, he had +been made to feel but one responsibility. His elder brother, having +persistently refused to provide himself with a wife and heir, the duty +of perpetuating the family name fell upon him, Percival Hascombe, second +son of the late Earl of Westenhanger, of Hascombe Hall, fifth in descent +from the great Westenhanger whose marble effigy adorns the dullest and +most respectable cathedral in southern England. + +From the time Percival had been able to cast a discriminating eye, his +adoring family had presented the feminine flowers of the country-side +for his inspection. One after another they had met with his grave +consideration and subsequent disapprobation. Fears had begun to be +entertained that he would follow in the solitary footsteps of his +bachelor brother, when Lady Hortense Vevay appeared on the scene. + +Lady Hortense, with her mother, the Duchess of Dare, had come down +to Devon for the shooting one autumn, seeking rest after a strenuous +social season following her presentation at court. She had been there +less than a week when she bagged the biggest game in the neighborhood. +The explanation was obvious: the Lady Hortense had no faults to be +discovered. The closest inspection through two pairs of glasses, +Percival's and her own, failed to reveal a flaw. Her birth and position +were equal to his own; her beauty, if attenuated, was sufficient; while +her discriminating taste amounted to a virtue. The Honorable Percival +proffered his hand, and was accepted. Hascombe Hall rang with applause. + +All might have been well had not mother and daughter been pressed to +seal the compact by a closer intimacy in a ten-days' visit at the hall. +The young people were allowed to bask uninterrupted in the light of each +other's perfections, and the result was disastrous. Two persons who have +achieved distinction as soloists do not take kindly to duets. A few days +after the Vevays' return to London, Lady Hortense wrote a perfectly +worded note, and asked to be released from the engagement. + +The utterly preposterous fact that a Hascombe of Hascombe Hall had been +jilted was too amazing a circumstance to be concealed, and the county +buzzed with rumors. The Honorable Percival, whose pride had sustained +a compound fracture, set sail immediately for America. After a hurried +trip across the continent, he was embarking again, this time for +Hong-Kong, where a sympathetic married sister held out embracing arms, +and a promise of refuge from wagging tongues. + +As he moved languidly down the deck and sank into the steamer-chair that +bore his name, he assured himself for the fortieth time since leaving +England that life bored him to tears. He had sounded its joys and its +sorrows, he had exhausted its thrills; it was like a scenic railway +over which he was compelled to ride after every detail had become +monotonously familiar. There was nothing more for him to learn about +life, nothing more for him to feel. At least that is what the Honorable +Percival thought. But when one reckons too confidently on having +exhausted the varieties of human experience, one is apt to get a jolt. + +Carefully selecting a cigarette from a gold case, he struck a light, +and, after a whiff or two, lay back and, closing his eyes on the stir +and confusion, gave himself up to painful reflections. His shrunken +self-esteem, like a feathered thing exposed to wet weather, was +clamoring for a sunny spot in which to expand to natural proportions. +Had he been able to remain at home, the unending chorus of feminine +praise would soon have dried his draggled feathers and left him preening +himself contentedly in the comforting assurance that Lady Hortense was +in no way worthy of him. But being confronted thus suddenly with the +necessity of supplying his egotism with all its nourishment, he found +himself unequal to the task. Behind every consoling thought stalked that +totally incredible "No." He tortured his brain for possible reasons for +Hortense's deflection, but could find none. Detail by detail he reviewed +their acquaintance from the first time he had bowed over her fingers, +in Lord Carlton's hunting-lodge, to the moment he had touched his lips +to the same fingers in formal farewell on the terrace at Hascombe Hall. +It had been such a well-bred courtship from the start, so thoroughly +approved by both sides, so perfectly conducted throughout! + +Then, following suddenly on this smooth course of events, came a series +of bumps that made Percival wince as he recalled them: protests, +evasions, humiliating questions on the part of the public, and then +ignominious flight. He shuddered as he thought of the dull, wet days on +the Atlantic and his hideous week in America. He had been in a perpetual +state of protest against everything from the hotel service to what he +termed the "crass vulgarity of the States." + +There had been but one oasis in the desert of gloom through which he had +traveled, and that had been on his interminable trip across the +continent, when for ten brief minutes his blight had been lifted, and he +had caught a breath of the incense for which his soul hungered. + +It was at a little station in Wyoming that he, a convalescent from love, +had for the first time in weeks managed to look up and take a bit of +amatory nourishment. He was standing alone on the rear platform of the +observation-car, arms on railing, watching with no interest whatever +the taking off of mail-bags. Suddenly within his line of vision came a +stalwart young chap and a girl, each astride a bronco. They drew rein at +the platform, cursorily scanned the waiting train, glanced at him, then +at each other, and, apparently without the slightest reason, burst into +unrestrained merriment. Percival continued to survey them calmly and +haughtily through his monocle. His first glance had revealed the fact +that the girl was strikingly pretty. Her lithe young body showed round +and comely in its khaki suit and brown leggings. Her black mane was +braided in two short, thick plaits with a dash of scarlet ribbons at the +ends. Blue eyes, full of daring, danced under the blackest of brows, and +the smile she flashed at her companion revealed a dimple of distracting +proportions. + +As Percival gazed he was quite oblivious of the fact that the laugh +was at his expense. In fact, he accorded her darting glances a far +more flattering interpretation, and when her escort dismounted, and +disappeared within the station, he deliberately caught her eye and held +it. There was a touch of daring in her face and figure, an evident sense +of security in the fact that the train was already beginning to move. He +shifted his position from the end of the platform to the side next the +station, and she met the challenge by gathering up her reins and keeping +pace with the slow-moving train. + +For a short distance road and track lay parallel, and as the train +slowly got under way, the bronco was put to a run. Side by side, not +ten feet apart, Percival and the girl moved abreast, their eyes keeping +company. He had never seen anything so vitally young and untrammeled +as she was. She rode superbly, like an Indian, leaning well forward, +gripping the bronco with her knees, with one hand grasping his mane. +Every muscle was tense with life, every nerve a-quiver with glee. +Before the young Englishman knew it, his own sluggish blood was stirring +in his veins through sympathy. Then the train began to gain upon her, +and throwing herself back in the saddle, she shook a vanquished head. +As Percival raised his cap she wheeled her horse, and, standing in the +stirrups, blew an audacious kiss from her finger-tips. The next instant +she was dashing away across the wide, bleak prairies, the only living +thing in sight, her scarlet ribbons a streak of color in the dull-gray +landscape. + +Percival had taken heart of grace from that airy kiss. It stood to him +as a symbol that, though one of the sex had proved a deserter to his +standard, there were still volunteers. He treasured the incident as a +king treasures the homage of his humblest subject when rebellion is rife +in the kingdom. On such trifles often hang one's self-esteem. + +When the stir and bustle on deck became so lively that he was no longer +able to indulge in introspection, he got up and indifferently joined the +moving throng. The warning had sounded for those going ashore, and the +numerous gangways were crowded. Passengers lined the promenade-deck, +shouting and waving to the crowd on the wharf below. From the +bridge-deck the captain could be heard cheerfully swearing through a +megaphone at the second officer below. Chinese deck-stewards glided +about in their felt slippers, trying to attach the right person to the +right steamer-chair. Cabin-boys scurried about with baskets of fruit and +flowers and other sea-going impedimenta that, after one appreciative +glance from the recipient, are usually consigned to the ice-box. All +was noise and confusion. + +Percival's critical eye swept the line of human backs that presented +themselves at the railing. The same old types! He could describe them +with his eyes shut: the conventional globe-trotters, avid to obtain and +to impart information; business men comparing statistics and endlessly +discussing the tariff; rich wanderers in quest of health; poor +missionaries in quest of "foreign fields"; fussy Frenchmen; stolid +Germans; a few suspicious-looking Englishmen; and always the ubiquitous +Americans, who had the same effect upon him that a highly colored cloth +has on the delicate sensibilities of a certain large animal. + +The most conspicuous example of the last class was a somewhat noisy +young person in a still more resonant steamer-coat who hung at an angle +of forty-five degrees over the railing, and exchanged confidences of a +personal nature with an old man on the wharf twenty feet below. Every +time Percival's walk brought him toward the bow of the boat, his eyes +were offended by that blue-and-lavender steamer-coat and by a pair of +beaded-leather slippers with three straps across the instep and absurdly +high French heels. Could any one but an American, he soliloquized, be +guilty of starting on a journey in such a costume? + +The prospect of being imprisoned between decks for four weeks, with +this heterogeneous collection appalled him. His only safety lay in +maintaining a rigid and uncompromising aloofness. He would discourage +all advances from the start, he would promptly nip in the bud the first +sign of intrusion. He had left the only country an Englishman regards as +the proper place for existence, to cross two abominable seas and an even +more abominable continent, for the sole purpose of privacy, and privacy +he meant to have at all costs. + +As the _Saluria_ weighed anchor and steamed out of the Golden Gate, +he went below to see that his valet had made satisfactory disposition of +his varied belongings. His state-room was at the end of a short passage +leading from the main, one, and he was displeased at finding the deep +ledge under the passage window completely filled with flowers and fruit +that evidently belonged to some one occupying a room in the same passage. + +He rang for the cabin-boy. + +"Remove that greengrocer's shop!" he commanded peremptorily. "It is +abominably stuffy down here. We can't have the port-holes filled up like +that, you know." + +The bland face of the young Chinaman assumed an expression of mild +inquiry. + +"Take away!" ordered Percival, resorting to gesture. + +"No can," said the boy, calmly. "All same b'long one missy. Missy b'long +cap'n." + +Percival turned impatiently to his valet, who was coming through the +passage. + +"Judson, get those things out of the window, and keep them out. Do you +hear?" + +"Yes, sir. But where shall I put them, sir?" + +"On the floor--in the sea--wherever you like," said Percival, as he +slipped his arms into the top-coat that was being respectfully held +for him. + +Once again on deck, he found that the wind had acquired a sudden edge. +The short chop of the waves and scudding of gray clouds indicated that +the customary bit of rough weather after leaving the Golden Gate was to +be expected. Percival was not happy in rough weather. He attributed it +to extreme sensitiveness to atmospheric conditions. Whatever the cause, +the result remained that he was not happy. + +The motion of the vessel made him pause a moment. The casual observer +would have said he stopped to cast an experienced eye on a sky that +could not deceive him; but the casual observer does not always know. +It is a long distance between the prow and the stern of an ocean liner, +when the deck is composed of alternating mountains and valleys that one +has to climb and descend. Percival found it decidedly hard going before +he reached his steamer-chair. + +When he did so, he encountered a sight that filled him with chagrin. +Wrapped in the folds of his rug was that obnoxious blue-and-lavender +steamer-coat, with its owner snugly ensconced within, her eyes closed, +and her cheek brazenly reposing on the Hascombe crest that adorned the +pillow under her head! + +Percival paused, irresolute, and his nostrils quivered. He wanted +very much to sit down, and he was unwilling to occupy any other +steamer-chair, for fear its owner might claim it. There was nothing left +for him but to pace up and down that undulating deck until the young +person opened her eyes and discovered, by glances which he would render +unmistakable, that she was trespassing. + +When his third round brought him in front of her, and he saw that she +was awake, he carefully adjusted his monocle, and turned upon her a look +that was not unfamiliar to certain menials in the employ of Hascombe +Hall. + +But no withering blight followed his look. Instead, the wearer of the +gaudy coat sat up suddenly and said, with a radiant smile: + +"Well, did you ever! Where did _you_ come from?" + +[Illustration: "Well, did you ever! Where did _you_ come from?"] + +By a curious twist, his mind suddenly beheld a rolling prairie in place +of the tumbling sea, and a comely figure in khaki and brown leggings in +place of the muffled form in the hideous coat. His suspicion was +confirmed when he met the frank gaze of the bluest eyes that ever held a +challenge. + +Instead of being amused, Percival was profoundly annoyed. The incident +on the train had been pretty enough in its way, but it was closed. As it +stood, it had been rather artistic and satisfying. A wild, unknown bit +of femininity dashing into his life for ten throbbing minutes, then +vanishing into the sunset, was one thing, and this very tangible young +person in clothes of the wrong cut and color, addressing him in terms of +easy familiarity, was quite another. + +"I beg your pardon," he said stiffly. "Did you address me?" + +Her eyes clouded. + +"Why, I thought--I thought you were some one I knew. Is this your chair?" + +"It is. Pray do not discommode yourself?" + +"That is all right," she answered, trying to disentangle her high heels +from his rug. "I've had my nap, thank you. Think I'll go down and get a +sandwich." + +Percival waited in frigid silence until she had departed; then he sank +limply into the warm nest she had just left, and closed his eyes on a +world that failed in all respects to give satisfaction. + + + + +II + +A COUNTER-IRRITANT + + +If there is a place on earth where one meets with the present face +to face, it is on shipboard. Whether salt water and sea air act as a +narcotic on memories of the past and dreams of the future has never been +proved, but it is undeniably true that at sea time becomes a static +thing and concerns itself solely with the affairs of the moment. + +During that first long afternoon Percival slept; and if the faithless +Hortense essayed to haunt his dreams, she was drowned in the profundity +of his slumber. It was not until his valet touched his arm and +respectfully submitted the information that the first gong had sounded +for dinner that he woke to the fact that the _Saluria_ was still +swinging from the trough to the summit of increasingly high waves and +that the deck was virtually deserted. + +"If you are not feeling quite the thing, sir," said the valet, +solicitously, "shall I serve your dinner on deck, sir?" + +Instantly Percival rose. + +"By no means," he said coldly. "Get me a sherry and bitters. I'll dress +at once." + +Proud indifference to every passing sensation was manifest in each +detail of his careful toilet when he took his place at the captain's +table some twenty minutes later. With a haughty inclination of the head, +he seated himself and, apparently unaware of the glances cast upon him, +devoted himself to an absorbed perusal of the menu. He was quite used to +being looked at; in fact, he suffered the admiration of the public with +noble tolerance: only it must keep its distance; he could have no +presuming. + +On his arrival the conversation suffered a sudden chill; but the +captain, who knew the signs of approaching icebergs, soon steered the +talk back into warm waters. It was evident that the captain was in the +habit of occupying the center of the stage, a fact which should have +gratified Percival, inasmuch as it focused attention at the far end +of the table. Strange to say, he was not gratified. He conceived an +immediate dislike for the large, good-looking officer, who seemed built +especially to show off his smart uniform, and who brazenly ignored all +conventions save those of navigation, His peculiarities of speech, which +at another time might have gratified Percival and confirmed the report +he was bearing back to England that Americans were, if possible, more +obnoxious at home than abroad, now jarred upon him grievously. He found +it difficult to follow the story that was causing the present merriment. + +"And when my Nelson eye discovered," the captain was concluding, "that +Ah Foo was perambulating an affair in Shanghai, I summoned the slave and +asked him if his mind was set on becoming festooned in matrimony. He +thought it was. So I up and bought the damsel for him, paid one hundred +Mex. for her, and, if you'll believe me, haven't had a dime's worth of +work out of Ah Foo since!" + +Percival found himself on the dry beach of non-comprehension when the +tide of laughter followed the receding story, + +"A cup of very strong tea and dry toast," he said over his shoulder to +the waiting Chinaman. + +As his eyes returned to the study of the menu, he was for the first time +aware that the objectionable young person, with a glitter of rhinestones +in her hair, was sitting next the captain, giving him story for story, +and laughing much more than the occasion seemed to Percival to warrant. +He particularly disliked to hear a woman laugh aloud in public, and he +was vexed with himself that he looked up every time her laugh rang out. +To be sure, she was well worth looking at. Despite the clashing colors +of her costume, he could not deny the charm of her blue eyes and black +hair, and of the red lips whose only fault was that they smiled too +much. It was her dress, her freedom, her unrestrained gaiety that +offended Percival. In England a girl of her age would still be a +trembling bud, modestly hiding behind a mass of elderly foliage. + +The absence of a chaperon puzzled him. The two other women at the table, +a Mrs. Weston and her daughter, had evidently just met her, and the +captain seemed to be the only one who had known her before. He called +her "Bobby," and treated her with the easy familiarity of a big brother. + +"Don't talk to me about Wyoming!" he was saying now, in answer to some +boast of hers. "Anybody can have it that wants it. I make 'em a present +of it, with Dakota thrown in. You remember, Bobby, the last time I was +at the ranch? All hands on deck at two bells in the morning watch, a +twenty-mile sail on a bucking bronco, then back to the ranch, where we +shipped a cargo of food that would sink a tramp, A gallon or so of soup +in the hold, a saddle of venison, a broiled antelope, and six vegetables +in the forward hatchway, with three kinds of pie in the bunkers. It was +a regular food jag three times a day. It took me just two weeks at sea +to get over those two days on land." + +Percival stirred uneasily. His tea and toast were long in coming, and a +certain haunted look was dawning on his face. Through the port-holes he +could see the deep-purple sky rising to give place to still deeper-purple +sea as the ship rose with sickening regularity. He took an olive. + +"Isn't there a good deal of motion?" asked Mrs. Weston, a delicate, +appealing blonde, whose opinions were always tentative until they +received the stamp of masculine approval. + +"Motion!" thundered the captain, bringing down a huge tattooed fist on +the table. "Isn't that like a woman? When I have ordered this calm +weather especially for Mrs. Weston's benefit! I've a good mind to +whistle for a hurricane." + +"No, no, please!" she protested in mock terror. + +Percival turned away from the foolish chatter. Matters of a deep and +sinister nature occupied his mind. He felt within him wars and rumors of +wars. He wished that the curtains would stop swinging out from the wall +in that silly fashion. It was deuced uncanny to see them hang at an +angle of twenty-five degrees, then slowly and mysteriously fall back +into their places. He tried not to watch them, but it was even more +dangerous to look at the man next him breaking soft-boiled eggs into a +glass tumbler. He took another olive. + +An electric fan overhead whirred incessantly, and the bright, flashing +blades smote his eyes with diabolical precision. The circular motion, +instead of cooling him, brought beads of perspiration to his brow. + +"Who'll have some Chinese chow?" asked the captain. "I always order a +dish or two the first night out. Can't give you any birds'-nest soup--" + +A violent shudder passed over Percival, and he made a lightning +calculation of the distance from the table to the stairway. In doing so +he noted that it was a spiral stairway. Why in the name of heaven was +everything round? The port-holes, the revolving-chairs, the electric +fans, the plates, the olives-- + +At the thought of olives, all the pent-up possibilities became imminent +certainties. He rose dizzily, collided with the Chinaman bringing his +tea, and made blindly for the stairs. Half-way up, he staggered; each +step rose to meet him, then fell away from his foot the moment he +touched it. He grasped the baluster-rail, and stood wildly clinging, +like a shipwrecked sailor to a mast. He was dazed, dumb, paralyzed with +fear of the inevitable, and aware only of the burst of uncontrollable +laughter that had followed his abrupt retreat. Somebody from above held +out a succoring hand, at which he grasped frantically. Stumbling, half +blind, this unfortunate victim to atmospheric conditions was guided up +the remaining stops and out on deck, where he was anchored to the +railing and kindly left to his fate. + + + + +III + +CONVALESCENCE + + +During the monotonous days that followed, the Honorable Percival +Hascombe discovered that the satisfaction of being exclusive is usually +tempered by the discomfort of being bored. So lofty and forbidding had +been his manner that no one had ventured to intrude even a casual good +morning. A bachelor under thirty, with a competence of such dimensions +that it had entailed incompetency, and a doting family that danced +attendance upon his every whim, he was figuratively as well as literally +at sea in this new environment. At times he faltered in his stern +determination not to allow any one to become acquainted with him. It was +only the fear that any leniency might result in undue liberty on the +part of some aggressive American that caused him to preserve his deep +seclusion. + +Bored, blase, blighted, he had one more affliction to endure. The young +person had gotten hopelessly on his nerves; in fact, she was the most +disturbing object on the horizon. She played shuffle-board in front of +his chair when he wanted to read; she practised new dance-steps with +the first officer when he wanted to sleep; she caused him to lift his +unwilling eyes a dozen times an hour by her endless circuits of the +deck. She was on terms of friendship with everybody on board except +himself, including the second class and steerage. There seemed no end to +her activities, no limit to her enthusiasm. The more she attracted his +unwilling attention, the more persistently he ignored her. + +As the time passed and danger of intrusion lessened, his ennui +increased. One dull, humid day, when the whole world resembled a +dripping sponge, Percival reached the limit of his endurance. The canvas +was down, and nothing could be seen but long vistas of slippery decks, +with barefooted Chinese sailors everlastingly mopping and slopping about +in the wet. He had counted the five hundred and fiftieth raindrop that +clung to the red life-belt at the rail when he saw the young Scotchman +next him look at his watch. + +"What time do you make it?" asked Percival, and his voice sounded almost +strange to him. + +"Eleven," said the man, getting to his feet; "aboot time for the fun to +begin in the bathing-tank." + +Ordinarily Percival would have allowed the conversation to end there, +but he felt now that he would be risking his sanity if he sat there any +longer counting raindrops. + +"What's taking place?" he asked listlessly. + +"The usual morning diversion: the captain's daughter is teaching a +couple of bairns to swim." + +"Surely they won't go in on a beastly day like this!" + +"I'll be bound they do. Shall we go find out?" + +Forward a number of people were already hanging over the rail, highly +diverted at what was taking place in the big canvas tank on the deck +below. Percival, looking down, beheld the young person standing on +the lower rung of a ladder, coaxing a small boy to jump from the +platform above. Now, on several occasions in the past Percival had met +Disillusion face to face in a bathing-suit. A certain attenuated memory +of the faithless Hortense made him wince even yet. But the round and +graceful figure poised in dancing impatience on the ladder-rung defied +criticism. Much as he disapproved of the public exhibition, he could not +check a breath of admiration. + +The small boy shivering on the platform vibrated between courage and +fear; then, urged by the shouts from above, and lured by that sparkling +face and those outstretched arms below, he leaped. Shrieks of laughter +followed as his fat little body spanked the water, and was quickly +righted and deposited, gasping, but victorious, on a life-buoy. Then the +small girl must dive, and after that all three must splash and jump and +float and swim like a trio of mad young porpoises. + +The Honorable Percival was a good swimmer himself, and his interest +kindled as he watched the perfect ease with which the young person +handled herself in the narrow confines of the tank. While he deplored +the wretched taste of the proceeding, he had to admit that she carried +it off with admirable lack of self-consciousness. She swam as she did +everything else, with impetuous joy, and seemed as unaware of the +admiring glances of the spectators as the children themselves. + +"Did ye see her the other day when she climbed to the crow's-nest?" +asked the Scotchman, with enthusiasm. + +"No," said Percival, curtly. + +"The wind was blowing at a bittie, but she went up the rigging like a +sailor. I doubt if the lass would be afraid of the de'il himself." + +"Probably jolly well used to all this sort of thing," said Percival, +wearily. + +"Indeed, no; this is her first sea-voyage. She never saw a ship before." + +"I thought you said she was the captain's daughter." + +"So she is; but he's had her out on a Western ranch since she was a bit +of a lass. Quite a romance!" + +"Really?" + +"Yes. Her mother was a play-actress. Ran off with an English nobleman. +Left the captain and the lassie in the lurch, and died before she +reached England. I had the story from the purser." + +"Where's the girl going now?" + +"The captain is fetching her the round trip to Hong-Kong, to break off +some love-affair at home, I believe. But if she's as canny as she's +bonny, I'll wager she'll outwit him before they have done." + +Percival, who at first had remained in the back row of the spectators, +during this recital moved to the front, and now as he looked down he +suddenly encountered the laughing glance of the person under discussion. +She was lazily watching him from where she floated in the water, with +her loosened hair circling in a dark cloud about her head. The +expression on her face gave him instant cause for alarm. + +Since that first day when she had spoken to him, he had studiously +avoided meeting her eye, and had even come to congratulate himself on +having removed from her mind the suspicion of a former encounter. But +there was that in the glance that now met and held his that dispelled +any such hope. It indicated all too clearly that she had not been +deceived, and that she was treating the matter with unbecoming levity. + +Percival returned haughtily to his steamer-chair, but not to count +raindrops. He had food for new and most irritating reflections. The +girl's refusal to take his cue and ignore the very mild flirtation that +had occurred on the car-platform placed him in a situation at once +awkward and embarrassing. He rather prided himself on never taking +advantage of any tribute of admiration that might be tendered him by the +less experienced of her sex. On more than one occasion in the past he +had heroically extinguished the tender flames that his own charms had +kindled in susceptible bosoms. He had come to share the belief of his +mother that he possessed a rare degree of chivalry in protecting women +against himself. + +But this impossible child of Nature either did not know the rules of +the game, or chose to ignore them. He would be forced to continue this +distasteful partnership memory, or else dissolve it with a casual +reference to the episode, which would dispose of it for good and all. +He had about decided upon the latter course when Fate forestalled him. + +On his way down to luncheon he encountered Miss Boynton coming up the +companionway. Her hair, still damp, was hanging about her shoulders, and +she carried a bundle of bath-towels under her arm. Both stood politely +aside, then both started forward, meeting midway. + +[Illustration: Her hair, still damp, was hanging about her shoulders, +and she carried a bundle of bath-towels under her arm.] + +"I--I--beg your pardon," said Percival. + +"What for?" she asked. + +"For--for not recognizing you the other day." It was not in the least +what he had meant to say, but it was said, and he must go on as best he +could. "Not expecting to see you, you know, and all that." + +She stood shaking her hair in the breeze and smiling. While she +evidently bore no resentment, she was not helping him out in his +apology. + +"One sees so many faces in traveling," he went on lamely, "and all so +much alike." + +"I'd have known your face anywhere," she said. + +He took a step downward, but she did not move. Instead she leaned +nonchalantly against the wall and began braiding her hair. + +"I know your name, too," she said, with a look half daring and half +quizzical. "I looked you up on the passenger-list." + +"But how did you know--" + +"Oh, it was easy to spot you. You were the only man on board who would +fit 'The Honorable Percival Hascombe and Valet.'" + +Percival found her scoffing tone intolerable. He descended two more +steps, but she stopped him with a request. + +"If you don't mind," she said, flinging the finished braid over her +shoulder, "I wish you'd write your grand name on my Panama hat sometime; +it's going to be a souvenir of the trip." + +With an unintelligible answer, he made his escape. His worst fears were +realized: he had given an inch; she had taken an ell. The crack in the +shell of his privacy was widening alarmingly and peeping through, he +shuddered at what he saw. + + + + +IV + +COUNTER-CURRENTS + + +Day after day the steamship _Saluria_ sailed the most amiable of +seas. So clear was the atmosphere at times that a glimpse could be had +of the planet Venus disporting herself in the heavens at high noon. Life +on shipboard became permeated with that spirit of fellowship which is +apt to make itself felt the moment the restraints of convention are +lifted. Even the Honorable Percival succumbed in a measure to the +insidious charm of the long, lazy days that were punctuated only by the +ship's bells. + +He was still an apparently indifferent spectator of all that was going +on, but the fact that he _was_ a spectator showed that he was +relaxing the rigid rules he had laid down for himself. The only person +who addressed him during the day was Bobby Boynton, who gave him a free +and easy greeting when they met in the morning, and then seemed to +forget his existence. His fear that she would follow up the conversation +begun in the companionway was apparently groundless, for she seemed +ridiculously engrossed in other things. + +Among the half-dozen young people on board who were perpetually +organizing tournaments, dances, card-parties, and concerts, she was the +most indefatigable. Not being responsible to any one for her actions, +and possessing a creative imagination, she indulged in escapades that +provided the older people with their chief topic of conversation. Her +sternest critics, however, smiled as they shook their heads. + +The captain from the first had treated her very much as he treated the +other passengers. The parental role was not a familiar one, and he +shirked it. The only time that he rose to a sense of duty was when he +found her in the writing-room, her head bent over a desk. Then rumor +said authority was bruskly asserted, letters were confiscated, and tears +flowed instead of ink. + +About the time the Honorable Percival was congratulating himself on +having put her in her proper place, and having kept her there, his +confidence received a shock. Coming on deck one day, he found her again +seated in his steamer-chair. This time she made no pretense of rising, +but obligingly made a place for him on the foot-rest. The invitation was +loftily declined. + +"I've been waiting a coon's age for you," she said, with an audacious +upward glance. "I wanted to tell you that I've put you on the program +for a song at the concert to-morrow night." + +"Quite impossible; I shouldn't think of such a thing for a moment," +he began; then curiosity got the better of his annoyance. "But if I may +ask, how on earth did you know that I sang?" + +Bobby's eyes danced, and her submerged dimple came to the surface. + +"I didn't," she said; "but they dared me to ask you, and I wouldn't take +a dare, would you?" + +"I am afraid I don't quite follow you," said Percival. + +"Well, you see," explained Bobby, "they dared me to ask you, and I didn't +mind, because I was dead sure you sang. A person ought to be able to do +anything with a voice like yours." + +Percival stroked his small mustache meditatively. + +"As a matter of fact, you know," he said in a tone from which the chill +had vanished, "I suppose an English voice is rather conspicuous among +Americans, isn't it?" + +"Yours is," said Bobby; "that is, what I've heard of it." + +And then she was gone like a flash, leaving the Honorable Percival to +cogitate upon the extraordinary manners of American girls, and a certain +cleverness they at times displayed. Lady Hortense Vevay, for instance, +had had four uninterrupted weeks in which to discover anything unusual +in his voice, and he must confess she had been rather stupid about it. +But why had that impossible young American ruined a pretty compliment by +her parting shot? Did she feel that she had any claim upon him? Did she +expect him to pay her any attention? Preposterous! + +The first break in the lazy routine of the voyage came when the dim +outline of the Hawaiian Islands gradually took definite shape in the +form of old Diamond Head which loomed strangely out of the water. +Sea-gulls came out to meet the steamer, circling on white wings against +the blue, and the air grew soft and fragrant with the odors of flowers +and tropical fruits. + +As the _Saluria_ slowly swung into the harbor and dropped anchor, +the promenade-deck was full of lively, chattering people, all arrayed in +white, and all eager for the first glimpse of the strange land. Dozens +of naked native boys were swimming about the steamer, causing general +merriment by their dexterity in diving for coins. One saucy brown imp +who had just come up with a silver piece in his mouth, caught sight +of the Englishman in the crowd above, and with a shrewdness born of +experience called out: "Hi there, English Johnny! Me no 'Merican boy; +me Johnny Bull boy. Me no want dime; want shilling! Here you are! +Aw right!" + +The invitation met no response. The Honorable Percival greeted with calm +disdain the laugh that followed it. He was not in the least interested +in impertinent young Hawaiians. A matter of much greater importance +occupied his attention. He had just been informed by the purser that, +owing to the crowded condition of the steamer, he would be compelled to +share his stateroom with another passenger during the remainder of the +voyage. This catastrophe darkened even the tropical sun. He was +indignant with the company in San Francisco that had failed to explain +this contingency; he was angry with the purser for not being able to +change the disagreeable order of things; but most of all he was furious +with the unknown stranger, whom in the blackness of his mood he pictured +as either a fat German or a chattering American. + +So perturbed was he over this circumstance that he could not refrain +from venting his ill humor on somebody, and his valet being unavailable +at the time, he took it out upon himself. + +"No, I am not going ashore," he said somewhat curtly to Bobby Boynton, +who had organized a party with sufficient diversions to last two days +instead of one. + +"You'd better come along," said Bobby. "We are going to shoot up the +town of Honolulu." + +"I don't know that I should particularly care for that," said Percival, +coldly. + +She looked at him with frank curiosity. + +"Say, why don't you ever let yourself have a good time?" she asked. +"Everybody else is going except the captain. He's got the gout. Says +he's carrying his grandfather's cocktails around in his starboard toe." + +She waited for a response, but none came. + +"It's going to be awfully stupid here with everybody gone," she +persisted. "Why won't you come?" + +She was dressed in a short white serge and the Panama hat, which as yet +was innocent of autographs. It was astonishing what a difference the +absence of conflicting colors made in her appearance. + +For a moment Percival's decision wavered before those pleading tones, +but the next he caught sight of Mrs. Weston and Elise evidently watching +with amused interest the result of Bobby's bold move. + +"Another dare, as I think you call it?" he asked. "You'll have to excuse +me, Miss Boynton. Sight-seeing is quite out of my line." + +He watched the gay party board the launch, Mrs. Weston, the two girls, +and the college boys whose raucous voices and offhand manners had grated +upon him ever since leaving San Francisco. As the small boat got away +from the steamer, one white-clad figure separated itself suddenly from +the rest, and waved a friendly hand to him. He started, then, lifting +his cap stiffly, moved away from the rail. The little minx was pretty; +in fact, he acknowledged for the first time that she was distractingly +pretty. But she was also presuming, and presumption was a thing he would +permit in no one. + +For the next few hours Percival found life not worth living. He sat +on the hot deck in solitary state, gloved in white chamois, with a +newspaper over his white-clad knees, engaged in the forlorn hope of +trying to keep clean while the ship was coaling. Finding this an +impossibility, he took refuge in the deserted-writing-room, where all +the port-holes were closed and the air as dead as that of an Egyptian +tomb. + +Satirical letters home were Percival's chief diversion. In them he +expressed his unqualified disapproval of the Western Hemisphere. The +assurance that they would be read by an adoring group of feminine +relatives gave wing to an imagination that was not wont to soar. Today, +however, inspiration was lacking. On opening the drawer of the first +desk he came to, he found a letter half begun which had evidently been +thrust there suddenly and forgotten. Across the top of the page was +written: + +"My darling H-----" + +Percival closed the drawer hurriedly. The conjunction of the letter H +with that particular adjective started echoes. He circled the room in +search of a desk not haunted by epistolatory ghosts. + +"Particularly asinine brand of pen!" he exclaimed in disgust. "Must have +been used for a corkscrew!" + +Corkscrews changed the current of his thought into a more pleasant +channel. But even the mild consolation thus suggested was denied him. +The smoking-room was closed. He wandered disconsolately to his +state-room and, flinging himself on the narrow sofa, stared at the +ceiling. Every fiber of his being shrieked for England and for the +revivifying warmth of adulation. + +His mind dwelt longingly upon Hascombe Hall and the acres of parkland, +moorland, and farmland that were its inheritance. Then he thought +bitterly upon that paragon of perfection who had caused his banishment. +How completely she would have filled the role of mistress of that noble +hall! He pictured her in irreproachable toilets, pouring tea in the east +drawing-room, and receiving her guests with the exact shade of warmth +that their social positions demanded. + +As he recalled her manner of cool distinction and her polished, +impersonal phrases, another feminine figure dared to flit between him +and this lady of manifold merit. No sooner would he indignantly banish +her image than she would come dancing back, a gay little figure, with +too much color in her checks and too much daring in her eyes. + +"Why don't you let yourself have a good time?" she had asked, and the +question repeated itself now with maddening insistence. Was he, who had +always had everything, now missing something--something that other +people had? + +When two bells sounded he reluctantly went below for lunch. The prospect +of a tete-a-tete with the captain was anything but pleasant. He +understood about half that the officer said, and with that half he +usually disagreed. His first remark was unfortunate: + +"All this dirt means more washing down of the decks, I suppose. Beastly +racket it makes. Is there any earthly reason why it should always be +done at dawn?" + +"Most one-sidedly," said the captain; "it gives the sailors a chance to +see the sunrise." + +There was a short silence, then Percival asked: + +"What's the name of that young South American who went ashore with your +daughter?" + +"South American?" repeated the captain. "I pass." + +"The blatant youth who sits at your left." + +"Oh, you mean Vaughn. He's no South American. He hails from Virginia." + +"Thought he said he was a Southerner. May I trouble you for the +mustard?" + +"Did the Daughter of the Revolution go along?" asked the captain. + +"Beg pardon?" + +"Mrs. Weston. She's a D.A.R. She has told me so five times; that's how +I know." + +"Really, why was she chosen to be the Daughter of the Regiment?" + +"The Revolution, not the regiment. You remember that little skirmish +that took place in '75?" + +Percival considered this thrust beneath his notice. His simmering +antagonism for the captain was nearing the boiling-point. + +"I say," he said, "will you kindly arrange for a bit of air to enter +this room? It's ghastly, perfectly ghastly." + +"Sure," said the captain, dexterously mixing a salad of alligator pears. +"Ah Foo, open some of those ports and let in the coal-dust. Have some of +this tropical mess?" + +"Thanks, no. I'm not specially fit today. Had a beastly night of it. +Fancy having to keep one's umbrella up in the berth to keep the light +from the passage out of one's eyes! I don't believe such a thing could +happen on a British steamer. Can't you manage to give me another +state-room?" + +"That's the purser's job; he's the room-clerk," said the captain. "I'm +only the skipper." + +Percival glanced quickly at the weather-beaten face, but found no +guiding expression. + +"I can't say I found your purser over-civil," he went on. "He insists on +putting another passenger in my state-room. Nothing was said about it in +San Francisco, nothing whatever. I shall report the matter at my first +opportunity." + +"I bet you've drawn that Chinese bigwig that's booked from here," said +the captain, grinning. + +Percival pushed back his plate. A German or an American had appalled +him, but a Chinaman! + +"I say, this is a bit thick, you know. What time does the next launch go +ashore?" he demanded, with, a fierce determination to find the purser +and demand satisfaction. + +"About to start now," said the captain, adding, with a twinkle: "Better +think twice about that Chinaman. If he takes the upper berth, his +queue'd come in mighty handy to hang your umbrella on." + +Percival dashed up the stairs. He had been seeking an excuse for going +ashore for the last four hours, and now he felt that he had one. It was +of the utmost importance, he assured himself, that he see the purser +without further delay. + + + + +V + +STRANDED + + +When a man insists too strenuously upon his rights, the imps of +perversity invariably combine to thwart him. Percival was aware of their +pursuing footsteps from the moment he went ashore and lost his umbrella, +to the hour of his return to the dock, when he found himself face to +face with a situation of baffling perplexity. + +No sooner had he stepped from the launch that had started him on his +double quest, which ostensibly had only the purser for its object, than +he was surrounded by a noisy, gesticulating crowd. Insistent requests +that he should buy a string of shells, adopt a chameleon, wear a wreath +of carnations, and take a drive, were proffered in broken English, and +he made his escape by jumping into a motor-car and slamming the door. + +"Where to, sir?" asked the gratified chauffeur. + +"Take me where everybody goes," directed Percival. + +"The Pali? Waikiki? Punch-Bowl? Aquarium?" + +"Yes, yes. Go on. You see, as a matter of fact, I'm looking for some +one." + +Percival's first impression of Honolulu was that of a futurist sketch, +a streak of green standing for the palm-shaded streets, a streak of +scarlet representing the royal Poinciana, and various impressionistic +dots indicating native Hawaiians. The motor in which he found himself +was very ancient, having evidently traveled from the center to the +circumference of civilization by easy stages. Its age and asthmatic +condition should have made it an object of veneration to the chauffeur, +but such was not the case. Like a belated express, it was driven +through the town and out into the open country. Luxurious villas, jungles +of cacti, Chinese tea-houses, taro patches, banana plantations--all +presented one mad panorama to Percival, who jolted from side to side +on the back seat. + +Presently there was a precipitous halt, and the chauffeur indicated that +he was to get out. + +"What for?" asked Percival, crossly. + +"The Pali," said the chauffeur, impressively. "Eighteen hundred feet +above the level of the sea, where the early inhabitants of Oahu made +their last stand against the enemy." + +"I'm quite sure she isn't here," said Percival. Then he caught himself, +and went into a rather elaborate explanation to cover his confusion. +"You see, I'm looking for the purser. The purser of the _Saluria_, +you know. He's put a nasty Chinaman in my state-room, and I've got to +find him before the ship sails." + +"Everybody comes first to the Pali," said the man. + +Percival glanced skeptically at the great granite cliff that seemed such +an unpromising retreat for pursers, then he stepped out of the motor, +and made his way around the sharp angle of stone wall. As he did so, a +gale struck him that sent his hat careening over the precipice. He gazed +after it in chagrin. The fact that one of the great panoramic views of +the world lay at his feet was quite obliterated by the unhappy knowledge +that an English Bowler had landed in the fork of a distant tree, defying +recovery. + +"Where next, sir?" asked the chauffeur, surprised at his quick return. + +"Anywhere out of this damned wind!" said Percival between his teeth. + +"Your friend might be at Waikiki Beach," suggested the chauffeur, +amiably. + +"He's _not_ my friend. He's a purser, I tell you. Wants to put--" + +But his words were lost in the whir of the engine. All the way back to +Honolulu and through the town Percival was seeing this strange, tropical +land through the blue eyes of a certain little untraveled Western +savage. What a revelation it must be to one used to the barren alkali +deserts of Wyoming, where, nothing grew but sage-bush and cacti! It +wouldn't be half bad, he thought, to hear what she had to say about it +all. But where was one to look for her? + +"We might try the pool-rooms," suggested the chauffeur. + +Percival looked at him blankly, then he remembered. + +"Take me to a hat shop," he said peremptorily. + +When they arrived at Waikiki Beach he got out of the motor with more +alacrity than was habitual to him, and entered the cocoanut-grove. By +Jove! he thought, it was not a bad sight to see the palms dangling over +the beach like that, with the jolly breakers rolling in, and the bay +full of changing colors. Coral reefs! That's what caused the color; he +had read it in a book somewhere. Air was good, too, fruity and salty and +not too hot. For the moment he forgot his cares; he even forgot that his +new hat was one of those peculiar shapes which Englishmen often pore +over in the advertising pages of American magazines for the sole purpose +of enjoying a sense of superb and vast superiority. + +As he scanned the beach his eye was caught by three ladies and three +natives standing about a surf-boat in animated discussion. The youngest +of the ladies, who wore a bathing-suit of conspicuous hue and did most +of the talking, suddenly detached herself from the others and came +flying across the sand toward him. + +"Mr. Hascombe!" she demanded breathlessly, "you'll take me out in the +surf-boat, won't you? The boys haven't come, and Mrs. Weston is afraid +for me to go alone." + +[Illustration: "Mr. Hascombe!" she demanded breathlessly, "you'll take +me out in the surf boat, won't you?"] + +"But my dear young lady, it's quite impossible. I'm looking for the +purser. They say he's going to put--" + +"Bother the purser! We haven't a minute to lose. The steamer sails at +five." + +"But really, I can't. And I quite agree with Mrs. Weston that it would +be most awfully improper for you to go alone." + +"Well, if you don't take me, I _will_ go alone!" she said defiantly; +then she suddenly changed her tactics, and added with childish insistence: +"But you _are_ going to take me now, aren't you? Please?" + +He could scarcely believe his senses when, a few minutes later, he found +himself frantically struggling into a rented bathing-suit in a steaming +little bath-house that gave evidence of recent use. But a glance into +the mirror that hung on the door not only convinced him of his identity, +but added the comforting assurance that he was not by any means looking +his worst in his present garb. He paused long enough to flex a +presentable bicep with pardonable pride. + +"Hurry up!" called Bobby, joyfully, as he emerged. "There are three +Kanakas and you and I. Can you swim?" + +"Rather," said Percival. + +They ran down to the beach to where the canoe, a long, narrow affair +with curious outriders, awaited them. + +"The last boat that went out capsized," cried Bobby, gleefully taking +her place behind the second Kanaka. "The men were in the water five +minutes, but the sharks didn't happen to notice them." + +"Sharks!" exclaimed Percival in consternation. + +The native in the front seat grinned and shook his head. + +"No sharks this side of the reef," he said reassuringly. + +As they paddled out over the blue water, Bobby's enthusiasm dashed like +spray against the rock of Percival's seeming indifference. + +"Isn't this the most heavenly place that ever happened!" she cried. +"Look at the mountains back yonder against the sky, and the mists in the +valleys, and all the color spilling out over the edge of the land into +the sea!" + +"Ye-es," said Percival; "but as a matter of fact I find the mosquitos +peculiarly trying." + +Now, if the truth must be told, it was not the mosquitos which were +disturbing the Honorable Percival. It was not even his failure to find +the purser. It was the disconcerting discovery that this persistent +young woman from the States was making him do things he didn't in the +least want to do. He glared gloomily at the back of her white neck, +across which a dark lock floated tantalizingly. + +As the space between them and the shore widened, the surf became +stronger and higher, until by the time they reached the reef the canoe +was dancing like a shell on the water. + +"Afraid?" asked Bobby, teasingly, flashing a smile over her shoulder. + +"I don't think," said Percival, and, immediately was chagrined at having +indulged in such a vulgar expression. + +"I love it!" cried Bobby. "It's more fun than a bucking bronco. Is this +our wave? All right! Let her go!" + +The Kanaka in the prow gave the signal, and the boat backed into the +monster wave just as it was about to break. Simultaneously the paddles +were plunged into the water, and a vigorous pull was made for the shore. +There was a merry whiz of rushing waters, a breathless suspension in +midair, then a gigantic upheaval as the boat plunged over the crest of +the wave and shot like an arrow two miles in two minutes to the beach. + +Percival, as has been stated, rather prided himself on having exhausted +life's thrills. When one has made a reputation for luging at Caux and +has raced on skis with the professionals at St. Moritz, not to boast of +a daring flight in a French aeroplane, one is apt to be rather superior +to minor sports. But the present thrilling diversion, shared with a girl +as irresistibly pretty and as utterly abandoned to the joy of the moment +as Bobby Boynton, proved quite the most exhilarating pastime in which he +had ever indulged. + +Again and again the boat went out, and again and again Mrs. Weston +beckoned frantically and imperatively from the pier. The last time she +looked at her watch, she seemed to give up the hope of getting the +delinquents back to shore. Gathering up scarfs and parasols, she and +Elise hurried back to the steamer. + +For the two young people in the boat the steamer had ceased to exist. +Everything had ceased to exist except a narrow shell of wood, three +brown-backed natives, and one towering wave after another that shot +them through delicious realms of space and left them, with every nerve +a-tingle, laughing into each other's eyes. + +"Ripping, isn't it?" cried Percival on the third return. "Shall we have +one more go?" + +"I expect we ought to be going," said Bobby, shaking the salt spray out +of her hair. "I don't see anything of Mrs. Weston and Elise." + +"I don't want to see anything of them," cried Percival, recklessly. +"Right ho! once more!" + +She was nothing loath, and they went blithely forth to meet the next big +wave. + +"Mrs. Weston _has_ gone!" said Bobby when they again touched shore. +"Wouldn't it be a lark if we were left?" + +No bullet ever brought a soaring bird to ground more promptly than this +remark brought the Honorable Percival to his senses. + +"Gad!" he cried, "but it's impossible! My luggage is all on board!" + +He scrambled frantically out of the boat and rushed to his bath-house. +The prospect of being stranded, on even a fairy island, with a +dangerously beguiling maiden of the middle class was even more appalling +than being divorced from his luggage. He struggled frantically into his +clothes, losing three precious minutes over a broken shoe-lace. When he +came out he found Bobby, very cool and collected, sipping an iced drink +at the pavilion. Not waiting for her to finish, he rushed her into the +waiting motor and implored the chauffeur to get them to the dock with +all possible speed. + +He was aghast at his own folly. It was incredible that he should have +allowed himself to drift into such an awkward situation. They might not +be missed until after the steamer sailed, in which case it was quite +possible that the erratic captain would refuse to put back. The man +might even make capital of the incident and claim that his daughter was +compromised. What if he should demand satisfaction? What satisfaction +would be due in the circumstances? Percival felt the hot blood rush to +his head. + +"Can't you speed her up a bit?" he urged, his elbows on the front seat +and his eyes on the small watch encased in the leather strap about his +wrist. + +"Yes, do!" cried Bobby, excitedly. "I love to go fast!" + +"Do you realize," asked Percival, assuming his sternest manner in order +to impress her with the gravity of the situation, "that we stand a very +good chance of being left?" + +"I can't imagine a nicer place to be left in," said Bobby, adding +between bounces, "besides, you needn't--look so cross--at me. It is all +your--own fault." + +The chauffeur at this point felt it incumbent upon him to avert a +quarrel, so he offered the cheering assurance that it was only four +forty-five, and he could get most anywhere in fifteen minutes. But even +as he spoke there was an ominous report, followed by the unmistakable +sound of escaping air. + +"Oh, I say!" cried Percival in tones of horror, "not a puncture?" + +"That's whut!" said the chauffeur, who had jammed on the brakes, and was +now ruefully inspecting a back wheel. + +"Can't stop for that!" cried Percival, impatiently. "Every second +counts, my man. Doesn't matter how much we bounce so long as we get +there." + +"But I ain't goin' to ruin my tire." + +"What the deuce do I care about your confounded old tire? I'll pay for +it. I'll pay you anything you ask if you get me to the dock on time." + +But after bumping furiously from cobblestone to cobblestone, the +chauffeur rebelled and positively declined to go farther until the tire +was changed. + +"Then it's up to us to catch a streetcar!" cried Bobby, "What luck! Here +comes one now. They only run once a week." + +"Street-car? Oh, you mean a tram. To be sure! Hadn't thought of it. +Shall we run for it?" + +Thrusting a gold piece into the hand of the chauffeur, he made a +fifty-yard dash for the corner that did credit to his early training. +But the imperious signal with which he hailed the car was not heeded. +Instead, a fat conductor leaned from the rear platform and obligingly +volunteered the information that he was on the wrong corner. + +"Intolerable insolence!" muttered Percival to Bobby, who had just come +up. "What are you laughing at?" + +"At your face when the car went by. Here comes a wagon. Quick! Ask the +man if he can't take us the rest of the way." + +"But we can't ride in a--" + +"Yes, we can. We can ride on a broom-stick if we have to. Hurry!" + +Percival plunged obediently into the street and made his request. He was +meeting with little encouragement from the driver, who evidently thought +he was mentally unsound, when Bobby came to his rescue. It was only by +resorting to some of those feminine tricks of persuasion which the +suffragists assure us are quite immoral that she succeeded in carrying +her point. + +Ten minutes later the curiosity of the main thoroughfare of Honolulu +was raised to fever-heat by the singular spectacle of an austere and +distinguished-looking Englishman and a pretty, if somewhat disheveled, +young girl dangling their feet from the end of a dilapidated wagon that +was being driven at a breakneck speed toward the wharf. + +[Illustration: At a breakneck speed towards the wharf] + +For once in his life Percival was indifferent to appearances. Everything +else sank into insignificance beside the one supreme necessity of +catching that steamer. There would not be another sailing for the Orient +for ten days. The prospect of ten days in this lotus-land alone with a +perilously pretty girl who had evidently taken an enormous fancy to him +filled him with alarm. What possible explanation could he offer to +Sister Cordelia, that august representative of the family waiting in +Hong-Kong to minister to his broken and bleeding heart? + +A violent lurch of the wagon caused him to grasp Bobby's arm to steady +her, and as he did so she got a glimpse of his rueful countenance. + +"Cheer up!" she cried. "There's no use looking like that even if we +_are_ left." + +"Like what?" + +"Like a trout on a hook." + +He shot a glance at her. Was it possible that she had divined his state +of mind? Woman's intuition was a thing of which he stood in deadly awe. + +But they were arriving at the dock, and there was no time to indulge in +subtleties. He sprang from the wagon before it came to a halt. + +"The _Saluria!_" he demanded wildly of a man in uniform. "Has she +sailed?" + +"The _Saluria?_" repeated the man with maddening deliberation. +"Let's see. Yellow funnels, ain't she? Yep, that's her a-going out of +the harbor now." + + + + +VI + +IN THE WIND-SHELTER + + +When Mrs. Western, anxiously watching the passengers come aboard from +the last launch, had failed to see Bobby Boynton, she was partly +reassured by young Vaughn, who was quite confident he had seen her on +the dock. Not being satisfied, however, she made a tour of the crowded +decks, looking into the music room, the writing-room and even the +smoking-room, It was not until she went below and peeped into Bobby's +empty cabin that she became seriously alarmed. Hurrying back on deck, +she found, to her consternation, that the gang-planks had been lifted +and the ship had weighed anchor. In great excitement she rushed to the +bridge to find the captain, but he was not there. Five interminable +minutes had been lost before she found him and stated her case. + +The captain of an ocean-liner is too used to false alarms to be easily +excited, and it was only after another thorough search was made, and no +trace of Bobby and the Englishman found, that Captain Boynton concerned +himself. Just what he said need not be chronicled. It was extremely +crude and extremely personal, and punctuated by phrases that would have +shocked the delicate sensibilities of the Honorable Percival. + +His humor was not improved by the dictatorial messages that began to +arrive by wireless: + + Have chartered launch. Hold steamer, + + HASCOMBE. + + Distance too great for launch. Meet us halfway. + + HASCOMBE. + + Have started, Meet us. + + HASCOMBE. + +The exciting news that somebody was left soon traveled from deck to +deck, and when the steamer began slowly and laboriously to come about, +the railing's were crowded with passengers. Presently a small dark +object was visible in the distance, rising and falling unsteadily on the +waves that lay between the steamer and the dim shore-line. Gradually the +launch came nearer, and with some difficulty succeeded in getting +alongside. + +A cheer of welcome went up as Bobby and Percival scrambled up the +ship's-ladder. Their hats were adorned with trailing wreaths of smilax, +and about their shoulders were garlands of carnations. It was a stage +entrance, sufficiently conspicuous and effective to have satisfied the +soul of the most exacting manager. + +Percival's abhorrence of publicity, which had been overshadowed by his +anxiety, now took complete possession of him. With punctilious formality +he handed Bobby on deck, then, with a manner sufficiently forbidding to +discourage all questions and remarks, pushed his way haughtily through +the laughing crowd and went below. + +It was not until he entered his state-room that he recalled the +grievance that ostensibly had sent him ashore. In the middle of his +berth was an open suitcase, with its contents widely distributed. Three +pairs of shoes lay in the middle of the floor, a bunch of variegated +neckties depended from the door-knob, and a stack of American magazines +and newspapers lay upon the sofa, Percival stood on the threshold +sniffing. There was no mistaking the odor. It was white rose, a perfume +forever associated with the perfidious Lady Hortense! Was he to suffer +this refinement of cruelty in having the very air he breathed saturated +with her memory? He rang furiously for his valet. + +"Judson, see that that person's things are put upon his side of the room +and kept there, and under no condition allow the port-holes to be +closed." + +"Very good, sir. Will you dress now for dinner!" + +But Percival was in no mood for the long table d'hote dinner, with its +inevitable comments upon the affair of the afternoon. He preferred a +sandwich and a glass of wine in a secluded corner of the smoking-room, +after which he played a few games of solitaire, then betook himself +to bed. His sleep was not a restful one, being haunted by departing +steamers, arriving Chinamen, and an endless procession of scornful +Lady Hortenses. + +He was awakened the next morning long before his accustomed time by some +one stirring noisily about the state-room. After lying in indignant +silence for a while behind his drawn curtains, he touched the electric +bell. When Judson's respectful knock responded, he said in tones of icy +formality: + +"Judson, tell the steward to draw my tub." + +"I say," broke in a voice on the outer side of the curtain, "while you +are drawing things, I wish you'd try your hand at this cork." + +There was a brief parley at the door, and a "Very good, sir," from +Judson. + +Percival's anger rose. It was bad enough to share his room with a +stranger, but to share his valet as well was out of the question. When +a second tap announced that his bath was ready, he slipped a long robe +over his silk pajamas and emerged imperiously from his berth. It is not +easy to maintain a haughty dignity in a bath-robe, with one's hair on +end, but Percival came very near it. + +The effort was wasted, however, for a cheerful "Good morning, Partner," +greeted him, and his cold eye discerned not a slant-eyed Oriental, but a +round, pink American face, partly covered with lather, beaming upon him. + +"My name is Black," continued the new-comer--"Andy Black. And yours?" + +"Hascombe," said Percival, haughtily aware of all that that name stood +for in the annals of southern England. + +"Oh, you're the fellow that got left! Any kin to the Texas Hascombes?" +asked the youth, drawing the razor over his upper lip as if there were +real work for it to do. + +"None whatever," said Percival. "I'll trouble you for my sponge-bag." + +When Percival got down to breakfast he found that the enforced proximity +of Mr. Andy Black was not to be confined to the state-room. The plump, +red-headed young man, with the complexion of a baby and a smile that +impartially embraced the universe, was seated at his elbow. + +"Who is the girl at the captain's right?" he demanded eagerly as +Percival took his seat. + +"His daughter," Percival said curtly, painfully aware of the amused +glances that had followed his entrance. + +"Some looker!" said Andy. "I see my finish right now." + +The sight of it eventually pleased him, for he turned his back upon +Percival, and became hilariously appreciative of the captain's jokes, +even contributing one or two of his own. Before the meal was over he +had informed the whole table that he was on his way to Hong-Kong in +the interests of the Union Tobacco Company, that he had done business +in every State in the Union, and that he had crossed the Pacific five +times. + +During the course of the day Percival visited the purser at regular +intervals, demanding that his room-mate be removed. But the purser +was a sturdy Hamburger, and the very sight of a monocle affected his +disposition. Meanwhile Mr. Andy Black had made good use of his time. +At the end of twenty-four hours he had spoken to virtually everybody +on board, including the gray-haired old missionary who passed +cream-peppermints about the deck at a quarter to ten every morning. He +had played quoits with Elise Weston, punched the bag with the college +boys, and taught Bobby Boynton to dance the tango. So obnoxious was +the sight of him to the Honorable Percival that he turned his chair +to the wall and buried himself in "Guillim's Display of Heraldry." He +considered it as a personal affront on the part of Fate that just as he +was beginning to find the voyage endurable this prancing young montebank +should appear to spoil everything. + +For the next two days he sternly avoided Bobby Boynton. His somewhat +pompous letter of apology to the captain, in which he set forth at +length the various unforeseen accidents that had caused him to miss the +steamer, was curtly and ungraciously received, and strained relations +ensued. Moreover, as he viewed the recent adventure in retrospect, he +decided that he had been most negligent in observing those rules by +which the conduct of an English gentleman should be regulated. In +condescending to be amused he had gone too far, and it was now incumbent +upon him to nip in the bud any gossip that might have risen concerning +his attentions to the daughter of that odious captain. + +Bobby survived the withdrawal of his favor with amazing indifference. +What puzzled and annoyed him beyond measure was that the more oblivious +of him she seemed, the more acutely aware of her he became. Twenty times +a day he assured himself that it made no earthly difference to him +whether she was playing quoits with the Scotchman or bean-bag with Andy +Black, and yet not a page of his book would become intelligible until he +made a round of the deck to find out what she was doing. The evenings +were even worse: midnight often found him wrapped in his rug in his +steamer-chair or morosely pacing the deck, waiting for some festivity +in which Bobby was engaged to come to an end. The shocking lack of +chaperonage and the liberty allowed young girls in the States served +as themes for more than one bitter letter home. + +But his cold aloofness was not destined to last. One morning when most +of the passengers were concerned with the appearance of Bird Island on +the horizon, he stumbled quite by accident upon Bobby curled up behind a +wind-shelter on the other side of the deck, contributing some large salt +tears to the brine of the ocean. Now, in that circle of society in which +it had pleased Providence to place Percival it was considered the height +of bad form to exhibit an emotion. His imagination could not picture one +of the ladies of Hascombe Hall sitting in a public place with her hair +tumbled over her face, and her shoulders shaking with sobs. + +Nevertheless, the sight of this hitherto buoyant young creature in +distress moved him to sit down beside her, and in the softly modulated +tones upon which we have already commented coax her to tell him what was +the matter. + +Unlike the historic Miss Muffet who repulsed a similar attention from +the spider, she welcomed his arrival. She even asked him if he had an +extra handkerchief, her own having been reduced to a wet little ball. +He had. He not only proffered it, but helped to wipe away the tears. + +[Illustration: "I don't know what makes me so everlastingly silly!" +she said fiercely trying to swallow the rising sobs, "but he won't +understand!"] + +"I don't know what makes me so everlastingly silly," she said fiercely, +trying to swallow the rising sobs, "but he _won't_ understand!" + +"Who won't?" + +"The captain. I don't care if he is my father. Sometimes I don't like +him a bit." + +Neither did Percival. It was strange how the common antagonism drew +them together. He was about to ask for further details when the old +Peppermint Lady scurried past and, seeing them, turned back to impart +the burning news that Bird Island was in sight. + +"Yes," said Percival, shamelessly, "we have seen it." + +"He doesn't know me if he thinks I'll give in," went on Bobby where she +had left off. "I am just as stubborn as he is." + +"There, now, I shouldn't talk about it if it made me cry," advised +Percival, patting her shoulder. + +"But I've got to talk to somebody," she said almost savagely. "What did +he give me to the Fords for if he didn't think they were good enough? +Pa Joe's as good as he is any day in the week." + +"Who is Pa Joe?" asked Percival, groping in the dark. + +"He's the darlingest old man in the world, and he owns the best cattle +ranch in Wyoming. Anybody'll tell you so. He's been a real father to me, +and the boys are real brothers--at least three of them are. They are +just as good as anybody that ever lived, I don't care what the captain +says." + +There was another passionate burst of tears, and Percival had just +succeeded in stemming the tide when the Scotchman bore down upon them. + +"I beg your pardon, but did you know we were passing Bird Island?" he +asked them. + +"Yes," said Percival, hastily getting up and piloting him safely past. +"As a matter of fact, some one was just asking for you in the +smoking-room." + +"I told the captain," sobbed Bobby, beating her hands together and +apparently oblivious of interruptions, "that I'd come on this trip with +him, but that it wouldn't make a bit of difference, and it hasn't." + +"No, of course it hasn't," agreed Percival, soothingly, not in the least +comprehending the drift of her remarks, but pleasantly aware that he was +being confided in and that something very limp and lovely was under his +protection. + +"Isn't there a--a--Mrs. Ford on the ranch?" he asked by way of +prolonging the interview. + +"Not now. Dear Aunt Kitty died four years ago. That was when they sent +me in to Cheyenne to school. But I'm finished now, and I'm going to stay +on the ranch and take care of Pa Joe and the boys." + +"Can't say it sounds exciting. How many children are there?" + +"Children! Why, they are all as tall as you are, except Piffles. There's +Ted, and Dick, and Piffles, and--Hal. I guess you saw Hal that day at +the station." + +For the first time since he had known her, her black lashes drooped +consciously over her blue eyes. They were very long and thick lashes, +and as they swept her flushed cheek, Percival not only forgot what she +was saying, but went so far as to forget himself. + +"I saw only one thing that day at the station," he said, with such an +ardent look that it made Bobby smile through her tears. As a rule he +disliked dimples, especially the stationary kind. But the one that now +occupied, his attention was a very shy and elusive affair that kept the +beholder watching very closely for fear he should miss it. + +"Come," he said, taking advantage of the momentary sunshine, "you are a +bit of a sportsman, you know. You mustn't come off by yourself and cry +like this. Makes you feel so beastly seedy afterward, doesn't it?" + +"Yes. But you don't understand. I want to do something that the +captain's perfectly determined I sha'n't do. He didn't bring me on this +trip just to give me a good time. Not on your life! He brought me to +make me forget." + +"Oh, that's the game, is it? Scuttling you off to sea to make you +forget. Deuced interesting! I don't mind telling you I'm in something of +the same sort of a hole myself." + +"Really?" Her interest was roused instantly. + +A mysterious change was taking place in their acquaintance. Bobby's +tears had in some unaccountable manner taken all the starch out of +Percival's manner. + +"You mean," she went on, "that they are sending you off to keep you from +marrying some one they don't like?" + +"Not exactly. I shouldn't put up with that for a moment, you know." + +"Of course you wouldn't, because you are a man. But suppose you were +a girl, and your father was perfectly unreasonable. What would you do +then?" + +"I'd drop the matter for a bit," advised Percival, at a venture. "Let +him think you didn't care a tuppeny. Pretend to be awfully keen about +something else, and, likely as not, he'll come round. Not a bad idea +that, by Jove! I've tried it." + +"Do you think it would work?" asked Bobby, scanning his finely chiseled +profile as eagerly as if she were consulting the Delphic oracle. + +"No harm in trying. Keep him on tenter-hooks, at any rate." + +"Ship ahoy!" came in joyous tones from Andy Black as he rounded the +corner of the saloon, clinging to his cap. "Been looking for you all +over. Say, did you all know we were passing Bird Island?" + +"If we don't," said Percival, with his most deliberate stare, "it is not +because we have failed to be informed of the uninteresting fact every +five minutes for the last half-hour." + +"Consider me the third stanza," said Andy; "please omit me!" + +Bobby laughed as he disappeared, and pushed back her tumbled hair. + +"I love to hear you say 'hawf,'" she said; then she added impetuously, +"You aren't a bit like anybody I ever saw before." + +"I dare say," said Percival, returning her smile. + +"Not only your talk, but your walk, and the way you wear your clothes." + +"I suppose my tailor does rather understand my figure," said Percival; +"but what puzzles you about my speech?" + +"I don't know. It's different. And then I never can tell what you are +thinking about." + +"Do you wish to know what I'm thinking about just now?" + +"Yes." + +"I am wondering why you wear high-heeled, gold-beaded slippers in the +morning." + +Bobby thrust forth two dainty feet and contemplated them in surprise. + +"What's wrong with them?" she asked. + +"Rather dressy for the morning, aren't they?" he gently suggested. + +"I don't know," she said good-humoredly. "I've got a trunkful of clothes +down in my state-room, but I never know which ones to put on. You see, +we never dike up like this on the ranch. When the captain brought me to +San Francisco, he handed me over to a woman at the hotel and told her to +rig me out for the trip." + +"Did--did she buy your steamer-coat?" asked Percival. + +Bobby's laugh rang out contagiously. + +"Isn't it a tulip? I knew it was wrong the minute I came on board and +saw Elise Weston's. Honest, now, have I got anything else as bad as +that?" + +"No, oh, no; I was a beastly cad to mention it. You are most awfully +charming in anything you choose to wear. But as a matter of fact, I do +like you best in white, with your hair low, as it is now." + +"Hair low, shoes high, all in white. Anything else you'd like?" All +trace of tears had vanished, and her eyes were dancing audaciously. + +"Yes," said Percival, leaning forward, "there is." + +At this critical juncture a well-built figure in a uniform started down +the stairway above them, paused a moment unobserved, then quietly +retraced his steps to the bridge. + +"See here, I must be going," said Bobby, rising abruptly. "I promised to +practise for the tableaux at ten, and it's half-past now. Say, you were +a brick to brace me up! I'm going to take your advice, too; you see if +I don't. May I count on your help!" + +"At your service," said Percival, rising, and clasping the hand she held +out. + +The captain's Chinese boy glided up unobserved and stood at attention. + +"Captain say missy please come top-side right away. Wantchee see Bird +Island." + +Percival, still holding her hand, smilingly shook his head. + +"Damn Bird Island!" he murmured softly. + + + + +VII + +THE DAY THAT NEVER WAS + + +Of all the places in the world where a flirtation can germinate, blossom, +and bear fruit overnight, an ocean-liner is the most propitious. Two +conventional human beings who in the city streets would pass each other +with utter indifference will often drop a conscious lid over a welcoming +eye when passing and repassing on the deck of a steamer. When men and +women are set adrift for four weeks, with thousands of miles of +sparkling water separating them from the past and the present, and with +nothing to do but observe one another, something usually happens. + +The present voyage of the _Saluria_ was no exception; in fact, it +threatened to break all former records. The love-epidemic started in +the steerage, where a Dutch boy en route to Java developed a burning +attachment for a young stewardess, and it extended to the bridge, where +Captain Boynton frequently consigned his duties to the first officer +in order to devote his energies to holding Mrs. Weston's worsted. When +he was not holding the skein, he was holding the ball, and during +the endless process of winding and unwinding he spun his own yarns, +recalling tales of wild adventure that alternately shocked and +fascinated his gentle listener. + +The young people, meanwhile, were not by any means immune. Elise Weston +had discovered that the Scotchman's voice blended perfectly with her +own, and through endless practising of "Tales from Hoffman" they had +arrived at a harmony that promised to be permanent. Andy Black and Bobby +Boynton romped through the days, apparently wasting little time on +sentiment, but developing a friendship that might at any time become +serious. + +Only the blighted being wandered the decks alone. Since that morning in +the wind-shelter he had decided to take no more risks. Alarming symptoms +had not been wanting to indicate the return of a malady from which he +never expected to suffer again. The grand affair with the Lady Hortense +had been a dignified, chronic ailment which he had learned to endure +with a becoming air of pensive resignation. The present attack +threatened to be of a much more disturbing character. It was acute; +it responded to no treatment, mental, moral, or physical. It was like +toothache or mumps or chicken-pox, an ignoble, complaint of which one +is ashamed, but before which one is helpless. + +It was only at table that he found it impossible to maintain toward +Bobby that attitude of indifference which he had prescribed for himself. +With the arrival of the new passengers at Honolulu the places had been +slightly changed, and now that he found himself seated between Bobby and +Andy Black, the temptation to turn his chair slightly toward the former, +thus presenting an insolent and forbidding back to Andy, was more than +he could resist. Moreover, it afforded him unlimited satisfaction to +know that by the glance of his eye or a whispered half-phrase he could +instantly center all her sparkling attention upon himself. + +The captain viewed these elusive tete-a-tetes with growing disfavor. One +morning when he was alone at breakfast with Mrs. Weston he unburdened +his mind after his own peculiar fashion. + +"A seaman has to cultivate three things, my lady, a Nelson eye, a Nelson +ear, and a Nelson nose. I've got 'em all." + +Mrs. Weston smiled with, flattering expectancy. + +"I don't claim to know what's going on in the rest of the world," he +continued significantly, "but you can back your Uncle Ik to know +everything that's happening on board this wagon." + +"What's happening now? Do tell me," said Mrs. Weston, leaning forward +and almost upsetting the salt in her eagerness. + +"An Englishman, a poisonously funny Englishman, is running out of his +course. He'll hit a reef before long that will knock a hole in his +hull." + +"Oh, you mean the Honorable Percival?" + +"I do. And if he's like the majority of those titled Johnnies, he's so +crooked he can hide behind a corkscrew." + +"O Captain, that's absurd! Why, he is one of the most absolutely +irreproachable and unapproachable young aristocrats I ever saw." + +"That's all right. I don't tie up to the British aristocracy, nor any +other foreign nobility. Besides, what headway will I make by steering +that girl of mine off one shoal to land her on another?" + +"Was the Wyoming affair quite out of the question?" + +"Oh, Hal Ford is a good-enough chap, but he's a perfect kid. They are +both too young to know what they want. Besides, I am not going to have +her drop anchor on a ranch for the rest of her days. I'll send her up to +'Frisco to school first. That's what the row was about before she left +home. The little minx defied me, so I picked her up and brought her with +me out to Hong-Kong." + +"Poor child! She probably sees now that you were quite right." + +"Maybe she does and maybe she doesn't. She's a wily little scamp all +right. I discovered that the second day out. I'd forbidden her to write +any letters to the ranch, so she was keeping a log-book which she was +going to mail at every port." + +"And were you hard-hearted enough to confiscate it?" + +"I was. At least I ordered her to give it to me on the spot, and she +said she'd chuck it overboard first." + +"And did she!" + +"She did," said the captain, with a grim chuckle. + +"You don't understand that girl," said Mrs. Weston. "I'm quite sure +she'd be amenable if she were handled right. However, she doesn't seem +to be breaking her heart. Between Andy and the Honorable she's finding +consolation." + +"Most women do," said the captain, with one of those flashes of +bitterness that sent all the good humor scurrying out of his face. + +"Of course, she's just playing with Andy," Mrs. Weston hurried on, +fearful of the memories she had stirred; "but Mr. Hascombe is different. +He is so good-looking and so polished, almost any girl would have her +head turned a bit by his attentions." + +"You don't mean to say that you think Bobby--" + +"I can't quite make out. She doesn't seem to see much of him on deck, +but at the table she hasn't eyes or ears for any one else. You watch +her." + +"Trust my Nelson eye!" said the captain. + +When Antipodal Day arrived, every one felt called upon to celebrate it. +The guileless tried to see the imaginary line of the meridian which the +sophisticated pointed out to them on the water; the cream-peppermint +lady went so far as to say she felt the jar as the steamer passed over +it. Conjectures, witty, mathematical, or inane, were made as to the +identity of to-day, if yesterday was Friday and to-morrow going to be +Saturday. + +During the morning Percival wandered disconsolately from one part of the +ship to another. Despite the fact that he was quite determined to keep +away from Bobby, he chafed under her seeming indifference. After that +intimate hour together in the wind-shelter it was strange that she could +be so oblivious of his presence. It was distasteful to him to have to +signal the train of her attention. To be sure, a very little signal +served,--a word, a look, a thoughtful gesture,--but he preferred a +homage that required no prompting. Moreover, she was guilty of "smiling +on all she looked upon," and her acceptance of Andy Black into the +ever-widening circle of her admirers offended him deeply. + +The day dragged interminably. By five o'clock in the afternoon a +tango-tea was in progress, and it seemed to Percival that everybody on +board was dancing except the missionaries and himself. Even they were +taking part as spectators, having secured their places half an hour +before the appointed time in order not to miss a moment of the shocking +exhibition. + +Percival went to the upper deck and sought the most secluded corner he +could find, but even there he was haunted by the soul-disturbing music. +Dancing was one of his accomplishments, and he had trod stately measures +through half a dozen London seasons, the admiration and the despair +of more than one aspiring mama. He looked with great disapproval upon +these new and boisterous American dances, he wondered if they were as +difficult as they looked. Seeing nobody about, he rose and tentatively +tried a few steps behind the shelter of a life-boat. He found it +interesting, and was getting quite pleased over his cleverness in +catching the syncopated time, when he spied an impertinent sailor +grinning at him from the rigging. Instantly his legs became rigid, and +he affected an interest in the horizon intended to convince the sailor +that he had been the victim of an optical illusion. Of course it was +quite beneath his dignity to take part in these rollicking dances, +especially in such a public place as on shipboard. He realized that +fully; yet he thought of Bobby and sighed. There were actually times in +his life when he almost wished he had been born in the middle class. + +Then he drew himself up sharply. If there was one thing incumbent upon +the second son of the late Lord Westenhanger, it was that he maintain +his position. Though grievously disappointed in his failure to capture +the incomparable Lady Hortense, he must don his armor and ride forth +again to find another lady, differing in kind, perhaps, but not in +degree. In his scheme of things wild young daughters of American +sea-captains had no place whatever. + +Yet even as he made this assertion he found himself moving toward the +companionway and down to the deck below. + +"Will you sit out the next dance with me?" he heard himself murmuring to +Bobby over her partner's shoulder. + +"You bet I will," said Bobby with a smile that made him forget the +awfulness of her language. + +Ten minutes later they were leaning over the rail on the deserted +boat-deck, the wind full in their faces, watching the prow of the +steamer gently rise and fall as she sailed straight into the golden +heart of the sun. Up from the horizon spread wave after wave; of +perilous color, emerald melting into azure, crimson dying into rose. +There was just enough breeze to put a tiny feather on the windward slope +of the waves, and every white crest caught the glory. + +"This is better than all the tangoing in the world," cried Bobby. "Have +you been up here all afternoon?" + +"I have. You see, all those people below get rather on one's nerves." + +"Do _I?_" she challenged him instantly. + +"Not on one's nerves exactly," he said, thrillingly aware that her arm +was touching his on the railing and that the dangerous pink light was +playing over her face; "but I must say you do get on one's--one's mind!" + +She laughed gaily. + +"Well, that's next to having nothing on your mind. Say, you wouldn't +think I had the blues, would you?" + +"Can't say I should." + +"Well, I have. I've been so homesick all day that I could go round the +corner and cry if you--if you hadn't said I mustn't." + +"What are you homesick for?" + +"Oh, for the old ranch and the ponies and my dogs and--and lots of +things. See the way the wind flecks the water over there? Well, that's +just the way it does the grasslands back home." + +"But it's such a parched, barren sort of a place, Wyoming." + +"It is _not_. You ought to see it in the early spring, when +everything is vivid green, and the cactus is in bloom--the red-flowered +kind that looks so pretty against the sides of the gray buttes. Why, you +can gallop for miles with your horse's hoofs sinking into beds of +prairie roses!" + +"But it's virtually green in England all the year round. I'd like to +show you a well-run English estate. Rather a pretty sight. Hascombe +Hall's a fairly decent example. Some hundreds of acres, don't you know." + +"Some hundreds!" repeated Bobby, scornfully. "Our ranch covers two +hundred thousand acres, and it takes Pa Joe four days' hard riding to +get over it!" + +"Oh, I say, most extraordinary! But if I were you, I wouldn't think +about home affairs," said Percival, to whom her background in Wyoming +was of no consequence. He liked to think of her as having begun to live +when she met him, and as gracefully ceasing to exist when they parted. + +"All right," said Bobby, resignedly. "I've kept bottled up this long; I +suppose I can manage the rest of the time. What's that book you've been +reading?" + +"Shelley." + +"Is it a love-story?" + +Percival winced. + +"It is poetry," he said. "I shouldn't mind reading you a bit, if you +like." + +She did like. She evidently liked tremendously. She listened as an +inquisitive bird might listen to a strange wood note, with her head on +one side and her bright eyes intent upon his face. + +When Percival's perfectly modulated voice ceased, she sighed: + +"I didn't understand a word of it," she said, "but I could listen to you +read forever. It makes me think of the wind in the trees, and all the +lovely things that ever happened to me." + +"But don't you like the poem?" + +[Illustration: "I like the way your mouth looks when you read it."] + +"I like the way your mouth looks when you read it. Your chin's nice, +too, isn't it?" + +"Oh, I don't know," said Percival, with an unsuccessful effort at +indifference; "it's the Hascombe chin. Been in the family for +generations." + +"Think of having a chin as old as that! Perhaps that's what makes you so +solemn." + +"Am I solemn?" + +"Awfully. Elise Weston says she believes you have been crossed in love." + +The hollow chambers of Percival's heart reverberated with alarming +echoes. He shot a suspicious glance at Bobby, but her innocent gaze +reassured him. + +"I am afraid your friend Miss Weston is romantic," he said stiffly. "Am +I keeping you too long from the dance?" + +"Oh, no," said Bobby, comfortably. "I've got the next with Andy Black. +He'll never think to look up here. But are you quite sure I'm not +getting on your nerves?" + +"I am quite sure you are a most awfully charming girl," Percival +exclaimed with sudden warmth. "As a matter of fact, I--I like you +tremendously." + +"That's nice," said Bobby, "because, you see, I like you!" + +There was no reason why her avowal should have been regarded as more +serious than his own. But he took alarm instantly. + +"You won't mind my telling you a few things for your own good, will +you?" he asked, taking refuge in the safe role of mentor. + +"Not a bit," said Bobby; "fire away." + +She listened for five minutes to his dissertation on the impropriety of +young ladies playing poker in the smoking-room, then she became restive. + +"Isn't it funny," she said by way of changing the subject, "that +yesterday was Friday, and to-morrow is going to be Saturday, and to-day +isn't anything?" + +"But it _is_ something. It's a day I shall remember." + +Percival was drifting again, and he knew it, but there was that in the +bewitching face upturned to his that demoralized him. + +"No," said Bobby, "it's the day that never was. We just picked it up out +of the sea, and we are going to drop it back again. Whatever happens +to-day doesn't count." + +"Why?" + +"Because by to-morrow, you see, to-day never will have been." + +"Deuced clever idea that, I call it. Never thought of it. Suppose we +celebrate by way of doing something that we wouldn't do if it counted." + +Bobby clapped her hands. "What shall it be?" + +"Well, suppose for the rest of the day you consider me the person you +quite like best in the world." + +She considered it. + +"All right. I don't mind for the rest of the day. And you promise to +forget all those girls over in England, and pretend that I am the nicest +girl you know?" + +"I promise," said Percival. + +When the second gong for dinner sounded, the two white-clad figures +were still leaning on the railing in the secluded angle made by two +life-boats. The color had gone from the sky, but every moment the +purpling waters were growing more vivid, more intense, more thrillingly +alive to the mystery of the coming night. The Honorable Percival's +cap was on Bobby's head, and his coat was about her shoulders. As to +himself, he seemed strangely indifferent to the tumbled state of his +wind-blown hair and the shocking informality of his shirt-sleeves. +It was quite evident that for the time being, at least, he had thrown +discretion to the winds, and was sailing away from his memories at the +rate of sixteen knots an hour. + +That night at dinner the captain followed Mrs. Weston's advice and took +soundings. Nothing was lost upon him, from Bobby's late arrival in a +somewhat sophisticated white evening gown that she had hitherto scorned, +to the new and becoming way in which her hair was arranged. It did not +require a Nelson eye to discover a suppressed excitement under her high +spirits or to detect the side-play that was taking place between her and +the apparently stolid Englishman at her right. + +Captain Boynton looked at Mrs. Weston and raised one eyebrow; she nodded +comprehendingly. Later in the evening, when he dropped into a +steamer-chair beside her, he asked if she had seen Bobby. + +"Not since dinner. All the young people have been asking for her. Did +you look in the writing-room ?" + +"I've looked everywhere except in the coal-bunkers," said the captain, +gruffly. "Talk to me about responsibility. I'd rather run a schooner up +the Hoogli than to steer that girl of mine." + +"You've wakened to your duty rather late, haven't you!" asked Mrs. +Weston. "I suppose it's the Englishman who is making you anxious?" + +The captain dropped his voice. + +"Did you see the way she looked at him at dinner? By George! it was +enough to melt the leg off an iron pot!" + +"It's been coming for a week," said Mrs. Weston, wisely. "If you really +oppose it, there is no time to be lost." + +"Oppose it? Of course I oppose it. What's to be done?" + +"The situation requires delicate handling. Would you like me to try and +help you out--share the responsibility of chaperoning her, I mean?" + +"Permanently?" asked the captain, shooting a quizzical glance at her +from under his heavy brows. + +"You wretch!" said Mrs. Weston, flushing. "Just to Hong-Kong, I mean." + +That night about ten o'clock the captain, who happened to be crossing +the steerage deck, came quite unexpectedly upon Percival and Bobby +groping their way through the dark. + +[Illustration: "Roberta!" he called sternly. "What are you doing out +here?"] + +"Roberta," he called sternly, "What are you doing out here?" + +"Oh," cried Bobby, breathlessly, feeling her way around the hatch, +"we've been out on the prow for hours, and it was simply gorgeous. +All inky black except the phosphorescence, miles and miles of it! And +some dolphins, all covered with silver, kept racing with us and leaping +clear out of the water, like wriggly bits of fire. And the stars--why, +Mr. Hascombe's been telling me the most fascinating things I ever +heard about stars. We've had a perfectly wonderful time, haven't we, +Mr. Hascombe?" + +"Topping!" said the Honorable Percival. + + + + +VIII + +IN THE CROW'S-NEST + + +The sea-voyage of thirty days, which in the beginning had threatened +to stretch into eternity, now seemed to be racing into the past with a +swiftness that was incredible. To Percival the one desirable thing in +life had come to be the sailing of the high seas under favoring winds, +in a big ship, with Bobby Boynton on board, and a conscience that had +agreed to remain quiescent until port was reached. + +Not that Percival's conscience succumbed without a struggle; he had to +assure it repeatedly that he would refrain from rousing in Bobby any +hopes that might be realized. The moment she showed the slightest sign +of taking his attentions seriously he would kindly, but firmly, make her +understand. It would not be the first time he had had to do this. He +recalled several instances with sad complacency. But a man cannot always +be sacrificing himself. A mild flirtation, with a girl whom he never +expected to see again was surely a harmless way of consoling himself for +the harsh treatment he had recently received from another of her sex. + +The one fly in his amber these days was Andy Black; only Andy was not a +fixed object. His activities were endless, and, strangely enough, they +exerted a powerful influence on Percival, causing him to change his +entire mode of life from his hour of getting up to his hour of retiring. +In order to get half an hour's conversation with Bobby Boynton it was +necessary to outwit Andy, and he was devoting himself assiduously to +the task. + +What complicated the matter was that Andy had embraced him in his +general affection for humanity, and despite persistent snubbing +continued to treat him as the friend of his bosom. Percival could hate +him contemptuously when he was out of sight, but he found it difficult +to keep up the dislike when the fat, boyish fellow sat on the sofa +opposite his berth and poured out his innermost confidences. + +"You see," he would say plaintively as he reached for Percival's silver +shoe-horn, "I never slide into love, like most fellows. I always splash +right in, head first. That's what I did the first night I came on board, +and I haven't come up yet. When I do, she'll hit me in the head. She +won't have me; you see if she does." + +Of course Percival agreed with him, but in the meanwhile he wondered +what Bobby could find in him to afford her such constant amusement. + +One sparkling morning when the white caps were dancing on the blue +water, and every bit of loose canvas was spanking the wind for joy, +Bobby announced that she was going again to the crow's-nest. She had +circled the deck some ten times between her two cavaliers, and the +difficulty of keeping mental step with either in the presence of the +other may have influenced her sudden decision. + +"What do you want to do that for?" said Andy, whose weight made him +cautious. "It's a mean climb, and there's nothing to see when you get +up there." + +"There's everything to see," said Bobby and she looked at Percival. + +Ten days ago nothing could have induced him to do such an unconventional +and conspicuous thing. He remembered the exact phrase he had applied +to it when told by the Scotchman of Bobby's previous adventure. +"Characteristically American," he had remarked, with a disparaging +shrug. + +Now, with assumed languor, he said, "I don't mind going with you." + +Two sailors were found to tie the ropes around their waists and stand +guard below while they slowly and cautiously climbed from one swaying +rung to another. + +"All right?" asked Bobby, looking down over her shoulder. + +"Right as rain," called Percival, with suggestion of eagerness in his +voice. + +He followed her cautiously as she scrambled like a squirrel from the top +of the ladder to the crow's-nest. Swinging through the clear sky one +hundred feet above the water below, they found themselves in the sudden +intimacy of a vast and magnificent solitude. The sapphire sky met the +sapphire sea in a sharply defined, unbroken line around them, while +shimmers of palpitating light rose from the sparkling waters until they +lost themselves in the zenith above. + +"Oh, look! look!" cried Bobby, with an eager hand on Percival's arm. +Turning, he saw the water suddenly disturbed by hundreds of curved +bodies that glistened in the sunlight as they leaped together in a +perfect riot of joy. + +"Silly old fish, the porpoise," he said, "always making circles in the +water like that" + +But the ennui expressed in his words was not reflected in his face. Even +silly old porpoises acquire an interest when one's attention is called +to them by a small and shapely hand that forgets in the enthusiasm of +the moment to remove itself from one's arm. It was only by sharply +calling to mind the haughty faces of his mother and sisters that he +refrained from indiscretion. + +"You don't mind?" he asked, drawing his cigar-case from his pocket. +"Deuced clever of you, I call it, to think of coming up here. How did +you know that Black fellow wouldn't come?" + +"He's too fat to climb," said Bobby. "He doesn't even like to walk." + +"Thought he was quite keen about it from the way he walked with us every +evening. A decent chap would not intrude." + +"That's funny!" said Bobby, with twinkling eyes. "That's almost exactly +what he said about you, only he didn't say intrude." + +"What did he say?" + +"Butt in," said Bobby. + +The Honorable Percival suffered one of those acute revulsions that had +become less frequent of late. At such times he marveled at himself for +permitting such vulgarity in his presence. + +"You Americans have the most extraordinary expressions, Miss Boynton!" +he said. + +"How queer that sounds!" + +"What?" + +"Miss Boynton. I thought you'd got to the Bobby stage. Perhaps you'd +rather make it Roberta." + +"Yes, I think I should, if I may." + +For a few seconds they dropped into silence, he puffing away at his +cigar, and she gazing off to the horizon as if she had quite forgotten +his presence. + +"Were you ever in love?" she asked, turning on him suddenly. + +"Why do you ask?" he said, scrutinizing the ash of his cigar. + +"Because it's so queer you never got married. I thought young Englishmen +with names and estates to keep up always married right away." + +"Well, I suppose they do, as a rule. The Hascombes are rather +different. Of course there have been a lot of girls who were foolish +enough to--er--to think--" + +"To think they were in love with you? Go ahead! I'll shut my eyes." + +Instead, she opened them very wide, and he had to unbutton his coat just +for the sake of buttoning it up again. + +"But I don't care about them," she went on; "I want to know if _you've_ +ever been in love." + +"Imagined I was once." + +"Oh, what fun! Tell me about it from beginning to end!" + +"How do you know it had an end!" + +"I'd gamble on it," said Bobby, confidently. "But tell me!" + +Just why Percival at this moment felt a sudden desire to discuss a +subject that hitherto he had shrunk from the slightest reference to can +be explained only by the fact that the confiding of an unhappy love +affair to a sympathetic member of the opposite sex seems a necessary +stage of convalescence. It was the first chance he had had to present +his version of the story to an unbiased listener, and if he omitted +certain details, and laid undue stress upon others, it must not be held +against him. + +"Of course," he said in conclusion, "through a sense of honor I'd have +gone through with it. Fortunately, it was not necessary. Poor girl broke +it off herself." + +He spoke as of one who had committed suicide, but in regard to whom a +kindly jury would have brought in a verdict of temporary insanity. + +"Well, I think you were perfectly splendid, all through," cried Bobby. +"What sort of a girl could she have been to act like that?" + +He took several long, satisfying pulls at his cigar; it was astonishing +how much he was enjoying it, and the conversation as well. + +"Oh, she's quite one of the best, you know. Dare say she thought it was +all my fault." + +"The idea! Was she pretty?" + +"Opinions differ." + +"Smart?" + +"Rather!" + +"Jolly?" + +"Well, no, not exactly jolly; that's not quite the word." + +"Very proper, I suppose," + +"Oh, yes, absolutely; most decidedly so. Perfect stickler for form." + +Bobby sighed. + +"Just the opposite from me all the way through. Well, I'm glad you +wouldn't make up. Serves her right." + +"Probably best for everybody," said Percival. "Now it's your turn. How +about yourself!" + +"Well," she said with what struck him as the strangest irrelevance, "our +scheme seems to be working with the captain. We've got him guessing. He +told me last night I was not to go to the prow with you again." + +"Why not?" + +"He thinks you like me too much." + +"What do _you_ think?" + +Percival bit his lip the moment he had asked it, but leaning there on +the railing, with her dancing eyes on a level with his own, and nothing +else on the entire horizon, it was difficult to keep the situation in +hand. + +"I think you are getting a bully tan," she said, scrutinizing him +closely; "most men get a red nose or else they get all speckled around +the edges. Yours looks like a nice crust on an apple pie." + +"I do tan rather decently," he said; "but you haven't told me what you +think." + +"What about?" + +"About my liking you too much." + +"I think the captain exaggerated." + +"He couldn't exaggerate that." + +"But how can you like me when I'm all wrong?" + +"I like you because of your possibilities. You've probably never met any +one before who understood you as I do. Quite extraordinary the way +you've improved since you came on board." + +"And you've got fourteen days more to work on me! Do you think anybody +will recognize me when I get back to Wyoming?" + +"Now you are chaffing!" complained Percival. "You never take me +seriously." + +"Then you want me to be serious, and believe everything you say?" + +He paused in awed contemplation of the direful consequences if she +should, but for the life of him he couldn't stop. + +"I want you to believe me," he said tenderly, "when I say that you've +been most awfully sweet, and that I wouldn't give half a sovereign for +any other girl's chances if you were within ten miles. I want you to +know that I consider you the prettiest girl I've ever seen, and the +most--" + +Bobby tightened the rope about her waist. + +"It's time for me to be going," she exclaimed in mock alarm, "If you +keep on saying things like that, I may furnish another scalp to that +collection you were telling me about. I don't dare stay another minute." + +Neither did Percival. He followed her down the ladder as if he had been +escaping from quicksands. + +That night the crow's-nest was added to the prow on the list of places +about a ship which the captain felt young ladies should stay away from. + +[Illustration: "You will have to join the crowd." suggested Bobby when +Percival complained of not seeing her as often as he wished] + +"You will have to join the crowd," suggested Bobby when Percival +complained of not seeing her as often as he wished. "We sing up on the +boat-deck every night, and now the moon is up, it's perfectly gorgeous." + +But Percival's abhorrence of crowds made him hold out resolutely until +the day before they were to land in Japan. Everybody was making plans +for the few days to be spent in port, and small parties were being +formed to leave the steamer at Yokohama and join it three days later +at Kobe. Percival was annoyed because the steamer had to stop at all. +Any interruption in the present routine was a nuisance. He vacillated +between the inconvenience of going ashore and the stupidity of remaining +on board. An invitation from Mrs. Weston to join her party, and an +insistent demand from Bobby Boynton, decided him. He made his +preparations accordingly. + +But an unforeseen incident occurred the night before the _Saluria_ +landed which caused him suddenly to change his plans. He was just ready +to go below for the night when an overmastering desire for one more word +with Bobby seized him. By a bit of Machiavellian strategy he had +outwitted Andy that afternoon, and had her entirely to himself for three +blissful hours. + +It was in their old haunt behind the wind-shelter, and he had taken the +opportunity, if not to "shatter her to bits," at least "to remold her +nearer to the heart's desire." He had done it with consummate tact, and +she had responded with adorable docility. He never admired himself more +than in the role of cicerone to a young and trusting maid. By the +subtlest methods he knew how to convey approval or disapproval of +anything from a beaded slipper to a moral sentiment. He could stir +dormant ambition, rouse lagging courage, inspire patience, and all he +demanded in return was unfaltering homage from the fair one. + +In the present instance, however, the entire time was not devoted to +correcting faults of manner and speech or to acquiring the higher +Christian virtues. It was incredible how many things they found to talk +about, considering the fact that art, literature, music, the drama, +foreign travel, and London gossip were not among them. Bobby's way of +diving unexpectedly from the general into the personal made a +tete-a-tete with her peculiarly exhilarating. + +The trouble was that the more one had, the more one wanted, and going to +bed now without a parting word seemed to Percival really more than he +had a right to ask of himself. He circled the deck several times in +indecision, then he ascended the companionway and made his way aft. + +A full moon hung high in the heavens, and a flood of silver poured in a +dazzling stream across the level surface of the sea. The quarter-deck, +the white boats amidships, and all the brass work abaft the funnels +reflected the radiance. + +"See who is here!" cried the irrepressible Andy from an +indistinguishable group that huddled together under steamer-rugs against +the big blue-and-white smoke-stack. + +"May I speak to Miss Boynton for a moment?" asked Percival, icily. + +"I'm afraid I can't get out," said Bobby. "Elise is sitting on my feet, +and Andy and I've got on the same sweater. There's a place for you here, +if you will come." + +It is really too undignified an act in the life of the Honorable +Percival to chronicle, but before he had time to contradict his impulse, +he had actually doubled up his long legs and crawled into the small +space Bobby made for him beside her. If she persisted in preferring this +noisy bunch of inanity to a quiet stroll on the promenade-deck with him, +then he supposed for the time being he must humor her. + +Youth and love and moonlight at sea are a magic combination, however, +and Percival soon decided that even though it was deuced uncomfortable +to be huddled up like that, with both feet asleep, yet there were +compensations. + +"Sing!" commanded Bobby, and he joined obediently in the chorus. As the +night wore on a caressing coolness crept into the air, and the crowd +gathered into a closer group. Percival could feel Bobby breathing near +him, and could look down undisturbed into her upturned face as she sang +with passionate abandon to the moon. She seemed to have entirely lost +sight of her surroundings and was off on some high adventure of her own, +leaving him free to watch her to his heart's content. + +It was a situation fraught with danger; yet he lingered. He did more: +he slipped his hand beneath the rug and sought cautiously for hers. As +their palms met, and her small fingers closed responsively over his, +such a thrill of satisfaction passed over him as he had never felt +before. His old wounds were suddenly healed, life became a passionate +love-song on a languorous, moonlit sea. But his ecstasy ceased with the +music. Bobby's voice broke the spell with frightful distinctness: + +[Illustration: "If you want to hold my hand, Mr. Hascombe, you are +welcome to it."] + +"If you want to hold my hand, Mr. Hascombe, you are welcome to it. +Andy's got the other one; but if you don't mind, we'll put them all +together, like that, on top of the steamer-rug." + +During the laugh that followed he managed to got to his feet and make +his escape. He had never been so angry in his life; he even included +himself in his devastating wrath. Why shouldn't he have been insulted, +laughed at, jeered at! When one allows oneself to associate with such +people, he ought to expect such behavior. + +_"Plebeians!_" he snarled as he jerked together the curtains of his +berth and turned his face to the wall. + + + + +IX + +DRAGGING ANCHOR + + +Of course, after what had happened, nothing could induce Percival to +join the Weston party in Japan. He left a note of formal regret, and +hastened ashore on the first launch in the morning. His one desire was +to avoid those detestable young Americans, whose diabolical laughter had +rung in his ears all night. The wounds received by vanity are never +serious, but they are very hard to heal, and as Percival stopped ashore +in this strange land he felt that he was the most unhappy of mortals. + +"Call a hansom," he demanded impatiently of Judson, who stood grinning +at the queer sights on the hatoba. + +"There ain't none, sir." + +"Of course; I forgot. But how are we to get to the hotel?" + +"Carn't say, sir, unless we go in a couple of them perambulators." + +Percival took an instant dislike to a country that forced him to ride +in a ridiculous vehicle, pulled by a small bare-legged brown man in a +mushroom hat. All the way to the hotel he was unhappy in the conviction +that he was making a spectacle of himself. + +The rooms which he had engaged in advance were not satisfactory, and it +was not until he had inspected all the suites that were unoccupied that +he decided upon one that commanded a view of the bay. Once established +therein, he despatched Judson for his mail and for any English papers +that might be found, then took up his position by a front window and +sternly watched the bund. + +The picturesque harbor, full of sampans and junks, the gay streets, full +of color and movement, the thousand unfamiliar sights and sounds, held +no interest for the Honorable Percival. His whole attention was focused +upon the jinrikishas that constantly arrived and departed at the +entrance below. + +He wanted to see Bobby's face and read there the signs of contrition, +which he felt sure must have followed her unfeeling conduct of the night +before. But he intended to punish her before he forgave. Such a violence +to their friendship could not go unrebuked. Even when he received the +note of apology which he felt sure she would send up the moment she +reached the hotel, he would delay answering it. She must be made to +suffer in order to profit by this unhappy experience. + +His reflections were interrupted by a rap at the door, which called him +away from the window. It proved to be a sleek Chinaman, who proffered +his card, bearing the inscription: + +"G. Lung Fat, Ladies' and Gents' Tailer." + +G. Lung Fat, it seemed, had beheld Percival in the lobby and been +greatly impressed with his bearing. It would be an honor, he urged, with +the fervor of an artist craving permission to paint a subject that had +captured his fancy, to cut, fit, and finish any number of garments for +such a figure before the ship sailed on the morrow. + +Percival was impressed. He examined the samples with the air of a +connoisseur. Like most Englishmen, he had a weakness for light clothes +and sun-helmets. The regalia suggested English supremacy in foreign +lands. He had ordered his fourth suit and was earnestly considering a +white dinner-jacket when familiar voices from the street below made him +spring to the window. + +It was Bobby Boynton and Andy Black, who were evidently setting forth in +jinrikishas alone, Mrs. Weston and the other young people remaining to +inspect the fascinating array of curios that were being displayed on the +pavement. If any sorrow for past misdeeds dwelt in Bobby's bosom, there +was certainly no trace of it on her face as she called gaily back over +her shoulder: + +"We are off for a lark; you needn't look for us until you see us." + +Percival dismissed the Chinaman peremptorily, and paced his room in +indignation. It was incredible that a girl who had basked in the sun of +his approval could find even temporary pleasure in the feeble rushlight +of Andy Black's society. Not that it made the slightest difference to +him where she went or with whom. If her father saw fit to permit her to +go forth in a strange city with a strange man, unchaperoned, of course +it was not for him to interfere. But that she should have, at the first +opportunity, disregarded his counsels, to which she had listened with +such flattering attention, angered him beyond measure. He bitterly +assured himself that all women were alike, an assertion which seems to +bring universal relief to the masculine mind. + +His ill humor was not decreased when Judson returned, after a long +delay, and reported that the mail had been sent to the steamer. Not +content with being the bearer of this unpleasant news, Judson committed +the indiscretion of waxing eloquent over the charms of Japan. Percival +considered it impertinent in an inferior to express enthusiasm for +anything that was under the ban of his disapproval. Before the +discussion ended it became his painful duty to remind Judson of the fact +that he was an ass. + +At tiffin-time, when he descended to the dining-room, owing to the +recent arrival of two steamers, all the tables were engaged. There was +one in the corridor, he was told, if he did not mind another gentleman. +He did mind; he much preferred a table alone, but he also wanted his +luncheon. He followed the unctuous head waiter the length of the big +dining-room, winding in and out among the small tables, only to emerge +finally into the corridor and find himself face to face with his _bete +noire_, Captain Boynton. + +"Hello! Can't lose you," was the captain's gruff greeting. "How does it +happen that you aren't off with the crowd doing the sights?" + +"Sights bore me," said Percival, unfolding his napkin with an air of +lassitude. + +"Crowds, too, eh? Twoing more in your line?" + +The remark was treated with contemptuous silence while Percival devoted +himself to the menu. + +"Seen that girl of mine since she came ashore?" continued the captain. + +"Miss Boynton?" asked Percival, as if not quite sure of the identity of +the person inquired for. "Oh, yes, I believe I did see her early this +morning. She went out with Mr. Black." + +"Good! He'll show her a thing or two." + +"Rather extraordinary," Percival could not help commenting, "the way +young American girls go about alone like that." + +"Alone? What's the matter with Andy?" + +"But I mean unchaperoned. Dare say young Black is very good in his way, +but he can't be called discreet." + +"How do you mean?" + +"Taking your daughter into that nasty mess of Chinamen in the steerage, +for instance, to watch them play fan-tan." + +"What of that? She only lost a couple of quarters and had a dollar's +worth of fun. Can't see it was any worse than keeping her out at the +prow until midnight, or taking her up to the crow's-nest." The captain +pushed back his chair, and smiled with maddening significance. "See +here, my young friend, you needn't worry about Bobby. She's been taking +care of herself for twenty years. You better look after yourself." + +The Honorable Percival did not answer. He got his eye-glass right and +looked straight ahead of him. + +But the captain was not through. He leaned across the table and shook a +warning finger: + +"Beware of J. Lucy," he said, then he took a smiling departure. + +Through the rest of the meal and well into the afternoon Percival +puzzled his brain over that cryptic warning. When its meaning dawned +upon him he flung "Guillim's Display of Heraldry" clear across the room, +and used language not becoming an English gentleman. He assured himself +for the hundredth time that Americans were the most odious people in the +world, and the captain the most convincing proof of it. + +The afternoon dragged miserably, and the prospect of waiting about the +hotel until the steamer sailed at noon the next day appalled him. The +obvious thing, of course, was to go out and see the city, but he had +declared to Judson that there was nothing worth seeing, and one must be +consistent before one's servants. Even the morrow offered no abatement +to his misery. Most of the people he knew were going from Yokohama to +Kobe by rail, and he pictured himself the only guest at the captain's +table for three mortal days. + +At three o'clock he went down to the terrace and took his seat at a +small table that commanded a view of the hotel entrance. To one with +a free mind the scene was highly diverting, with jinrikishas and +occasional victorias thronging the bund, and gay parties constantly +arriving and departing. Coolies in blue, with mysterious Chinese +lettering on their kimonos and with bright towels about their heads, +trotted past; women with blackened teeth and with babies strapped on +their backs clattered by on wooden shoes; street venders sang their +savory wares; merchants displayed treasures of lacquer and ivory, street +dancers posed and sang to the tinkle of the samisen. + +But to Percival it was at best a purgatory where he seemed to be doomed +to wait through eternity. Not that he meant to speak to Bobby Boynton +when she arrived or make the slightest sign of forgiveness. That she +should have allowed Andy Black to keep her out from eleven in the +morning until after three in the afternoon was even more shocking than +her behavior to him the night before. He was resolved to show her by +every means in his power that to even a disinterested acquaintance like +himself her conduct was wholly unpardonable. Meanwhile that emotion to +which the captain had so grossly alluded took entire and absorbing +possession of him. + +Toward the middle of the afternoon Mrs. Weston joined him on the terrace +in an anxious mood. + +"Have you seen anything of that naughty Bobby Boynton?" she asked. "I am +quite distracted about her. Our train for Kioto leaves in half an hour. +You don't suppose anything has happened to her, do you?" + +"I really can't say," said Percival, with a shrug that suggested the +direst possibilities. + +"We simply must go on to Kioto tonight," continued Mrs. Weston, +anxiously nervous. "My cousin would never forgive me if I disappointed +him. You see, he's lived in Kioto for years, and he's promised to take +us out to an old Buddhist temple on a wonderful sacred mountain that I +can't pronounce. We've been looking forward to it for weeks." + +Percival stood back of his chair and watched his tea getting cold. The +suggestion of something having happened to Bobby had changed his anger +to sharp solicitude. Gruesome tales of brutality toward foreigners in +Eastern ports came back to him. + +"I wonder," said Mrs. Weston, persuasively, "if you would mind taking a +jinrikisha and going down to Benten Dori to see if they are there. I +have no one else to send." + +"I don't know that I should care to go myself," said Percival, "but I'll +send my man." + +Judson having been despatched, Percival with difficulty refrained from +following him. Mrs. Weston's solicitude as she hovered between the +telephone-booth and the desk was infectious, and he found himself pacing +from entrance to entrance, imagining the most calamitous causes for the +delay. + +It was not until a joyful exclamation from Elise Weston announced the +approach of the truants that he drew a deep breath of relief and retired +to the reading-room. He was more than ever resolved not to see Bobby; to +her former transgressions was now added the new and unpardonable offense +of having made him acutely anxious about her. + +He took up an old copy of the "Graphic," and resolutely read of events +that had taken place before he left England. He even glanced through the +pages of the innocuous "Gentlewoman," and tried to concentrate upon an +article entitled "Favorite Fabrics for Autumn." In vain were his +efforts; every sound from the lobby or the street claimed his instant +attention. At last, when an unmistakable commotion without gave evidence +that the Weston party was leaving, he got up, despite himself, and went +to the window. + +They were all there, Mrs. Weston, Elise, the Scotchman, Andy, and Bobby, +all climbing into their jinrikishas in the greatest possible haste and +in the highest possible spirits. One after another the jinrikishas +trundled away, until only Bobby's was left while her runner adjusted his +sandal. Percival saw her turn in her seat and eagerly scan the terrace +and the windows of the hotel. Then suddenly she caught sight of him, and +her face broke into a radiant smile as she waved her hand and nodded. + +A moment later and his eyes were straining after a figure that was fast +disappearing up the bund. It was a small, alert figure, disturbingly +young and sweet and buoyant. The flying jinrikisha, the hair blowing +across her cheek, the scarf that fluttered in the breeze, all suggested +flight, and flight to the masculine mind is only another term for +pursuit. + +He flung down his paper and strode out to the lobby. + +"When is the next train for Kioto?" he demanded. + +"At ten to-night, sir." + +"Make out my bill, and get my luggage down; I'm leaving on that train." + +"But, sir, you have made no reservation. You may have to sit up all +night." + +"Have you any objections?" asked the Honorable Percival in his most +insular manner. + + + + +X + +ON THE SEARCH + + +The clerk's prophecy proved all too true. Percival and his valet sat all +night in a crowded, smoke-dimmed car, between a fat Japanese wrestler +and a fatter Buddhist priest, both of whom squatted on their heels and +read aloud in monotonous, wailing tones. The air was close, and the +floor was strewn with orange peel, spilt tea, and cigarette ends. +Percival's fastidious senses were offended as they had never been +offended before. Under ordinary circumstances nothing could have induced +him to submit to such discomfort, but the circumstances were not +ordinary. + +The alternative of remaining calmly in Yokohama and allowing an +aggressive young American to monopolize the girl of his even temporary +choice was utterly intolerable. Moreover, he was coming to see that +while Bobby had failed to droop under the frost of his displeasure, it +was still probable that she would melt into penitence at the first smile +of royal forgiveness. + +During the long hours of that interminable night he had ample time to +reflect upon the folly of pursuing an object which he did not mean to +possess. But though wisdom urged discretion, a blue eye and a furtive +dimple beckoned. + +When morning came, he straightened his stiff legs and, picking his way +through the wooden sandals that cluttered the aisle, went out to the +small platform. The train had stopped at a village, and a boy with a +tray suspended from his shoulders, bearing boxes of native food, was +howling dismally: + +"Bento! Eo Bento!" + +Percival beckoned to him. "I say, can't you get me a roll and a cup of +coffee!" + +"Bento?" asked the boy, expectantly. + +"Coffee!" shouted Percival. "Rather strong, you know, and hot." + +"Tan San? Rhomenade?" asked the boy. + +"Coffee. Cafe. What a silly fool!" Percival muttered. + +About this time several windows in the car went up, and many voices took +up the cry of "Bento." When Percival reentered, he found that a large +pot of boiling water had been deposited in the aisle, and small tea-pots +had been distributed among the passengers. Everybody was partaking of +breakfast, and everybody seemed to be enjoying it, especially Judson, +who was attacking his neatly arranged bamboo sprouts, pickled eels, and +snowy rice with avidity. + +"This is a bit of all right, sir," he said with enthusiasm. "Shall I +fetch you a box, sir!" + +Percival lifted a protesting hand. And yet the pungent odor of the +pickle and the still smoking rice was not unpleasant. He watched with +increasing appetite the disappearance of the various viands. There were +occasions when a man might even envy his valet. + +At the Kioto Hotel there was no record of the Weston party, so he +snatched a hasty bite, and rushed on to the other large hotel. It was +on a hillside well out from the city, and two coolies were required for +each jinrikisha. Seeing that they had a newly arrived tourist, they were +moved to show him the sights, much to Percival's annoyance. + +"San-ju-san-gen-do Temple," the man in front said, putting down the +shafts of the jinrikisha confidently. "Thirty-three thousand images of +great god Kwannon. Come see? No? So desu ka?" + +Later he stopped at a flower-girt tea-house. + +"Geisha maybe! Very fine dancers. Come see? No? So desu ka?" + +So it continued, the two small guides trying in vain to arouse some +interest in the stern young gentleman who sat so rigidly in the +jinrikisha, with his mind bent solely on reaching the Yaami Hotel in the +shortest possible time. + +On his arrival, he met with disappointment. The effusive proprietor +informed him that a party of five, "one single lady, and two young +married couples, he thought," had breakfasted there and left immediately +with Dr. Weston for Hieizan. They would not return until night. + +"What, pray, is Hieizan?" Percival asked, dimly remembering Mrs. +Weston's outlined plan. + +"Very grand mountain," said the proprietor; "view of Lake Biwa. Biggest +pine-tree in the world." + +The last thing that Percival desired to see was a big pine-tree, but the +prospect of sharing the sight of it with Bobby Boynton spurred him to +further inquiry. + +"But they must come back, mustn't they? Perhaps I could meet them +halfway?" + +"Oh, yes. They go by _kago_ over mountain; you go by 'rickisha to +Otsu, and wait. Very nice, very easy. All come home together. I furnish +fine jinrikisha and very good man, Sanno; spik very good English." + +Percival had an early lunch, and, leaving Judson sitting disconsolately +among the hand-bags, started for Otsu. From the first his runner +justified his reputation of speaking English; he began by counting up +to fifty, looking over his shoulder for approval, and expecting to be +prompted when his memory failed. He received Percival's peremptory +order to be silent with an uncomprehending smile and a glib recitation +of the Twenty-third Psalm. He was an unusually tall coolie, and the +jinrikisha-shafts resting in his hands were a foot higher than they +ought to be, throwing his passenger at a most awkward angle. Before Otsu +was reached a sudden rainstorm came on, and Percival was made yet more +uncomfortable by having the hood of the jinrikisha put up, and a piece +of stiff oilcloth tucked about him. + +By the time he rattled into the courtyard of the small Japanese inn, he +was cramped and cold and very cross. Even the voluble welcome of the +proprietor and the four girls, who received him on their knees, failed +to revive his spirits. It was going to be deuced awkward explaining his +sudden appearance to the Weston party. There might even be jokes at his +expense. He decided to take a room and not make his appearance unless +everything seemed propitious. + +An animated discussion was in progress between Sanno and the innkeeper, +the import of which Sanno explained with much difficulty. Owing to the +autumn festival of the imperial ancestors, the inn was quite full, but +hospitality could not he refused to so distinguished a foreign guest. + +"Foreign bedstead is not," concluded Sanno; "foreign food is not; hot +bath is." + +"I sha'n't want a bed, and I sha'n't want a bath," said Percival, then, +seeing that a diminutive maiden was unloosing his shoes, he added +petulantly: "My boots are quite dry. Tell her to go away." + +But Sanno was getting his jinrikisha under cover, and Percival had to +submit to the gentle, but firm, determination of the _nesan_. She +was small and demure, but her attitude towards him was that of a nurse +towards a refractory child. She conducted him, with much sliding of +screens, through several compartments, to a room at the back of the +house that opened out on a tiny balcony overhanging a noisy stream. + +Percival, standing in his stockinged feet on the soft mats, looked about +him. The room was devoid of furniture, its only decoration being a vase +of carefully arranged flowers in an alcove, and a queer kakemono that +hung on an ivory stick. As he was inspecting the latter, the nesan again +approached him. + +This time she seemed to have designs upon his coat, and despite his +protest began to remove it. When he forestalled her at one point she +attacked another, until the situation became so embarrassing that he +shouted indignantly for Sanno. + +"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded furiously. "Why doesn't the +girl go away, and leave me alone?" + +"Gentleman bass already," said Sanno, soothingly. "Kimono? So?" he +joined forces with the nesan to get Percival out of his clothes and into +the fresh-flowered kimono that lay on the mat. + +"But I never take a tub in the afternoon," persisted Percival. + +Preparations went politely, but steadily, forward. + +"What's this she's putting on me?" he cried. "I say, I _won't_ wear +a sash; the whole thing's too beastly silly. Tell her to take it off." + +But despite his protests, the long red scarf was wound about his waist +and tied with many deft twists and pats into a butterfly bow at the +back. Seeing that protests were quite useless, and being still chilled +from his long ride, he decided to resist no longer, but to take the bath +that was so insisted upon, and be free to watch undisturbed for the +returning party. + +The nesan produced a sponge and towel from her long sleeves and, taking +Percival by the hand, led him down the hall. Once in the big, square +wooden tank, with the hot water up to his chin, he forgot his trouble, +and gave himself up to the luxury of the moment. Even the knowledge that +the determined little nesan was waiting outside the door, and that she +frequently applied a round, black eye to a hole in the screen, did not +interfere with his enjoyment. + +When he was again in his room, clothed except for his shoes, his +troubles once more assailed him. Suppose the Weston party did not return +by this route! The possibility of missing Bobby fired his desire to see +her at once. He had never known twenty-four hours to contain so many +minutes. + +During the early stages of his malady it had only been necessary for him +to recall the aristocratic faces and bearing of his mother and sisters +to have his vision instantly cleared and his reason enthroned. Later it +became necessary to add the captain's sturdy countenance to his list of +exorcising spirits. Now Bobby routed them all, not only taking entire +possession of his mind, but actually invading Hascombe Hall, dancing +through the gloomy, corridors, and waking the echoes with her youth and +merriment. + +Of course the Honorable Percival tried to stamp out these wild +imaginings, and assured himself repeatedly that the moment he landed in +Hong-Kong the whole episode would be relegated to oblivion. But +Hong-Kong was yet ten days away, and Percival saw no use in forgetting +before he had to. He went out to the courtyard and impatiently surveyed +the rain-soaked road. + +"No come," said Sanno, cheerfully, from the step where he was keeping +watch. "Tea?" + +Without waiting for an answer, he clapped his hands, calling, "_O +Cha!_" + +Another small maiden in a cherry-blossom kimono, carrying a brazier full +of live coals, trotted around the corner and conducted Percival back to +his apartment. She proved even more irritating than the first one, for +during the tea-making she stopped many times to examine his cuff-links, +wrist-watch, and ring, making purring exclamations of delight over each +discovery. When he used his monocle she tried it also, and when he took +out his cigarette-case, she must examine every detail and help herself +to a cigarette into the bargain. Percival was acutely bored. He regarded +her as a persistent fly that refused to be brushed away. He sat with his +back against the paper screen, his stockinged feet rigidly extended, +drinking his tea as solemnly as if he had been in the most formal +drawing-room of Grosvenor Square. + +The rainy afternoon closed in to twilight, and still the Weston party +did not come. Percival's impatience gave place to anger, but he doggedly +waited. + +"Could they have gone back another way?" he demanded of Sanno. + +"Way?" repeated Sanno. + +Percival made a drawing on paper and tried to convey his meaning, but it +was useless. + +"'Merican game?" asked Sanno, grinning. + +At last, in desperation, Percival decided to return. + +"Yaami Hotel, Kioto," he directed. + +"Very sorry," said Sanno. "No come Kioto to-night. Big rain. Bridge him +very bad. Jinrikisha upset, maybe." + +Percival declared this to be nonsense; he insisted that he would start +immediately. But as Sanno refused to bring out the jinrikisha, it was +not possible to carry out his intention. Then the Honorable Percival, +who was not used to being crossed, lost his temper, and the entire +household came out to see him do it. Sanno and the proprietor watched +him with bland and smiling faces, and the girls tucked their heads +behind their sleeves and laughed immoderately at his scowls and vehement +gestures. + +Seeing that he was gaining nothing by argument, he stalked sullenly back +to his room, where active preparations were in progress for dinner. The +brazier which had been used for the tea still stood in the middle of the +floor, and all around it were porcelain bowls and lacquer trays, and a +wooden bucket full of steaming rice. + +He took refuge on the two-foot balcony and gazed gloomily on the +sprawling stream below. The Westons were probably back in Kioto by this +time, and would be off again in the morning before he could possibly get +there. What headway might not that presumptuous Andy Black make with +Bobby Boynton in forty-eight uninterrupted hours! + +His tragic reflections were interrupted by the announcement that dinner +was served. Seated on the floor before a twelve-inch table, with disgust +written on every feature, he drank fish-soup out of a bowl, and tasted +dish after dish as it was borne in and respectfully placed before him. + +"Haven't you a fork?" he asked when the chop-sticks were proffered him. + +"Forku?" repeated one of the three maidens who knelt before him; then +she joined the other two in a giggling chorus. + +There had been moments in the Honorable Percival's life when his dignity +trembled on its pedestal, but never had it swayed so perilously as when +he tried to use chop-sticks for the first time under the fire of those +six mischievous black eyes. It was only by maintaining his haughtiest +manner that he remained master of the situation. + +When bedtime came, a new difficulty arose. Sanno's prophecy that +"foreign bedstead probably is not" proved true. A neat pile of quilts +in the middle of the floor was offered as a substitute, and Percival, +after a long argument, stretched himself on the soft heap and courted +oblivion. But the Fates were against him. As if his thoughts were not +sufficient to torment him, hundreds of mosquitos swarmed up from the +stream below, and assailed him so viciously that at midnight he rose +and called loudly for Sanno. + +With Sanno came the household, all eager to know what new excitement +the foreign gentleman was creating. When the trouble was explained, +elaborate preparations were set on foot to remedy it. After much +discussion, hooks were driven into the corners of the ceiling, and +a huge net cage, the size of the room, suspended therefrom. + +During this performance Percival suffered great embarrassment, owing to +the fact that the pink silk underwear in which he was arrayed was an +object of the liveliest interest to the ladies. + +When at last he was left alone, he fell into a troubled sleep. He +dreamed that the world was peopled solely by mosquitos, and he knew them +all, Captain Boynton, Andy Black, Sanno, the Lady Hortense, and even +Bobby herself. One by one they came and nipped him while he lay +helpless, clad only in a pink suit of silken underwear. + + + + +XI + +THE GYMKHANA + + +The experiences of his first twenty-four hours in Japan were repeated +with variations three times before Percival reached Kobe. His mad desire +to overtake Bobby had carried him from Kioto to Nara, where he went to +the wrong hotel and missed the Weston party by fifteen minutes. From +Nara he made a night journey to Ozaka, during which the small engine +broke down in the middle of a rice-field, proving a sorry substitute for +the wings of love. + +It was with a sigh of relief that he at last boarded the _Saluria_ +and sank into his steamer-chair. At least there was one satisfaction, +no one but Judson knew of his futile search, and Judson was too well +trained to discuss his master's affairs. How good it was to be on board +once more! He felt an almost sentimental attachment for the steamer +which three weeks ago had fallen so short of what an ocean-liner ought +to be. Then the _Saluria_ was only an old Atlantic transport +transferred to the Pacific to do passenger service, but now she was +a veritable ship of romance, freighted with memories and dreams. + +The passengers, coming aboard, seemed like old friends, and he found +himself greeting each in turn with a nod that surprised them as much +as it did him. At any moment now Bobby Boynton might appear, and the +prospect of seeing her raised his spirits to such a height that he +wondered if he would be able to play the role he had assigned himself. + +He had definitely decided to be an injured, but forgiving, friend. She +should be made no less aware of his wounds than of his generosity. She +would doubtless recall another incident in which he had met ingratitude +with noble forgiveness, and she would rush to make reparation. If there +was one thing he prided himself upon it was a knowledge of women. Never +but once had his judgment erred, and even then, could he but remember +all his impressions, he doubtless had had moments of misgiving. + +Bobby's voice sounded on the ladder, and the next moment she was +tripping down the deck toward him. It was in vain that he kept his eyes +on the letter in his hand, and assumed an air of complete absorption. +She came straight toward him, and dropped into the chair next his own. + +"Oh, but you missed it!" she said. "I never had so much fun in all my +life." + +He did not answer. Instead, he lifted a pair of melancholy eyes, and +looked at her steadfastly. + +"Oh," she said after a puzzled moment, "I forgot. We are mad, aren't we? +One of us owes the other an apology." + +"Which do you think it is!" he asked gently, as if appealing to her +higher nature. + +Bobby, with her head on one side, considered the matter. "Well," she +said, "you did something I didn't like, and I did something you didn't +like. Strikes me the drinks are on us both." + +"The--" Percival's horrified look caused her to exclaim contritely: + +"Excuse me, I'll do better next time. Come on, let's make up. Put it +there and call it square!" + +It was impossible to refuse the small hand that had been the cause of +the trouble, but even as Percival thrilled to its clasp he realized his +danger. During the course of his twenty-eight years he had always been +able to prescribe a certain course for himself and follow it with +reasonable certainty. Exciting moments were now occurring when he was +unable to tell what his next word or move was going to be. It is quite +certain that he never intended to take her hand in both of his and look +at her in the way he was doing now. + +"What a bunch of letters!" she said, getting possession of her hand. +"You see, I have some, too. I'll read you some of mine if you'll read me +some of yours. Will you?" + +"Which will you have?" + +"May I choose? What fun! Read me the one with the sunburst on it." + +He obediently adjusted his monocle, broke the seal, and began: + +_"'My Dear Son:_ + +"'I cannot, I fear, make my letter so long or so interesting as I could +desire, owing to the fact that I am afflicted with a slight lumbago, but +I will proceed without further preliminary to set down the few incidents +of interest that have occurred since my last writing. Your brother is +sorely harassed by affairs in the city, and when here he is in constant +altercation with the grooms about exercising your horses. I fear you +will find them sadly out of condition upon your return.'" + +"I call that a darn shame!" said Bobby, sympathetically, then her hand +flew to her mouth as she saw Percival's raised eyebrows. + +"There I go again! You see, I've been running around with Andy Black, +and nobody ever puts on airs with Andy." + +Percival gave a sigh of discouragement, then resumed his reading: + +"'We have had few guests at the hall since your departure until +yesterday, when who should call but the Duchess of Dare!'" Percival +paused, and glanced hurriedly down the page. + +"Go on!" commanded Bobby. + +"It won't interest you in the slightest." + +"But it _does_. Unless there's something you don't want me to +hear." + +"Not at all. Where was I? Oh, yes, 'call but the Duchess of Dare! She +has let her house to some friends, and has come away from London for a +fortnight's rest. It was rather queer of her calling, wasn't it? She was +less embarrassed than you would imagine and actually had the effrontery +to mention Hortense.'" + +"Who is Hortense?" asked Bobby, all curiosity. + +"Her daughter." + +"Well, why shouldn't her mother mention her?" + +"Oh, I don't know," said Percival, in deep water; "rather bad form, +perhaps." + +"For a mother to mention her own child?" Then the light dawned. "Perhaps +she is the one you were telling me about." + +Percival hastily folded the letter and slipped it into its emblazoned +envelop. + +"Is she?" persisted Bobby. + +"Is she what?" + +"The girl you let down easy?" + +"Well, really, Miss Boynton--" + +"Roberta," corrected Bobby. + +"Very well, Roberta. It's your time to read to me. May I choose a +letter?" + +"No, I'll choose one myself." + +"But that isn't fair. I let you select any one you liked." + +She thought it over, then somewhat reluctantly held out three envelops. +It was so evident that she was trying to keep back the bulky one with +the bold address that Percival instantly selected it. + +"Some of it's secrets," she warned him, "and you mustn't peep." + +"Of course not. But who is it from?" + +"That wasn't in the game. I didn't ask you." + +"You didn't need to; but go ahead." + +"It's all about the ranch," said Bobby, looking over the pages +and smiling to herself. "They've had an awful row with the new +broncho-buster, and Hal had to punch his head for being cruel to the +horses. I knew that fellow wasn't any good." She read on for a while +to herself. "Says the shooting promises to be great this year. My! but +I hate to miss it!" + +"Whatever do you find to shoot?" + +"A little of everything from teal duck to Canada goose." + +"Really!" exclaimed Percival, with interest. "And do you shoot?" + +"Oh, yes, some. I'm not as good as the boys. You see, I have to use Pa +Joe's old No. 10 choke-bore shot-gun, when I really ought to have a +16-bore fowling-piece." + +Here was a new and wholly unsuspected bond of sympathy between them. +Percival would have plunged at once into a dissertation on a subject +upon which he considered himself an authority had not the fluttering +sheets of the letter stirred vague misgivings in his bosom. + +"You aren't playing fair!" he cried. "You are telling me what is in your +letter without reading it to me." + +"So I am!" She looked over page after page. "Here, this will do. It +says: 'I wish you could have been along last night when I hit the trail +for the Lower Ranch. You know what that old road looks like in the +moonlight, all deep black in the gorges, and white on the cliffs, and +not a dog-gone sound but the hoof-beats of your horse and the clank of +the bridle-chains. Why, when you come out in the open and the wind gets +to ripping 'cross the grass-fields, and the moon gets busy with every +little old blade, and there's miles of beauty stretched out far as your +eye can reach, I'd back it against any sight in the world. Only last +night I wasn't thinking much about the scenery. I was thinking--'" +Bobby stopped short, declaring that she had a cinder in her eye. + +"Can't be a cinder, out here in the bay," protested Percival. + +"Well, it's whatever they have out here." + +"And sha'n't I ever know what your friend was thinking?" + +"He was probably thinking of his dinner," said Bobby, gazing at him +reassuringly with her free eye. + +After she had departed to make sure that the steamer got properly under +way, he tortured himself with suspicions. What possible secrets could +she have with this unknown friend, who waxed sentimental over moonlit +trails and wind-swept grassfields? Had not some one told him of an +unhappy love-affair? He searched his memory. Suddenly there came to him +the disturbing figure of a stalwart young man on a broncho, with leather +overalls, jingling spurs, a silk handkerchief knotted about his throat, +and a pair of keen, humorous eyes lighting up a sun-bronzed face. + +Then he smiled at his quick alarm. Hadn't she told him it was one of her +foster-brothers, one of those lads whom he persisted in regarding as +children? It was the most natural thing in the world that an impulsive, +big-hearted creature like Bobby would be on terms of affectionate +intimacy with those boys with whom she had been brought up. + +He did not feel fully reassured, however, until he put the question to +her flatly: + +"That letter you were reading me," he said at his first opportunity--"you +won't mind telling me if it is from that chap I saw at the station?" + +"I don't mind telling you. But you mustn't tell the captain." + +"The captain? Oh, to be sure. Doesn't fancy your friends, the Fords. I +remember." + +From that time on he boldly and openly entered the lists for Bobby's +favor. The ten days he had allowed himself to drift with the tide of his +inclination were passing with incredible swiftness, and he resorted to +every means, from the subtlest strategy to the most domineering +insolence, to monopolize every waking moment of her time. + +She responded to all his suggestions with flattering promptness until +preparations were set on foot to hold a huge gymkhana, in which +everybody on board should take part. The enterprise fired her enthusiasm +instantly. She was a born organizer, and the prospect of a whole day +devoted to sports captivated her. The project served as a peg on which +she and Percival hung their first quarrel. + +"Of course I'm going into it," she exclaimed hotly, "and so are you." + +"The idea!" said Percival. "I shouldn't think of it for a moment. Fancy +me chasing an egg around the deck in a teaspoon, and all that sort of +thing!" + +"But there are lots of other contests. There's the long jump, and the +tug-of-war--" + +"And pinning tails on donkeys," added Percival, bitterly. "Dare say +you'd like to see me doing that." + +"I'd like to see you doing anything that would make you more sociable," +flashed Bobby. + +For the rest of the day Percival sulked in the smoking-room, raging at +the time that was stolen from him, and given to the making of silly +rules and the buying of trifling prizes. + +On the morning of the sports he arrayed himself in one of the white +creations of G. Lung Fat's, giving special attention to the accessories +of his toilet. Then, with marked indifference to the games, which were +the all-absorbing topic of the day, he had his chair moved to the far +side of the deck, and sat there in superior isolation during the whole +morning. + +But even there he could not avoid hearing what was taking place; shouts +of laughter, groans, and jeers over a failure, and frantic applause over +a victory, were wafted to him constantly. Now and then some one hurried +by with the information that Andy Black had won the quoits prize or that +Andy Black had won the bottle-race. His lip curled contemptuously at +sports that required a mere trickster's turn of the wrist or an animal's +sense of direction. He would like to see Andy attempt a long jump or a +mile race. Imagine the fat pink-and-white youth on a polo pony! + +At luncheon Andy's praises were passed from lip to lip. The affair +had assumed an international significance. A Scotchman, a German, a +Japanese, and an American were striving for first place. The captain's +patriotism ran so high that he offered to set up the handsomest dinner +the Astor Hotel in Shanghai could afford if Andy came out victorious. + +In vain Percival sought to hold Bobby's attention. The tapers in her +eyes were lighted for Andy, and he was obliged to undergo the new and +intolerable sensation of sitting in a darkened niche and watching the +candles burn at an adjoining shrine. + +The slightest hint of deflection in one upon whom he had bestowed his +favor maddened him. He had showered upon this ungrateful girl attentions +the very husks of which would have sustained several English girls he +knew through a lifetime of patient waiting. He recalled their unswerving +loyalty with a glow at his heart. + +Ah, he thought, one must look to England for ideal womanhood. Where else +was to be found that beautiful deference, that blind reliance, that +unswerving loyalty--At the word "loyalty" a stabbing memory of Lady +Hortense punctured his eloquence. + +During the afternoon he found it impossible to escape the games. The +potato and three-legged races brought the contestants to his side of the +deck, and his reading was constantly interrupted by an avalanche of +noisy spectators who rushed through the cross passages from one side of +the boat to the other, exhibiting a perfectly ridiculous amount of +excitement. + +Andy, it seemed, had only one more entry to win before claiming the +day's championship. + +"He'll get it!" Percival overheard the captain saying gleefully to Mrs. +Weston. "None of 'em are in it with America when it comes to sports." + +Percival flicked the ashes from his cigar, and, carefully adjusting his +tie, rose, and made his way to the judges' table. + +"How many more events are there?" he asked in a superior tone. + +"One," was the answer. + +"How many entries?" + +"Two. Mr. Black and the Scotch gentleman." + +"Make it three," said Percival, as if he were ordering cocktails. + +In the confusion of preparing for the last and most elaborate feature of +the day, Percival's enlistment was not discovered. It was not until the +contestants ranged themselves in front of the judges' table that a buzz +of fresh interest and amazement swept the deck. First came the Scot, +lean, wiry, and deadly determined; then came Andy, plump and pink, with +his fair hair ruffled, and a laughing retort on his lips for every sally +that was sent in his direction. Last came the Honorable Percival, a +distinguished figure in immaculate array, wearing upon his aristocratic +features a look of contemptuous superiority. + +"What are the rules of the game?" he inquired, looking into space. + +"There's just one rule," called Captain Boynton from the +background--"Get there." + +"The American motto, I believe," said Percival, quietly, and the crowd +laughed. + +The Scot was the first to start, and Percival watched anxiously to see +the nature of the race he had entered. He saw his adversary dash forward +as the signal sounded, climb over a pile of upturned chairs, scramble +under a table, scale a high net fence, then disappear around the deck, +only to emerge later from the mouth of a funnel-shaped tunnel, through +which his contortions had been followed by shrieks of merriment. + +Percival realized too late what he had let himself in for. Not for +worlds would he have subjected himself to such buffoonery had he known. +It was not the sport of a gentleman; it was the play of a circus clown! +He watched with horrified disgust as the Scot's grimy face and tousled +head emerged from the canvas cavern. + +"Four minutes and five seconds," called the umpire. + +Andy Black stepped confidently forward amid a burst of applause. + +"The champion Roly-Poly of the Pacific," some one called. + +"The _Saluria's_ Little Sunbeam," suggested another. + +Andy smiled blandly, and kissed his fingertips. The signal sounded, and +he bounded off, bouncing from one obstacle to another like a rubber +ball. It was only in the twenty-yard dash from the net fence to the +canvas tunnel that he lost ground. + +"Four minutes, two seconds," announced the umpire as Andy scrambled out +on all fours. + +At that moment Percival would willingly have exchanged places with the +grimiest stoker in the hold. Was it possible that he had, of his own +accord, placed himself in this absurd and undignified position for the +sole purpose of defeating a common, commercial traveler who had dared to +deflect the natural course of a certain damsel's smiles! He writhed +under the ignominy of it. What if he were defeated? What if-- + +The signal sounded, and instinctively he hurled himself forward. As he +scrambled over the upturned chairs he heard a sound that struck terror +to his soul: it was the unmistakable hiss of tearing linen. The hastily +made garments of G. Lung Fat had proved unequal to the strain put upon +them. Percival lost his head completely when he realized that his +waistcoat was split up the back from hem to collar, and that he had +become an object of the wildest hilarity. + +He might have fled the scene then and there, leaving Andy to enjoy +his laurels undisturbed, had he not caught sight of Bobby frantically +motioning him to go on. Setting his teeth grimly, he went down on all +fours and scrambled under the table, then resolutely tackled that +swaying, sagging network of ropes that barred his progress. Again and +again he got nearly to the top, only to have his foot go through the +wide bars and leave him hanging there in the most awkward and ungainly +position. It seemed to him an eternity that he hung ignominiously, like +a fly in a spider's web, while the crowd went wild with merriment. + +Then suddenly all his fighting blood rose, and forgetting the +spectators, and even forgetting Bobby, he doggedly grappled with those +yielding ropes until he got a foothold, swung himself over the top, +cleared the entanglement below, and made a flying dash for the yawning +mouth of canvas at the far end of the deck. It was incredibly hot and +suffocating inside, but he wriggled frantically forward, clawing and +kicking like a crab. At last a dim light ahead spurred him to one final +gallant effort. + +"Four minutes!" called the umpire as the Honorable Percival Hascombe +emerged, blinking and breathless, and staggered to his feet. His clothes +were soiled and torn, his hair was on end, there was dust in his eyes, +and dirt in his mouth. + +The fickle audience went wild. The dark horse had won, and public favor +immediately swung in his direction. But it was not the favor of the +public that Percival sought; it was the homage of a certain rebellious +maiden, who must be taught that he was the master of any situation in +which he found himself. + +Bobby was not slow to proffer her congratulations. She gave them with +both hands, to say nothing of her eyes and her dimple. + +"I pulled for you!" she whispered eagerly. "I almost prayed for you. I +wouldn't have seen you beaten for the world." + +As Percival, elated by her enthusiasm, stood shaking hands right and +left, he felt a curious and unfamiliar warmth stealing over him. All +these people whom he had looked upon until to-day as so many figureheads +stalking about suddenly became human beings. He found, to his surprise, +that he knew their names and they knew his. He sat on a table, swinging +his feet in unison with a lot of other young feet, while he sipped +lemonade from the same glass as Bobby Boynton. + +[Illustration: He sat on a table swinging his feet in unison with a lot +of other young feet, while he sipped lemonade from the same glass as +Bobby Boynton.] + +As a matter of fact, the Honorable Percival Hascombe was experiencing a +novel sensation. He was enjoying a sense of fellowship, to which all his +life he had been a stranger. + + + + +XII + +THE SONG OF THE SIREN + + +By the time the _Saluria_ anchored off Shanghai, the fires in +Percival's bosom had assumed the proportions of a conflagration. No +sooner were they seemingly conquered by the cold stream of reason that +was poured upon them than they broke forth again with fresh and alarming +violence. + +On the launch coming up the Hwang-pu River he took the precaution of +engaging Bobby Boynton's company not only for the day on shore, but for +the evening as well. With hardened effrontery he bore the young lady +away in exactly the high-handed manner so bitterly condemned in Andy +Black at Yokohama. + +The day on shore was one he was destined never to forget. The glamour of +it suffused even material old China with a roseate hue. With gracious +condescension he visited gaily decked temples and many-storied pagodas, +he loitered in silk and porcelain shops, and wound in and out of narrow, +ill-smelling streets, even allowing Bobby to conduct him through that +amazing quarter known as Pig Alley. He not only submitted to all these +diversions; he demanded more. He seemed to have developed an ambition to +leave no place of interest in or about Shanghai unvisited. + +Tiffin-time found them at a well-known tea-house in Nanking Road--a +tea-house with golden dragons climbing over its walls and long wooden +signs bearing cabalistic figures swinging in the wind like so many +banners. Percival secured a table on the upper balcony, where they could +look down on the passing throng, and here in the intimate solitude of a +foreign crowd they had their lunch. + +Bobby was too excited to eat; she hung over the balcony, exclaiming at +every new sight and sound, and appealing to Percival constantly for +enlightenment. Fortunately he had spent part of the previous day poring +over a Shanghai guide-book, so he was able to meet her inquiries with +the most amazing satisfaction. + +"I don't see how any one human being can know as much as you do!" she +exclaimed, with a look that Buddha might have envied. + +"Even I make mistakes occasionally," said Percival, modestly. "Can't +always be right, you know." + +"But you are," she persisted; "you are always abominably right, and I am +always wrong." + +"Adorably wrong," amended Percival, assisting with the tea-things. + +"Two, three, four?" she asked, holding up the sugar-tongs. + +"Doesn't matter so long as I have you to look at." + +Now, when an Englishman ceases to be particular about the amount of +sugar in his tea, you may know he is very far gone indeed. By the time +he had drained three cups of the jasmine-scented beverage and basked in +the brilliance of Bobby's smiles through the smoking of two cigars, he +was feeling decidedly heady. + +"If we are going to the races, we really _must_ start," declared +Bobby when she found the situation getting difficult. + +"What's the use of going anywhere?" asked Percival, blowing one ring of +smoke through another. + +"Why, we are seeing the sights of Shanghai. You said you were crazy +about China." + +"So I am. You are quite determined on the races?" + +"Quite," said Bobby. + +Their way to the track lay along the famous Bubbling Well Road, and as +they bowled along in a somewhat imposing victoria, with a couple of +liveried Chinamen on the box, Bobby sat bolt upright, her cheeks +flushed, and her eager eyes drinking in the sights. + +It was a scene sufficiently gay to hold the interest of a much more +sophisticated person than the untraveled young lady from Wyoming. The +whole of society, it appeared, was on route to the races. The road was +thronged with smart traps full of brilliantly dressed people of every +nationality. There were gay parties from the various legations, French, +Russian, Japanese, German, English, American. In and out among the +whirling wheels of the foreigners poured the unending procession of +native life, unperturbed, unconcerned. A Chinese lady in black satin +trousers and gorgeous embroidered coat, wearing a magnificent head-dress +of jade and pearls, rode side by side with a coolie who trundled a +wheelbarrow which carried his wife on one side and his week's provisions +on the other. Water-carriers, street vendors, jinrikisha-runners, women +with bound feet, children on foot, and children strapped on the backs of +their mothers, crossed and recrossed, surged in and out. + +But the Honorable Percival concerned himself little with these petty +details. To him China was only a pleasing background for Miss Roberta +Boynton; he saw no further than her eager, smiling eyes, and heard +nothing more distant than the ripple of her laughter. + +At the races they found an absorbing bond of interest. The love of +horse-flesh was ingrained in both, and the merits of the various ponies +provoked endless discussion. Lights were beginning to twinkle on the +bund when they drove back to the hotel. + +"Where shall we go to-night!" asked Percival, as eager at the end of +this eight hours' tete-a-tete as he had been at the start. + +"To the ball, of course," said Bobby. "The hotel is giving it in honor +of the _Saluria_." + +"Heavens! what a bore! Can't we dodge it?" + +"You can if you want to. Andy'll take me. He's just waiting to see if +you renig." + +"Renig?" repeated Percival. + +"Yes," said Bobby--"fluke, back out; you know what I mean." + +That settled it with Percival. Five minutes before the hour appointed he +was waiting impatiently in one of the small reception-rooms to conduct +Miss Boynton to that most abhorred of all functions, a public ball. What +possible pleasure he was going to get out of standing against the wall +and watching her dance with other men he could not conceive. He assured +himself that he was acting like a fool, and that if he kept on at the +pace he was going, Heaven only knew what folly he might commit in the +four days that must pass before he reached Hong-Kong. + +Hong-Kong! The word had but one association for him. It was the home of +his eldest and most conservative sister, a lady of uncompromising social +standards, who recognized only two circles of society, the one over +which her mother presided in London, and the smaller one over which she +reigned as the wife of the British diplomatic official in the land of +her adoption. + +At the mere thought of presenting Bobby to this paragon of social +perfection, Percival shuddered. He could imagine Sister Cordelia's +pitiless survey of the girl through her lorgnette, the lifting of her +brows over some mortal sin against taste or some deadly transgression in +her manner of speech. Of course, he assured himself it would never do; +the idea of bringing them together was wholly preposterous. And yet-- + +A Chinese youth, with a handful of trinkets, slipped into the room, and +furtively proffered his wares. + +"Very good, number-one jade-stone. Make missy velly plitty. Can buy?" + +Percival motioned him away, only to have him return. + +"Jade-stone velly nice! Plitty young missy wanchee jade-stone." + +"Did she say she wanted it?" demanded Percival, with sudden interest. + +The boy grinned. "Oh, yes. Wanchee heap! No have got fifty dollar'. +Master have got. Wanchee buy?" + +Percival tossed him the money and lay the pendant on the table. Then he +resumed his pacing and his disturbed meditations. If he could only keep +himself firmly in hand during those next four days, all would be well. +Once safely anchored in the harbor of his sister's eminently proper +English circle, the song of the siren would doubtless fade away, and he +would thank Heaven fervently for his miraculous escape. Meanwhile he +listened with increasing impatience for the first flutter of the siren's +wings, + +"Wanchee Manchu coatt?" whispered an insidious voice at his elbow, and, +looking down, he saw the enterprising lad with a pile of gorgeous silks +over his arm and cupidity writ large in his narrow eyes. + +"No, no; go away!" commanded Percival. + +"Velly fine dragon coat. Him all same b'long mandarin. How much?" + +Percival turned away, but at every step was presented with another +garment for inspection. Despite himself, his artistic eye was caught and +held by the beauty of the fabrics. + +"How much?" he asked, picking up a marvelous affair of silver and gray, +lined with the faintest of shell pinks. It was the exact tone and sheen +to set Bobby's beauty off to the greatest advantage. The argument over +the price was short and fierce, and Percival laid the coat beside the +pendant on the table. + +He promised himself to offset the effect of these gifts by a more +detached and impersonal manner than he had shown Bobby during the day. +So far, he congratulated himself, he had given her no occasion for false +hopes. On the contrary, he had gone out of his way on several occasions +to express his bitter disapproval of international marriages. When the +hour came for them to part, his heart might be mortally wounded, but his +conscience, save for a few scratches, would be uninjured. + +A quick step in the corridor made him look up. Standing in the doorway +was a vision of girlish beauty that had the acrobatic effect of sending +his blood into his head and his heart into his eyes. She wore the +diaphanous gown of white that he liked best, her hair was coiled at the +exact angle he had prescribed, and at her belt were the orchids he had +sent up half an hour before. No rhinestones in her hair, no gold beads +on her slippers, nothing to mar the simplicity that her all too vivid +beauty required. Percival's eyes appraised her at her full value. Even +Sister Cordelia would have been propitiated by the sight. + +"What's this lovely thing?" cried Bobby, pouncing upon the coat. + +"Something I bought to be rid of a troublesome lad. Don't know what I +shall do with it, exactly." + +"Take it to your sister, of course," + +"She probably has heaps of them." + +Bobby slipped her round, bare arms into the loose sleeves, and surveyed +herself in the long mirror. + +"Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?" she asked, glancing at +him over her shoulder. + +[Illustration: "Isn't that the prettiest thing you ever saw?" she asked, +glancing at him over her shoulder] + +"It is," said Percival, emphatically. His judgment about the +becomingness of the color had, us usual, been unerring. + +"I should be no end grateful," he said, "if you'd take it off my hands. +My trunks are fearfully stuffed now." + +"But I haven't any money," said Bobby, with characteristic frankness; +"besides, we don't need things like that in Cheyenne." + +"Silly girl! Do you think I have turned merchant, and have got wares for +sale? The coat is for you." + +Bobby gave a cry of delight, then she looked up dubiously. + +"But is it all right for me to take a present like this? I never had +anything so big given me--yes, I did, too!" She laughed. "A fellow from +Medicine Bow sent me a barrel of mixed fruit once, with nuts and raisins +in between, and ten pounds of candy on top!" + +"Then why scruple at my gift?" + +Her brow clouded. "But you said girls oughtn't to take things from men +they weren't engaged to. You remember that day on deck you got me to +give back Andy's scarf-pin?" + +Percival cleared his throat. + +"Quite a different matter," he said; "now, between you and me--" + +Bobby shook her head as she took off the coat. + +"No, I guess not. I want it so bad I can taste it, but I think you'd +better keep it for somebody in the family." + +Percival slipped the jade pendant into his waistcoat pocket, and tossed +the coat on a chair. + +"As you like," he said. "Shall we go to the ball-room?" + +In his secret soul he was inordinately gratified. Of course she should +not have accepted the coat, and he should not have tempted her. She had +done exactly right in firmly adhering to his former instructions. +Altogether she was a remarkable little person indeed. + +The moment they appeared in the ballroom she was confiscated, and he had +a miserable quarter of an hour watching her whirl from one masculine arm +to another. For the first time dancing struck him as pernicious. He +declared that the clergy had something on its side when it denounced the +amusement as evil. He doubted gravely if he should ever permit a wife of +his to dance. + +"Mr. Hascombe, aren't you going to ask me to dance?" It was Bobby who +had stopped before him, flushed and breathless. + +"I don't dance at public balls," he said disapprovingly. + +"Why not?" asked Bobby, in surprise. + +"Hardly the thing. A person in my position, you know--" + +"You mean because of the Honorable? How stupid! Let's pretend you aren't +one just for to-night!" + +"But I don't dance these dances, you see." + +"That doesn't matter; I'll teach you." + +"Really, now, I can't make a spectacle of myself." + +"Nobody wants you to. We'll practise out here in the loggia. Come +ahead!" + +He was seized by two small, determined hands and drawn this way and +that, apparently without the slightest method. + +"But I haven't the vaguest idea what to do with my feet," he protested +helplessly. + +"Don't do anything with them; let them do something with you. Shut your +eyes and listen to the music; let it get into your bones, and the first +thing you know you will be doing it." + +With British solemnity Percival closed his eyes and tried to feel the +music. Suddenly he was aware that he was moving in rhythm to the +insistent beat of the drum. + +"That's it!" cried Bobby, excitedly. "You are doing the Grape-Vine; let +yourself go. That's it!" + +So intent was he upon keeping out of time instead of in it, that he +was guided from the loggia into the ball-room before he knew it. His +awakening came when a firm hand was laid upon his shoulder. He stopped +indignantly. The ship's doctor had not only arrested the development of +his new-found talent, but was actually dancing off with his partner! + +"Most unwarrantable impertinence!" he stormed to the Scotchman, whom he +joined at the door. "Clapped me on the shoulder quite as if I had been +under suspicion for felony. Almost expected to hear him say, 'My man, +you're wanted.' I shall demand satisfaction of the cub the instant the +dance is over." + +The Scotchman laughed. "He meant ye no harm. It's a trick they have in +the States of changing partners. Watch the game; ye'll see." + +"And I can take any man's partner away by simply laying my hand on his +shoulder?" + +This changed the complexion of things considerably. The Honorable +Percival spent the remainder of the evening laying his hand upon the +shoulder of whosoever claimed Bobby for a dance. + +It was remarkable with what facility he acquired the new steps. He knew +that he had a good figure and that he carried it with distinction. The +admiring glances that followed his entrance into any public assembly +made him pleasantly aware of the fact. To-night, however, if any of his +thoughts turned upon himself, they were but stragglers from the main +army that marched in solid file under Bobby's banner. + +During the intervals when he could not dance with her he retired to +the loggia, and thought about her. She was not only the most beautiful +creature he had ever seen, but the most adorably responsive. He likened +her poetically to an AEolian harp and himself to the wind. + +No one, not even his fond mother, had accepted him so implicitly at +his own valuation as Bobby. Other women frequently insisted upon their +own interpretations. He looked upon this as a form of disloyalty. +Lady Hortense had once decried his taste for Tennyson; that, and her +persistent use of a perfume which he disliked had been symbolic to him +of a difference in temperament. Bobby had no predilections for perfumes +or poets. She blindly accepted his judgment of all things, and if she +sometimes failed to conform to his wishes, it was through forgetfulness +and not opposition. He gloried in her plasticity; after all, was it not +among the chief of feminine virtues? + +While he paced the loggia and thus recounted her charms, he became +increasingly intolerant of the fact that his AEolian harp was being swept +by _various_ winds. He thirsted for a complete monopoly of her +smiles, of all her glances, grave and gay, of the thousand and one +little looks and gestures that he had quite unwarrantably come to look +upon as his own. + +After all, why should he consider his family before himself? Why should +he ever go back to England at all? It was the most daring thought he had +ever had, and for a moment it staggered him. Lines from "Locksley Hall" +began ringing in his ears: + + "... Oh for some retreat + Deep in yonder shining-Orient when; my life began to heat: + Larger constellations burning, mellow moons and happy skies, + Breadths of tropic shady, and palms in clusters, Knots of Paradise. + There the passions, cramp'd no longer, shall have scope and breathing + space; + I will take some savage woman--" + + +Of course, he told himself, Bobby wasn't exactly a savage woman; but +then again she was, you know, in a way. She was from the point of view +of Sister Cordelia. But why consult Sister Cordelia at all? Why not seek +some "blossomed bower in dark purple spheres of sea"? Not in China; it +was too beastly smelly. Not in Japan; mosquitos. Not in America; never! +It should be some South Sea Island, where they would dwell, "the world +forgetting, and by the world forgot." + +Once an Englishman slips the leash of his sentiment and quotes even a +line of poetry, it carries him far afield. In this case it led Percival +a headlong chase over walls of tradition and barriers of pride. He +begrudged every moment that must elapse before he had Bobby to himself, +and told her of his great decision. + +"But isn't it too late to be taking a walk?" she protested when the last +dance was over, and he was urging a turn on the bund. + +"Just a breath of fresh air. Won't take five minutes. Where's your +wrap?" + +"I haven't any but my steamer-coat. I don't suppose you could stand +that." + +"You will wear the Manchu coat," said Percival, with tender authority; +"there's every reason why you should." + + + + +XIII + +PERCIVAL PROCRASTINATES + + +The little park that stretched between the bund and the water-front way +deserted save for a few isolated couples who had strolled out from the +hotel to cool off after the heat of the ball-room. Percival and Bobby +found a vine-clad summer-house where they could watch the tall ships +riding at anchor in the bay, their riding-lights swaying amid the more +stationary stars. Closer to the water were the bobbing lights of the +sleeping junks, while behind them twinkled the myriad lights of that +vast native city the hem of whose garment they were merely touching. + +The setting was all that Percival's fastidious taste could desire, but +now that he had "the time and the place and the loved one all together," +he found an epicure's delight in lingering over his rapture. This hour +had a flavor, a bouquet, that no other hour would ever contain, and he +preferred to sip it deliriously moment by moment. He coaxed her to talk +at length about himself, to put into her own words the impressions he +had made upon her mentally, morally, and physically. He never tired of +beholding in the mirror of her mind the very images he had placed before +it. + +"You are a perfect little wizard!" he exclaimed in ecstasy. "You read me +like a book. Quite sure you aren't cold!" + +"No," said Bobby; "but I'm getting awfully sleepy." + +His pride took instant alarm. After all, it was not the hour to press +his suit. He rose, and tenderly drew the shining folds of her wrap about +her. + +"I shall take you in. Can't allow you to lose your roses, you know. +To-morrow I must take better care of you." + +Bobby gave a sleepy little laugh. + +"What is it!" he asked. + +"I was just thinking how mad we are making the captain. He wouldn't +speak to me all through dinner." + +"I shall have a word to say to the captain to-morrow that will quite +change his attitude." + +"What sort of a word?" + +"Can't you guess?" + +Before Bobby could answer, their attention was arrested by angry shouts +in the street behind them. A drunken sailor, evidently from an English +gunboat, was in fierce altercation with his jinrikisha-man, and was +announcing to the world, in language compounded of all the oaths in his +vocabulary, that he wished to be condemned to Hades if any more +pumpkin-headed, pig-tailed Chinks got another bob out of his pocket. + +Percival was for hurrying his precious charge past the belligerents and +into the hotel, but Bobby insisted upon seeing the end of it. + +"That sailor is fixing to get into trouble," she cried. "He doesn't know +what he is doing or saying." + +"I dare say he'll manage very well," said Percival, urging her on. + +"But he _isn't_ managing, He's making the coolie furious. Don't let +him hit at him like that! See, he's caught hold of his queue!" + +The patient Chinaman had received the supreme insult, and in a second he +had flashed a short knife from his belt, and was lunging at the stupid, +upturned face of the half-recumbent sailor. + +Percival sprang forward and seized the descending arm. He was not quick +enough to arrest the force of the blow, but he succeeded in deflecting +its course, and the blade, which would have given the sailor a decent +burial at sea, sharply grazed Percival's wrist, and buried itself in the +side of the jinrikisha. + +It was all so quickly done that by the time a crowd collected and the +big Sikh policeman arrived in his yellow clothes and huge striped turban +Percival had got Bobby safely into the hotel lobby. He was exasperated +beyond measure that this very evening, of all, should have ended in his +participation in a vulgar street brawl. So far he had succeeded in +keeping Bobby from knowing that he was wounded, but the beastly scratch +was bleeding furiously, and he had to keep his hand behind, him to +prevent her from seeing it. + +They hurried through the empty lobby and down the long corridor that led +to the elevator. Bobby was full of excitement over the recent adventure +and the part Percival had played in it. + +"My, but you were quick!" she said as they went up on the elevator. "I +had just time to shut my eyes and open them again, and it was all over." + +"Nothing to speak of," said Percival, twisting his handkerchief tighter +around his throbbing wrist. + +"But you don't mind my being proud of you, do you?" asked Bobby as the +elevator stopped at his floor. "When I see a man show courage like that, +I just feel as if--as if I'd like to squeeze him." + +Percival's left hand shot out and caught hers to his lips. + +"Why, Mr. Hascombe!" she cried "What's the matter with your arm? No, +I mean the other one." + +"A mere scratch." + +"But your sleeve's cut, and the handkerchief is all blood-stained. Why +didn't you tell me you were hurt?" + +"I assure you it is nothing. Quite all right in the morning. Breakfast +with you at nine. Happy dreams!" + +Bobby was not to be so easily put off. She insisted upon following him +out of the elevator and inspecting the wound, + +"Why, it's dreadful!" she cried. "And it must have been bleeding like +this for five minutes! Quick! Where's your room?" + +"But really, my dear girl, I can't allow this. You must get back into +the lift straight away and go up to your room." + +"I sha'n't do anything of the sort until you get Judson or a doctor or +somebody." + +Percival would have carried his point but for a certain dizziness that +had come over him. He put out a hand to steady himself. + +"Give me your key!" he heard Bobby saying, and the next instant his door +was flung open, the lights were switched on, and he was staggering +blindly toward the couch at the foot of the bed. Then there was a +furious ringing of bells, a long wait, followed by the appearance of +a sleepy Chinese night watchman. + +"Gentleman hurt!" cried Bobby. "Get a doctor! Send somebody up here +quick! Do you understand?" + +"Me savvy," said the Chinaman, calmly. "Doctor no belong Astor Hotel. +All same belong Oliental Hotel." + +"I don't care where he belongs," Bobby cried impatiently. "Get him over +the telephone. And send somebody up from the office, do you understand?" + +"Oh, yes, me savvy," he said, with the imperturbability of his race. + +Percival heard the man's footsteps dying in the distance, and he made a +mighty effort to rouse himself. + +"Silly of me to behave like this. Quite all right now, thanks. You must +run away before any one comes." + +"Why?" demanded Bobby. + +"Looks rather queer your being here like this at midnight, you know. +Wouldn't compromise you for the world." + +Bobby was standing at his dressing-table searching for something, and +she wheeled upon him indignantly. + +"This is no time to be thinking about looks. You lie down and stop +talking. Hold your arm up straight, like that. Keep it that way until +I come." + +He did as she told him, grasping his right wrist in his left hand; but +the bright-red blood continued to spurt through his fingers, showing no +signs of abating. + +"If I could only find a string!" cried Bobby, tossing the contents of +his bag this way and that. "Here's the strap on your toilet-case; +perhaps it'll do." + +She knelt beside the couch, and, ripping his sleeve to the elbow, +hastily wrapped the leather thong twice about his forearm and slipped +the strap into the buckle. + +"I've got to hurt you," she said resolutely, pulling with nervous +strength. + +"It's most awfully good of you," murmured Percival, wearily, setting his +teeth and closing his eyes. Despite the pain, the drowsiness was getting +the better of him. He felt himself sinking through space, away from the +world, from himself, and, worst of all, from the tender, reassuring +voice that kept whispering words of comfort in his ear. + +From time to time he was aware of bellboys coming and going, and of +apparently futile inquiries for Judson, for the doctor, for Mrs. Weston, +for the captain. Then for a long time he was aware of nothing whatever. + +A sudden sharp pain in his arm roused him, and he opened his eyes. Bobby +still knelt on the floor beside him, unflinchingly holding the strap in +place. + +"I won't have this!" he cried, struggling to sit up. "Your lips are +trembling. It's making you ill." + +She laid her free hand on his shoulder. + +"Please lie still! They'll be here in a minute. I thought I heard the +elevator. It won't be much longer." + +There was the sound of hurrying feet in the hall, and the next instant +a quick rap at the door. Bobby looked up with great relief as a burly +English physician bustled into the room. + +"How long have you had the tourniquet on, Madam?" he asked, stripping +off his gloves and falling to work. + +"The what?" said Bobby. + +"The strap on his arm?" + +"Oh, since a quarter past twelve." She got up from her knees stiffly, +and shook out the shining folds of the Manchu coat. "It was the only +thing I could think of; it's what the boys do back home for a +rattlesnake bite." + +The doctor's glance expressed complete and unqualified approval, but +whether it was for her course of action or her very lovely and disturbed +appearance it would be hard to say. As she slipped out of the room he +turned to Percival. + +"It's a severed artery, sir; no special harm done except the loss of +blood. A few days' rest--" + +"But I am sailing in the morning," murmured Percival. "Must patch me up +by that time." + +"We shall see. You don't seem to realize that you stood an excellent +chance of remaining permanently in Shanghai." + +"You mean?" + +"I mean that you owe your life to that plucky little wife of yours." + +Percival's heart leaped at the word. "She's not my wife, Doctor," he +said, smiling feebly, "not yet." + + + + +XIV + +NEPTUNE TAKES A HAND + + +The evolution of a hero is seldom a gradual process; he usually springs +into public favor suddenly and dramatically. Not so with the Honorable +Percival. He had to scramble ignominiously on all fours through a canvas +tunnel, he had to brave the smiles of the on-lookers while he learned +new steps on the ball-room floor, he had to participate in a street +fight and have an artery severed before he was accorded the honor of +a pedestal. + +Bobby's graphic account of his defense of the drunken sailor, together +with his own vigorous disavowal of any heroism in the affair, won for +him a halo. After months of tedious anchorage in the dull harbor of +seclusion, he found himself once more afloat on a sea of approval, +tasting again the sweet savor of adulation, and spreading his sails to +catch each passing breath of admiration. + +Reclining in his deck-chair, with his arm in a sling and a becoming +pallor suffusing his classic features, he became an object of the +greatest solicitude to his fellow-passengers. The fluttering attentions +he received warmed him into geniality, and in return he dispensed regal +favors. He allowed Mrs. Weston to consult him concerning her +presentation at court the following spring, he let Andy Black arrange +his tie, and permitted Elise Weston to cut the leaves of his magazine. +He graciously submitted to endless inquiries concerning his hourly +progress, and even went so far as to accept two cream peppermints from +the old missionary, who had acquired a new box. + +The only drawback to this feast of brotherly love lay in the fact that +he could not obtain the tete-a-tete he so earnestly desired with Bobby +Boynton. She was always with him, to be sure, but so was everybody else, +especially Mrs. Weston, who had been officially appointed to stand guard +over the situation. + +The captain had been stung to active measure by a chance remark of Andy +Black's when they were alone at breakfast. + +"Accept my condolences," that youth had lugubriously remarked. "You have +missed the chance of your young life." + +"How's that?" asked the captain. + +"By not getting me for a son-in-law. Miss Bobby broke the news to me at +the dance last night." + +"Did she give you a reason?" asked the captain, arresting his cup in +mid-air. + +"I didn't need one. I've been rooming with it ever since we left +Honolulu." + +"She didn't say it was--" + +"Oh, she as good as told me. Same old chestnut I've been handed out all +my life. Said she cared for somebody else, but that she'd never forget +me. I can't see much satisfaction in occupying a pigeon-hole in a girl's +heart when, another fellow's got the key to it." + +The captain, was concerned with something far more serious than Andy's +matrimonial failures. + +"What makes you think it's Hascombe?" he asked. + +"What makes everybody think so?" asked Andy. "What makes him think so +himself?" + +The captain lost no time in finding Mrs. Weston, and laying the case +before her. + +"He's got to be headed off," he said anxiously. "It 's getting serious." + +"It certainly looks so after yesterday and last night. But I can't for +the life of me see why you oppose it. He's really a tremendous catch, +and it's no wonder Bobby's head is turned. We are all a bit daft over +him since he condescended to notice us." + +"Suffering Moses!" exploded the captain. "Let any fool come along and +shed a few drops of blood, then kiss his hand to the grand stand, and +he's got the women at his feet! I thought Bobby had more sense than to +cotton to that gilded rooster. I've a good mind to lock her up in her +stateroom until we reach Hong-Kong." + +Mrs. Weston shook her head and smiled. + +"You can't manage her that way. She is the sweetest thing that ever was, +but she is the kind of girl that can't be forced." + +"Well, she shall be!" cried the captain, with savage determination. "I +headed her off once, and I'll do it again. I tell you, I'd rather see +her dead than married to an Englishman." + +"Why, Captain Boynton!" + +"I would. It's the Lord's truth. Her mother before her got caught by +just such a high-headed British fool. She was welcome to him, and he to +her, though Heaven knows she paid for it. If I thought my girl was going +the same way--" + +His square jaw quivered suddenly, and he turned away abruptly. + +Mrs. Weston was wise enough to keep silent until he had mastered +himself, then she said kindly: + +"I don't wonder you feel as you do. You leave the matter to me, and I'll +do my best to keep things in abeyance until we reach Hong-Kong. Once +they are separated, the danger is practically over." + +It is doubtful, however, whether the combined efforts of the captain, +Mrs. Weston, and even Percival himself could have kept things _in +statu quo_ had a timely typhoon not arrived and taken things into its +own hands. It was about four in the afternoon that the sky darkened and +the bright blue water turned to gray. The wind shifted and came on to +blow dead ahead. + +"What a queer light there is on everything!" cried Mrs. Weston, who was +dutifully stationed between Bobby and Percival, doing sentry duty. "I +wonder if it is going to blow up a storm." + +"I hope so," said Bobby. "I love for things to happen." + +Percival glanced despairingly at Mrs. Weston, who was beginning on a +fresh ball of yarn. If she continued to sit there and knit the rest of +her life, nothing ever would happen. + +"I ought to close my port-hole if it's going to rain," she said. "Do you +think it is?" + +"Sure to," said Percival, with unusual alacrity. "Hard shower any +minute." + +Mrs. Weston rose reluctantly. + +"Don't you think you'd better come down, too, Bobby, and close yours?" + +"Mine's closed, thanks. I'll take your place and hold Mr. Hascombe's +tea-cup." + +Now, when a person with outrageously blue eyes is leaning on the arm of +your steamer-chair, steadying your saucer for you, and the wind has +blown everybody else off the deck except a bow-legged Chinese steward +who is absorbed in tying things down, it does look as if Fate meant to +be propitious. + +Percival put his cup in his saucer and let his fingers touch the small +hand that held it. + +[Illustration: "It's quite worth while" he said "getting a jab in the +wrist, to have you looking after me like this"] + +"It's quite worth while," he said, "getting a jab in the wrist, to have +you looking after me like this. I wonder if you realize that you saved +my life last night?" + +"I bet I know what this is leading up to," cried Bobby, accusingly. + +"What?" asked Percival, catching his lip between his teeth and looking +at her with devouring eyes. + +"A medal!" + +"Much more serious. As a matter of fact, the truth is, I've been trying +to get a minute alone with you all day. There's something I want--" + +"Oh, yes, I know. It's that Manchu coat. You want it to pack, of course. +I'll get it now." + +But his fingers held hers fast to the saucer. + +"You stupid child! You don't understand. It's yours, everything I have +is--" + +"Oh, goody! Here's the rain!" cried Bobby. "Andy bet me ten pounds of +candy it wouldn't come before night. Quick, let me put your cup under +the chair. Don't bother about the cushions." + +"But there's something I've _got_ to say to you. You must listen to +me!" + +"I'll listen to anything you like in the music-room just so it isn't +'Tales from Hoffman.' Come, we'll have to hurry!" + +Percival, with his passion once more arrested, strode after her +furiously. He was intolerant of every moment that passed before be +claimed her for his own, and unable longer to restrain his mad desire to +fold her in his arms. + +In the midst of these fervent anticipations he was unpleasantly aware of +the increased motion of the ship. It was the first time he had felt that +pitching, rolling motion since leaving the Golden Gate, and he shuddered +involuntarily. + +"Here's a cozy little corner all to ourselves!" cried Bobby, tossing the +cushions into a nook in the music-room, and inviting him to a place +beside her. + +But Percival remained standing in the doorway, supporting himself with +his free hand, his eyes fixed on space, and a leaden color spreading +over his face. + +"If you don't mind," he said slowly, "I think I'll go below. Feel the +storm a bit in my head. Atmospheric pressure, you know." + +"Of course you do," cried Bobby, all solicitude. "It's no wonder, after +the blood you lost last night. Sit right down there until I find +Judson." + + + + +XV + +PERCIVAL RISES TO AN OCCASION + + +During the two nights and days that followed the typhoon had everything +its own way. The sea bellowed with rage, and battalion after battalion +of mountainous waves charged the ship, only to fall back and form again. +For thirty consecutive hours the captain stayed on the bridge watching +every variation in the glass, and keeping all of his Nelson features in +active service. Whatever frivolities might fill his idle hours, there +was no question of his attention to duty when the call came. + +As for the Honorable Percival, he had ample opportunity during his long +hours of solitary confinement to make a complete inventory of his varied +emotions. Two things which should never be interrupted are a sneeze and +a proposal. That second declaration, so ardently begun and so ruthlessly +arrested, still hung in mid-air, and lying on his back in his darkened +stateroom, he had ample time in which to survey it from every angle. + +Never for a moment did he question the undying nature of his affection +for Bobby. His emotion was too insistent and too consuming to be +doubted. It was the proprieties that he questioned, and they all shook +emphatic and disapproving heads. The proprieties in Grosvenor Square, to +be sure, loomed rather dim through the distance; but that immediate +propriety in Hong-Kong, toward whom he was speeding with every turn of +the screw, towered ominously. + +If only he could hold things in abeyance until after the _Saluria_ +sailed from Hong-Kong, all might be well. It was of the utmost +importance that he should not present Bobby to Sister Cordelia until the +die was irrevocably cast. Faults that in Miss Boynton of the Big Gully +Ranch would be glaring iniquities would, in the wife of the Honorable +Percival Hascombe, dwindle away to charming eccentricities. + +A daring plan occurred to him. With proper strategy he might go down +to see the steamer off, get left on board, have the return trip in +uninterrupted bliss with Bobby, then boldly cable from America that +he had met his fate and succumbed to it, and that remonstrances were +useless. The scheme appealed to him the more he considered it. +Cablegrams were necessarily unemotional, and by the time letters were +exchanged, the proprieties would probably have decided to accept the +will of Providence and try to make the best of dear Percy's strange +choice of an unknown American girl. + +In the meanwhile he would devote all his energies to fitting her for +the honor about to be conferred upon her, For he had quite given up the +idea of the "blossomed bower in dark purple spheres of sea," and had +definitely decided to take her back to England as the future mistress of +Hascombe Hall. All he asked was six months in which to cut and polish +his priceless gem. + +It was not until the evening before the _Saluria_ was due in +Hong-Kong that the sea got over its fit of temper and decided to make +that last night the most beautiful one of the crossing. Everybody was +down for the farewell dinner. Even those who had been invisible for two +days emerged from their state-rooms like gorgeous butterflies from their +cocoons. Speeches were made, toasts were drunk, and a general air of +festivity prevailed. + +Percival raged inwardly at the length of the dinner. The golden moments +were racing by, and he was in a fever to get Bobby away to himself, +he had decided on a course which he felt did credit to his power of +self-control. He would permit himself the luxury of showing her that her +affection for him was wholly returned, without in any way committing +himself to a definite engagement. He would, in short, ask her to accept +a sort of promissory note on his affections, to be presented at any time +after the steamer left Hong-Kong. + +It was ten o'clock before he contrived, to escape Mrs. Weston's vigilant +eye and whisk Bobby off to a certain favored nook on the boat-deck just +outside the captain's state-room. Here they had spent many happy +evenings, notwithstanding the fact that their figures, silhouetted +against the light, had never failed to provoke the captain to a +profanity that was not always inaudible. + +To-night, however, the captain was detained below, and they had the +entire Yellow Sea to themselves as they sat on a projecting ledge and +leaned their elbows comfortably on the rail. + +It was an enticing night, with nothing left of the recent storm save a +subtle thrill that still lingered in wind and wave. Overhead spread a +canopy of luminous, subtropical stars; in undisturbed silence they gazed +up at their brilliance. From below floated faint strains of music +mingling with the sound of rippling: water. + +"And to think it's our very last night!" murmured Bobby, her chin on her +palm. "I'll never bear 'La Paloma' that I sha'n't think of this trip and +of you." + +Percival dared not answer. He had reached that stage when, according +to the philosopher, the moonlight is a pleasing fever, the stars are +letters, the flowers ciphers, and the air is coined into song. He +regarded her gaze as she bent it upon the stars as the most exquisitely +pensive thing he had ever behold. + +"My! but there are some dandy billiard-shots up there!" she exclaimed +suddenly. "Do you see that lovely carom over there beyond the Dipper?" + +"I am not thinking of caroms," he said impatiently, "I am thinking of +you." + +"What have I done now?" she asked indignantly. + +"You've made me forget that there's anything else in the whole universe +but just you!" + +"And now you've got to begin to remember," said Bobby, sympathetically. + +He searched her face for a clue as to what was passing in her mind, but +he found none. + +"You are a most awfully baffling girl," he said. "Sometimes I can't +determine whether you are subtle or merely ingenuous." + +"I'd give it up," advised Bobby. + +"But I sha'n't give it up. I sha'n't be content until I know every +little corner of your mind and heart." + +She stirred uneasily. From, the way he was looking at her it was +evidently a good thing that his near arm was in a sling. + +"You need a cigar," she said soothingly. "Get one out; I'll light it for +you." + +He obediently produced his cigar-case, and together they selected a +cigar. She made a great point of cutting off the end, and then, when he +had got it into his mouth, she struck a match and, sheltering the blaze +with her scarf, held it close. The sudden intimacy of that beautiful +face in the little circle of light, with the darkness all around, was +quite too much for Percival. He looked straight into her eyes for one +resolution-breaking second, then he blew out the match and catching her +to him, passionately kissed those smiling, upturned lips. + +"Mr. Hascombe!" she protested, shrinking away; but Percival had made his +leap and nothing could stop him. + +"You are mine!" he cried rapturously, pressing her hand again and again +to his lips. "It's all quite right, my darling. Don't be frightened. We +shall be married any time, anywhere you say, to-morrow, if you like, in +Hong-Kong." + +"But, Mr. Hascombe--" + +"Not Mr. Hascombe. Percival, Percy, if you will. Fancy! Love at first +sight. One glance on those desolate plains, and you were mine!" + +"But I'm not. That's what I'm trying to tell you." + +He looked at her fatuously. "But you will be! My little lady of the +manor! My beautiful little mistress of Hascombe Hall!" + +She struggled away from him, and stood at bay. + +"How _can_ you talk to me like this?" she cried, her voice +trembling with indignation, "after what I told you that day in the +wind-shelter?" + +"In the wind-shelter?" He looked at her in bewilderment. + +"Yea, about Hal Ford and the captain and all that. Why, you promised to +help me, and now--" + +"Hal Ford?" repeated Percival, dazed. "What has he to do with it?" + +"More than anybody else in the world. He's waiting for me in Wyoming, +and I'm counting the days and the hours and the minutes until I get back +to him. I thought you understood, and were helping me bring the captain +around." + +He stood before her too stunned to speak. + +Sheer amazement for the moment crowded out the pain. + +"But--but don't you love me?" he stammered at last. + +"Of course I don't," said Bobby, almost indignantly; "I never have loved +anybody, and I never will love anybody but Hal." + +Then Percival realized that it was quite possible for lightning to +strike twice in the same place. He felt a sudden pain in his throat, +a burning under his lids, and he sat down limply. + +[Illustration: "I'm so sorry!" whispered Bobby, putting her arm +impulsively around his heaving shoulders] + +"I'm so sorry!" whispered Bobby, putting her arm impulsively around his +heaving shoulders. "I thought we were playing a game. I thought you +understood. Please forgive me, Mr. Hascombe! Please! Won't you?" + +He shook off her arm and stood up. He was whiter than he had been on the +night of the accident, but he managed to achieve a smile. + +"Nothing whatever to forgive, I assure you. Just a bit of a bunker, you +know. Silly ass I was, not to have seen it all along. May I offer my +congratulations?" he added. + +She took the hand that he hold out, and for a longer time than either of +them knew they stood silent, looking out into the vast mystery of the +night, while the throbbing strains of "La Paloma" floated up from below, +mingling with the music of the rippling water. + +"I guess this is good-by," said Bobby, tremulously. + +Then it was that the Honorable Percival illustrated the fact that an +English gentleman is often greatest in defeat. + +"Not necessarily," he said gamely. "Quite possible you and your husband +may come to England." + +"Or you to Wyoming!" cried Bobby, brightening instantly, and turning +upon him the full splendor of her eyes. "Hal and I'd just _love_ to +give you a summer on the ranch. Do you suppose it ever will be +possible?" + +"Oh, I dare say," said the Honorable Percival, nonchalantly adjusting +his monocle. + + + + +XVI + +IN PORT + + +The next morning the long voyage of the _Saluria_ came to an end. +The steamer docked at Hong-Kong just as the first pink streaks of dawn +crept over the bay and the terraced city. + +Bobby was up with the officers, and breakfasted alone with the captain. + +"Can you spare me five minutes?" she asked as he was hurrying through +his second cup of coffee. + +"What for?" + +"For a talk. I've got something to tell you." + +"It'll have to wait," said the captain, gruffly. "We are landing a cargo +of sugar machinery here, and I've got my hands full." + +"I don't want your hands," said Bobby, quietly; "I want your ears. +There's something I've just got to tell you." + +"I can't listen. I'm due on the bridge now." + +He escaped for the time being, but later In the morning, when the +commotion of arrival was at its height, and the passengers were +beginning to go ashore, he found Bobby on the bridge beside him. He +fancied he saw defiance written all over her, from the crown of her +white hat to the tip of her white shoes. + +"Captain," she said, "It won't take a minute." + +He was on the point of refusing when she laid her hand on his. + +"Cut away!" he said, looking straight ahead of him. "Make it short." + +"It's about Mr. Hascombe. He's--he's asked me to marry him." + +The captain jerked his hand away and brought it down on the rail with a +resounding blow. + +"You sha'n't do it!" he thundered. "I'd see you sewed up in a bag and +dropped alongside first." + +"But, Captain--" + +"I won't have it! There's no use arguing. The idea of a girl of mine +being carried away by a condescending, conceited jack-in-the-box--" + +"He _isn't_! He's a darling!" Bobby flashed out hotly. "It's just +that you don't understand him." + +"What's more, I don't want to. I've had enough of him and his kind. If +I'd known you were going to run amuck of a thing like this, I'd have let +you bury yourself on the ranch for the rest of your life." + +"Well," agreed Bobby, carefully studying her pink palm, and weighing her +words as one who is quite open to reason, "I think I could have been +happy with Hal; but you thought we were both too young and that I ought +to see some other men first." + +"Yes, but I didn't know you were going to get your head turned by the +first fool that came lording it around with a valet and a title. The +Fords may be plain people, but, by Jugs! they are the sort to tie up to +in a squall." + +Bobby smiled broadly under the brim of her hat. + +"Then you advise me to take Hal?" + +"I advise you to let me send this fellow Hascombe about his business. +I'll make short work of him." + +Bobby slipped her arm through his, and looked up saucily. + +"You needn't bother, dear," she said. "Now that it's all settled about +Hal, I don't mind telling you that I refused Mr. Hascombe last night." + + * * * * * + +On the gangway below, the passengers were slowly filing ashore. Among +the last to debark was the Honorable Percival Hascombe, followed by a +fur coat, a gun-case, two pigskin bags, a hat-box, and a valet. On his +face was an expression of unutterable ennui. As he reached the wharf he +turned and casually surveyed the steamer. On the bridge he discerned a +small alert figure, clad in white, her dark head framed by the broad +brim of a Panama hat. She waved her hand and smiled, and he waved back, +but he did not smile. + +"Judson," said the Honorable Percival as they handed their bags to +Sister Cordelia's footman, "quite unnecessary to mention any--er--any +incidents of the voyage. You understand?" + +"Quite so, sir," said Judson. + + +FINIS + + * * * * * + +"When Alice Hegan Rice writes a little book, lovers of whimsical +fiction rejoice with open rejoicing."--_Chicago Tribune_. + +"Mrs. Rice has been paid the compliment of being compared with Dickens. +Those who appreciate her real merits will see that she is more natural, +more lifelike, and more unaffectedly humorous than the author of +'Pickwick Papers.'"--_Rochester Post-Express_. + +"There is a delicious humor in everything she writes, and it has +the virtue of non-boisterousness and sobriety in tone. There is +no straining for wit: everything has the merit of spontaneity and +naturalness."--_Philadelphia Record_. + +"She is one of the real humorists, for at the bottom of her humor there +is a deep well of human kindness."--_The Metropolitan_. + +_See next page for complete list of Mrs. Rice's books_ + + * * * * * + + +Books by Alice Hegan Rice + + +MRS. WIGGS OF THE CABBAGE PATCH + +"A sure cure for the blues, and a gay challenge to pessimists in +general."--_Chicago Herald_. + +_Price_ $1.00 + + +LOVEY MARY + +"For fun and pathos, for crisp wit and serene philosophy, and for the +charm that holds the reader spellbound, 'Lovey Mary' is as notable as +'Mrs. Wiggs.'"--_The Christian Intelligencer_. + +_Price_ $1.00 + + +MR. OPP + +"He is a figure that might hang without insidious +comparison in George Eliot's own immortal +character portrait gallery."--_New York Sun_. +_Price_ $1.00 + +A ROMANCE OF BILLY-GOAT HILL + +"The love story has the fragrance of a wild rose, and every character in +the book is worth knowing."--_Chicago Record-Herald_. + +_Price_ $1.25 _net, postage_ 10 _cents_ + + +SANDY + +Sandy is a lovable Irish waif, and his story overflows with sunshine and +humor. + +_Price_ $1.00 + + +CAPTAIN JUNE + +A happy story of a dear little American lad who has all kinds of +interesting and unusual experiences in Japan. + +_Price_ $1.00 + +At all booksellers. Published by THE CENTURY CO. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Honorable Percival, by Alice Hegan Rice + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HONORABLE PERCIVAL *** + +***** This file should be named 15180.txt or 15180.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/1/8/15180/ + +Produced by Kentuckiana Digital Library, David Garcia and the PG +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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