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Page 9
"And could I--could I take you--and the Evershams, of
course--somewhere, anywhere, you'd like to go? If there's any other
concert----"
She shook her head. "We leave bright and early the next morning, and
I know Mrs. Eversham will want her rest. I think they would rather
stay here in the hotel after dinner."
"But you will keep a little time for me?" Billy urged. "Of course,
staying in the same hotel, I can't take my hat and go and make a
formal call on you--but that's the result I'm after."
They had paused, to finish this colloquy, a few feet away from the
ladies, who were regarding with dark suspicion this interchange of
lowered tones.
Suddenly Arlee raised her eyes and gave Billy a quick look,
questioning, shyly serious.
"I shall be here--and you can call on me," she promised, and bade
him farewell.
She left him deliriously, inexplicably, foolishly in spirits. He
plunged his hands in his pockets and squared his shoulders; he
wanted to whistle, he wanted to sing, he wanted to do anything to
vent the singular hilarity which possessed him.
Then he saw, across the room, a sandy-haired young man regarding him
with dour intentness, and the spectacle, instead of feeding his joy,
sent conjecturing chills down his spine. His bubble was pricked.
Suppose, ran the horrid thought, suppose she was simply paying off
the Englishman? Girls, even blue-eyed, angel-haired girls of
cherubic aspect, have not been unknown to perform such deeds of
darkness! And this particular girl had mischief in her eyes.... The
thought was unpleasantly likely. What had he, Billy B. Hill, of New
York--State--to offer to casual view worthy of competition with the
presumable advantages of a young Englishman whose sister was staying
with a Lady Claire? Perhaps the fellow himself had a title....
Considerably dashed, he went out to consult the register upon that
point.
CHAPTER II
THE CAPTAIN CALLS
Now, when the card of Captain Kerissen was handed to Miss Arlee
Beecher the next afternoon, when she sauntered in from the sunny
out-of-doors and paused at the desk for the voluminous harvest of
letters the last mail had brought, and furthermore the information
was added that the Captain was waiting, little Miss Beecher's first
thought was the resentful appreciation that the Captain was
overdoing it.
She hesitated, then, with her hands full of letters and parasol, she
crossed the hall into the reception room. She intended to let her
caller see his mistake, so with her burdened hands avoiding a
handclasp, she greeted him and stood waiting, with eyes of inquiry
upon him.
The young man smiled secretly to himself. He was a young man not
without experience in ladies' moods and he had a very shrewd idea
that somebody had been making remarks, but he did not permit a hint
of any perception of the coolness of her manner to impair the
impeccable suavity of his.
"Will you accord me two moments of your time that I may give you
two messages?" he inquired, and Arlee felt suddenly ill-bred before
his gentle courtesy and she sat down abruptly upon the edge of the
nearest chair.
The Captain placed one near her and seated himself, with a clank of
his dangling scabbard. He was really a very handsome young man,
though his features were too finely finished to please a robust
taste, and there was a hint of insolence and cruelty about the nose
and mouth--though this an inexperienced and light-hearted young
tourist of one and twenty did not more than vaguely perceive.
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