"Come on, Johanna," said the old General, heartily. "Good-by, John. When can I see you in your office?"
"Whenever I"m there, and not too busy!" replied March as he strode away.
"We"ll go to the old house for to-night, Johanna," said Fannie, and did not speak again until she began to draw off her gloves in her father"s parlor. Her face was white, her dark eyes wide; but her voice was slow and kind.
"Yes, Johanna, go along to my room. I"ll be there directly." She shut the door and folded her gloves, smiling like a swordsman rolling up his sleeves.
"Pop, I"ve owed you a-many an explanation that I"ve never paid. You never owed me one in your life till now; but"--her eyes flashed--"you owe it this time to the roots of your hair."
"Fan, that"s a mighty poor beginning for the explanation I expect from you."
His tone was one of forbearance, but before he could finish she was as red as a flower. "I belong to my husband! When I"ve anything to explain I"ll explain to him."
"Fannie Halliday----"
"Ravenel, if you please, sir."
He smiled severely. "Have a chair, Mrs. Ravenel. Fan, you"re married to a man who never asks an explanation."
The two gazed upon each other in silence. His accustomed belief in her and her ardent love for him were already stealing back into their hearts. Nevertheless----
"O, sir!" she exclaimed, "tell me something I don"t know! Yes! But I"m married to a man who waits for things to explain themselves."
"Or till they"re past all explanation, Fan."
"Yes, sir; yes! But more! I"m married to a man who knows that nothing can explain conduct but conduct. That"s the kind of explanation you still owe me, Pop, till you pay it to John March."
"Well, then," he replied with new warmth, "I"ll owe it a long time. If he ever again shows his carelessness of conventional----"
Fannie laid a pale hand on her father"s arm. "It wasn"t his. He showed carefulness enough; I overruled it. It was his duty to come, Pop; and I had let him neglect duty for me long enough."
The General started. "Why, Fan." But when he looked into her sad eyes his soul melted. She smiled with her face close to his.
"Pop, you never meddled in my affairs before. Don"t you reckon I"ll manage this one all right."
"Why, yes, Fan. I was only anxious about you because----"
"Never mind your becauses, dear. Just say you"ll make it all right with John."
"Go to bed, Fannie; go to bed; John and I will take care of ourselves."
When the General reached his office the next day the forenoon was well advanced. He was still there when at midday John March entered.
"John, howdy? Have a chair."
"Thank you, sir." But the young man continued to stand.
"Oh, take a seat, John; you can get up again if what I say doesn"t suit you."
The speaker came from his desk, took a chair and pushed another to his visitor.
"John, I had a short talk with Fannie last night, and a long one again this morning. If my manner to you last evening impugned your motives, I owe you an apology."
"That"s all I want to hear, General," said John, accepting the old soldier"s hand.
"Yes, my boy; but it"s not all I want to say. Fannie tells me you"ve been taking some business risks, so to speak, for her sake." John scowled. "Now, John, when she asked you to come home on her train she knew that was to her a social risk, and she took it for your sake in return. Not improper? I don"t say it was. It was worse than improper, John; it was romantic! The gay half of Suez will never forget it, and the grim half will never forgive it! Oh, it was quite proper and praiseworthy if p.u.s.s.ie and Susie would just not misconstrue it, as they certainly will. Only a few months ago, you know, you were making it almost public that you would still maintain your highly poetical line of conduct and sentiment toward Fan after she should be married."
"General Halliday, I----"
"Let me finish, John. We didn"t run you out of town, did we?"
March smiled a strong sarcasm and shook his head. The General went on.
"No, sir, we took you good-naturedly and trusted to your sober second thought. Well, Fan"s scarcely ten days married, Jeff-Jack"s a thousand miles away, and here you come full of good intentions, h.e.l.l"s pavement, you know--O John, the more I think of it the more amazed I am at all three of you. I don"t blame Jeff-Jack for leaving Fan as he did----"
""As he did"! By George! General Halliday, that"s all I do blame him for!"
"Why, do you mean--But never mind; that"s probably none of my business; I don"t see how you could ever think it was any of yours. Oh, now, please keep your seat! No, at least, I don"t blame him merely for leaving her; a politician"s a soldier; he can"t stop to comfort the sick. But he should have declined your offer to stay with her, in _italics_, John, and sent for me!"
"Sent for--Oh, imagine him! Besides, General Halliday, Jeff-Jack knew my offer was to myself; not to him at all, sir! But he saw another thing--about me--as plainly as I did; yes, plainer!"
"I could do that myself, John. What was it--this time?"
"He saw my sober second thought had come!"
"H--, I wish I had his eyes! Did he say so? Wha"d he say?"
"He said what wasn"t true."
The old warrior smiled satirically. "What was it?"
""Ever mind what it was! I"m talked out."
"My dear fellow, so am I! John, honestly, I thank you for the--pardon me--the unusual patience with which you"ve taken my hard words." The speaker gripped his hearer"s knee. "And you really think you"ve finished your first great campaign of mistakes--eh?"
"Yes!" They rose, laughing. "Yes, and I"ve every reason to hope it"s my last." The General proposed drinks, but John hadn"t time, and they only swapped cigars.
"I hear you leave us again this evening," said the General.
"No; they"d like me to go, but I"m--I"m very tired and anyhow----"
"You"re wha-at? Tired! Why, John--O no, you don"t mean tired, you mean insa-ane! Why, sir, that"s going straight back on everything you"ve been saying! John, we"re not going to stand this." The General grew red.
"Whom do you mean by "we," General?" Both men were forgetting to smoke.
"Everybody, sir! everybody in Suez with whom you have any relations?
Why, look at it yourself! For a week running you neglect your own interests and your company"s business to do--what? Just what you"d do if you were still under an infatuation which you"ve openly confessed for years!"
"But which, General Halliday, I tell you again----"