"I suppose that chap"s got no end of money?"
"Stefan----?" I began.
"No, no. Hang it, you"re as bad as Miss Hipgrave says. I mean Bennett Hamlyn."
"Oh, yes, absolutely no end to it, I believe."
Denny looked sagacious.
"He"s very free with his dinners," he observed.
"Don"t let"s worry about it," I suggested, taking his arm. I was not worried about it myself. Indeed for the moment my island monopolised my mind, and my attachment to Beatrice was not of such a romantic character as to make me ready to be jealous on slight grounds. Mrs Hipgrave said the engagement was based on "general suitability." Now it is difficult to be very pa.s.sionate over that.
"If you don"t mind, I don"t," said Denny reasonably.
"That"s right. It"s only a little way Beatrice--" I stopped abruptly.
We were now on the steps outside the restaurant, and I had just perceived a sc.r.a.p of paper lying on the mosaic pavement. I stooped down and picked it up. It proved to be a fragment torn from the _menu_ card. I turned it over.
"Hullo, what"s this?" said I, searching for my eye-gla.s.s, which was (as usual) somewhere in the small of my back.
Denny gave me the gla.s.s, and I read what was written on the back. It was in Greek, and it ran thus:
"By way of Rhodes--small yacht there--arrive seventh."
I turned the piece of paper over in my hand. I drew a conclusion or two; one was that my tall neighbour was named Stefanopoulos; another that he had made good use of his ears--better than I had made of mine; for a third, I guessed that he would go to Neopalia; for a fourth, I fancied that Neopalia was the place to which the lady had declared she would accompany him. Then I fell to wondering why all these things should be so, why he wished to remember the route of my journey, the date of my arrival, and the fact that I meant to hire a yacht.
Finally, those two chance encounters, taken with the rest, a.s.sumed a more interesting complexion.
"When you"ve done with that bit of paper," observed Denny, in a tone expressive of exaggerated patience, "we might as well go on, old fellow."
"All right. I"ve done with it--for the present," said I. But I took the liberty of slipping Mr Constantine Stefanopoulos"s memorandum into my pocket.
The general result of the evening was to increase most distinctly my interest in Neopalia. I went to bed still thinking of my purchase, and I recollect that the last thing which came into my head before I went to sleep was, "What did she mean by pointing to the ring?"
Well, I found an answer to that later on.
CHAPTER II
A CONSERVATIVE COUNTRY
Until the moment of our parting came, I had no idea that Beatrice Hipgrave felt my going at all. She was not in the habit of displaying emotion, and I was much surprised at the reluctance with which she bade me good-bye. So far, however, was she from reproaching me that she took all the blame on herself, saying that if she had been kinder and nicer to me I should never have thought about my island. In this she was quite wrong; but when I told her so, and a.s.sured her that I had no fault to find with her behaviour, I was met with an almost pa.s.sionate a.s.sertion of her unworthiness and an entreaty that I should not spend on her a love that she did not deserve. Her abas.e.m.e.nt and penitence compelled me to show, and indeed to feel, a good deal of tenderness for her. She was pathetic and pretty in her unusual earnestness and unexplained distress. I went the length of offering to put off my expedition until after our wedding; and although she besought me to do nothing of the kind, I believe that we might in the end have arranged matters on this footing had we been left to ourselves. But Mrs Hipgrave saw fit to intrude on our interview at this point, and she at once pooh-poohed the notion, declaring that I should be better out of the way for a few months. Beatrice did not resist her mother"s conclusion; but when we were alone again, she became very agitated, begging me always to think well of her, and asking if I were really attached to her. I did not understand this mood, which was very unlike her ordinary manner; but I responded with a hearty and warm avowal of confidence in her; and I met her questions as to my own feelings by pledging my word very solemnly that absence should, so far as I was concerned, make no difference, and that she might rely implicitly on my faithful affection. This a.s.surance seemed to give her very little comfort, although I repeated it more than once; and when I left her, I was in a state of some perplexity, for I could not follow the bent of her thoughts nor appreciate the feelings that moved her. I was however considerably touched, and upbraided myself for not having hitherto done justice to the depth and sincerity of nature which underlay her external frivolity. I expressed this self-condemnation to Denny Swinton, but he met it very coldly, and would not be drawn into any discussion of the subject. Denny was not wont to conceal his opinions and had never pretended to be enthusiastic about my engagement. This att.i.tude of his had not troubled me before, but I was annoyed at it now, and I retaliated by a.s.severating my affection for Beatrice in terms of even exaggerated emphasis, and hers for me with no less vehemence.
These troubles and perplexities vanished before the zest and interest which our preparations and start excited. Denny and I were like a pair of schoolboys off for a holiday, and spent hours in forecasting what we should do and how we should fare on the island. These speculations were extremely amusing, but in the long run they were proved to be, one and all, wide of the mark. Had I known Neopalia then as well as I came to know it afterwards, I should have recognised the futility of attempting to prophesy what would or would not happen there. As it was, we span our cobwebs merrily all the way to Rhodes, where we arrived without event and without accident. Here we picked up Hogvardt and embarked on the smart little steam yacht which he had procured for me. A day or two was spent in arranging our stores and buying what more we wanted, for we could not expect to be able to purchase any luxuries in Neopalia. I was rather surprised to find no letter for me from the old lord, but I had no thought of waiting for a formal invitation, and pressed on the hour of departure as much as I could.
Here, also, I saw the first of my new subjects, Hogvardt having engaged a couple of men who had come to him saying that they were from Neopalia and were anxious to work their pa.s.sage back. I was delighted to have them, and fell at once to studying them with immense attention. They were fine, tall, capable-looking fellows, and the two, with ourselves, made a crew more than large enough for our little boat; for both Denny and I could make ourselves useful on board, and Hogvardt could do something of everything on land or water, while Watkins acted as cook and steward. The Neopalians were, as they stated in answer to my questions, brothers; their names were Spiro and Demetri, and they informed us that their family had served the lords of Neopalia for many generations. Hearing this, I was less inclined to resent the undeniable reserve and even surliness with which they met my advances. I made allowance for their hereditary attachment to the outgoing family, and their natural want of cordiality towards the intruder did not prevent me from plying them with many questions concerning my predecessors on the throne of the island. My perseverance was ill-rewarded, but I succeeded in learning that the only member of the family on the island, besides the old lord was a girl whom they called "the Lady Euphrosyne," the daughter of the lord"s brother who was dead. Next I asked after my friend of the Optimum Restaurant, Constantine. He was this lady"s cousin once or twice removed--I did not make out the exact degree of kinship--but Demetri hastened to inform me that he came very seldom to the island, and had not been there for two years.
"And he is not expected there now?" I asked.
"He was not when we left, my lord," answered Demetri, and it seemed to me that he threw an inquiring glance at his brother, who added hastily,
"But what should we poor men know of the Lord Constantine"s doings?"
"Do you know where he is now?" I asked.
"No, my lord," they answered together, and with great emphasis.
I cannot deny that something struck me as peculiar in their manner, but when I mentioned my impression to Denny he scoffed at me.
"You"ve been reading old Byron again," he said scornfully. "Do you think they"re corsairs?"
Well, a man is not a fool simply because he reads Byron, and I maintained my opinion that the brothers were embarra.s.sed at my questions. Moreover I caught Spiro, the more truculent-looking of the pair, scowling at me more than once when he did not know I had my eye on him.
These little mysteries, however, did nothing but add sauce to my delight as we sprang over the blue waters; and my joy was complete when, on the morning of the day I had appointed, the seventh of May, Denny cried "Land!" and looking over the starboard bow I saw the cloud on the sea that was Neopalia. Day came bright and glorious, and as we drew nearer to our enchanted isle we distinguished its features and conformation. The coast was rocky save where a small harbour opened to the sea, and the rocks ran up from the coast, rising higher and higher till they culminated in a quite respectable peak in the centre. The telescope showed cultivated ground and vineyards, mingled with woods, on the slopes of the mountain; and about half-way up, sheltered on three sides, backed by thick woods, and commanding a splendid sea-view, stood an old grey battlemented house.
"There"s my house," I cried in natural exultation, pointing with my finger. It was a moment in my life, a moment to mark.
"Hurrah!" cried Denny, throwing up his hat in sympathy.
Demetri was standing near and met this ebullition with a grim smile.
"I hope my lord will find the house comfortable," said he.
"We shall soon make it comfortable," said Hogvardt; "I daresay it"s half a ruin now."
"It"s good enough now for a Stefanopoulos," said the fellow with a surly frown. The inference we were meant to draw was plain even to the point of incivility.
At five o"clock in the evening we entered the harbour of Neopalia, and brought up alongside a rather crazy wooden jetty which ran some fifty feet out from the sh.o.r.e. Our arrival appeared to create great excitement. Men, women, and children came running down the narrow steep street which climbed up the hill from the harbour. We heard shrill cries, and a hundred fingers were pointed at us. We landed; n.o.body came forward to greet us. I looked round, but saw no one who could be the old lord; but I perceived a stout man who wore an air of importance, and walking up to him I asked him very politely if he would be so good as to direct me to the inn; for I had discovered from Demetri that there was a modest house where we could lodge that night; I was too much in love with my island to think of sleeping on board the yacht. The stout man looked at Denny and me; then he looked at Demetri and Spiro, who stood near us, smiling their usual grim smiles.
At last he answered my question by another, a rather abrupt one:
"What do you want, sir?" And he lifted his ta.s.selled cap a few inches and replaced it on his head.
"I want to know the way to the inn," I answered.
"You have come to visit Neopalia?" he asked.
A number of people had gathered round us now, and all fixed their eyes on my face.
"Oh," said I carelessly, "I"m the purchaser of the island, you know. I have come to take possession."
n.o.body spoke. Perfect silence reigned for half a minute.
"I hope we shall get on well together," I said, with my pleasantest smile.
Still no answer came. The people round still stared. But presently the stout man, altogether ignoring my friendly advances, said curtly,
"I keep the inn. Come. I will take you to it."