"Don"t you mean you promised her?"
"No, for I haven"t done that yet. But it will probably come later."
"Would you rather not be our brother?" I hope I didn"t speak reproachfully.
"We--ell, my first idea was that an aunt was the only relative I should have with me on this trip. Still, I"d have been delighted to be a brother to one of you, if I could only have kept the other up my sleeve, as you might say, to be useful in a different capacity."
"You love to puzzle me," I said.
"There are lots of things I love about you--as a brother," he answered with a funny sigh. And I wasn"t sure whether he was poking fun at me or not. "But, as for Miss Van Buren, why couldn"t she look upon van Buren as a brother?"
"He"s her cousin, and she doesn"t love him much," I explained.
"Alb, then."
"She doesn"t love him at all."
"Are you sure of that?"
"Oh, certain," I a.s.sured him quite earnestly.
"She"s sick with anxiety about him anyhow. I had to comfort her."
"That"s because she feels guilty for being so disagreeable," I said; "and she would of course suffer dreadful remorse, poor girl, if he were drowned looking after her boat, as I pray he won"t be."
I began to understand now. Poor Mr. Starr was jealous of his friend, the Jonkheer.
"Well, I wish she"d love me a little, then, as there"s n.o.body else."
"Do you know, I shouldn"t be a bit surprised if she _does_," I almost whispered. "Perhaps that"s what"s making her so queer."
"I wish I could think so," sighed Mr. Starr. But he didn"t look as radiant as one might have expected. He seemed more startled than delighted. "Anyhow," he went on, "you"re a dove-hearted angel, and it"s all fixed up that I"m to be a brother to you, whatever other relationships I may be engaged in. I must try and get to work, and earn my salt by making you happy."
"I don"t feel to-night as if I could ever be happy again," I told him.
"The world seems such a sad place to be in."
"I"ll see what I can do, anyhow," said he. "Would it make you happier if van Buren were happier?"
"Oh yes," I exclaimed. "He"s been so kind to Nell and me. But I"m afraid nothing can be done. An unfortunate marriage for a young man of--of an affectionate nature is such a tragedy, isn"t it?"
"Awful. But it may never come off."
"I don"t see what"s to prevent it," I said. And the memory of that last look on Mr. van Buren"s face came up so vividly that tears stood in my eyes.
"I"ve thought of something that might," said he; and I was burning to know what when the door opened, and Nell came in without her coat and hat.
She eyed Mr. Starr reproachfully. "Oh, you promised to ask Robert to go back with you to the pier," she said. "Has he gone by himself?"
"I don"t--" Mr. Starr had begun guiltily, still sitting beside me on the sofa, when her cousin appeared on the threshold. He was very pale, and looked so grave that I thought some bad news must have come. Nell thought so, too, for she took a step toward him as he paused in the open doorway----
"You"ve--heard nothing?" she stammered.
"Poor Rudolph," he began; but at the sound of such a beginning she put out her hands as if to ward off a ghost, and her face was so death-like I was frightened lest she was going to faint. Then, suddenly, it changed, and lit up. I never saw her so beautiful as she was at that moment. She gave a cry of joy, and the next instant our handsome brown skipper had pushed pa.s.s Mr. van Buren at the door, and had both her hands in his.
He was dripping with water. Even his hair was so wet that I saw for the first time it was curly.
"Oh, I"m so glad, so glad!" faltered Nell. "Robert said "poor Rudolph!"
and I thought----"
"I was only going to say poor Rudolph had had a bad night of it," broke in Mr. van Buren; but I don"t think either of them heard.
"Were you anxious about me? Did you care?" asked Jonkheer Brederode.
That seemed to call Nell back to herself. "I was anxious about "Lorelei,"" she said. "You"ve brought her back all right?"
"Yes, and "Waterspin,"" he answered, with the joy gone out of his voice.
"We had rough weather to fight against, but we"ve come to no harm." He turned to me wistfully. "Had you a thought to spare for the skipper once or twice to-day, Miss Rivers?"
I was so grieved for him that, before I knew what I was saying, I exclaimed----
"Why, I"ve thought of nothing else!"
I put out my hand to him, and he shook it as if he never meant to let it go.
"How good you are," he said warmly.
And I didn"t dare look at Mr. van Buren, for the idea came to me that maybe he would not now believe what I had told him a little while ago.
This morning I scolded Nell before our chaperon for her coldness to Jonkheer Brederode, when he had done so much for her.
"How could you," I asked, "when the poor fellow seemed so pleased to think you cared? It was cruel."
"I didn"t _want_ him to think I cared," Nell answered.
"Dear girl, you were quite right," said Lady MacNairne. Then she laughed. "He hoped to make our Phil jealous, I suppose, for his _real_ thought seems to have been for _her_, doesn"t it?"
Neither of us answered. I quite fancied last night that she had been wrong about those surmises of hers; but now, when she put it in this way, I wasn"t so sure, after all.
XXIV
Nell has been very strange for the last few days, but singularly lovable to everybody except Jonkheer Brederode; and to him she has never been the same for ten consecutive minutes. Perhaps it is a mercy if Lady MacNairne is right, and he was never in love with her, though it would be sad if he thought of me in that way. I should be sorry to have any one as unhappy as I now am. It"s a good thing for me that we were traveling, for if we were at home I should hardly be able to go through it without letting Nell or others suspect the change. As it is, there is always something new to keep my thoughts away from myself and other people, of whom it may be still more unwise to think.