"It really _does_ seem hard," I said. "Now, if only Phyllis hadn"t so many rules of propriety--" But, to my surprise, the very thought in my mind, which I hadn"t dared breathe, was spoken out next minute by Phil herself.
"Maybe we might come to some kind of arrangement--as you have an aunt,"
she faltered.
"Yes, as you have an aunt," I repeated.
"She"d make an ideal chaperon for young ladies," hastily went on the Southerner. "I should like you to meet her."
"Is Lady MacNairne in Rotterdam?" asked Phil.
"Not exactly; but she"s coming--almost at once."
"We don"t know your name yet," said Phyllis. "I"m Miss Rivers; my stepsister is Miss Van Buren. Perhaps you"d better introduce yourself."
"I shall be glad to," returned my countryman. "My name is Ronald Lester Starr----"
"Why, the initials are just right--R. L. S." I murmured.
"I know what you mean," he said, with a nice smile. "They say I look like him. I"m very proud. You"ll think I ought to be a writer; but I"m not. I paint a little--just enough to call myself an artist----"
"Oh, I remember," I broke in. "I thought the name sounded familiar. You had a picture in the Salon this spring."
He looked anxious. "Did you see it?"
"No--not even a copy. What was the subject? Horrid of me to ask; but, you see, it"s July now, and one forgets."
"One does," he admitted, as if he were pleased. "Oh, it was only a portrait of my aunt."
"Your Scotch aunt?"
"Yes. But if you"d seen it, and then should see her, you mightn"t even recognize her. I--er--didn"t try to make a striking likeness."
"I wish I"d seen the picture," said I. And I thought Mr. Starr must be very modest, for his expression suggested that he didn"t echo my wish.
"Do you think you could let my aunt and me join you?" he asked. "I don"t mean to crowd up your boat; that would never do, for you might want to sleep on it sometimes. But I might get a barge, and you could tow it.
I"d thought of that very thing; indeed, I"ve practically engaged a barge. My friend and I, who were to have chummed together, if he hadn"t been called away--oh, you know, that was a plan before my aunt promised to come, quite another idea. But what I mean to say is, I got an idea for hiring a barge, and having it towed by the motor-boat. I could have had a studio in that way, for I wanted to do some painting. I"d just come back from seeing rather a jolly barge that"s to let, when I--er--stumbled on you."
"Had you engaged any one to work "Lorelei"?"
"A chauffeur," said Mr. Ronald; "but no skipper for certain yet. I"ve been negotiating."
"Dear me!" I exclaimed. "Must we have a chauffeur and a skipper too?"
"I"m afraid we must; a man who understands the waterways of Holland. A chauffeur understands only the motor, and lucky if he does that."
"Won"t it be dreadfully expensive?" asked Phyllis.
"The skipper"s wages won"t be more than five or six dollars (a bit more than one of your sovereigns) a week, and the chauffeur less. They"ll keep themselves, but I meant them to sleep on the barge. The skipper ought to be a smart chap, who can be trusted with money to pay the expenses of the boat as one goes along--bridge-money and all sorts of things. The chauffeur can buy the _essence_--petrol, you call it in England, don"t you?--but the skipper had better do the rest."
"It does seem a frightful responsibility for two girls," said Phyllis.
"Of course, if you"d consent to have my aunt--and me--we"d take all the trouble off your hands, and half the expense," remarked Mr. Starr. "My poor aunt is so fond of the water, and there"s so little in Scotland----"
"Little in Scotland?"
"Well, only a few lakes and rivers. It does seem hard she should be disappointed."
"She mightn"t like us," said Phyllis.
"She would lo--I mean, she"d be no aunt of mine if she didn"t. I"d cut her off with a penny."
"It"s generally aunts who do that with their nephews," said I.
"Ah, but she"s different from other aunts, and I"m different from other nephews. May I telegraph that she"s to come?"
"I thought she was coming."
"I mean, may I telegraph that she"s to be a chaperon? I ought to let her know. She might--er--want more dresses or bonnets, or something."
Phil and I laughed, and so did Mr. Starr. After that, of course, we couldn"t be stony-hearted; besides, we didn"t want to be. I could see that, even to Phil, the thought of a cruise taken in the company of our new friend and that ideal chaperon, his aunt, Lady MacNairne, had attractions which the idea of a cruise alone with her stepsister had lacked.
"Well, in the circ.u.mstances, I think we should be callous brutes not to say "Yes,"" I replied.
"I don"t want to force you into consenting from pure generosity," went on Mr. Starr. "If you"d like to consult your relations, and have them find out that I"m all right----"
I laughed again. "I know you better than I do them," said I. "I"ve never seen them yet. I think we can take you on faith, just as you"ve taken our claims to the boat. Your Scotch aunt alone would be a guarantee, if we needed one. A Scotch aunt sounds so _extra_ reliable. But perhaps my relatives may be of use in other ways, as they"ve lived in Rotterdam always, I fancy. They might even find us a skipper, if your negotiations fall through. Anyhow, I"ll write a letter from our hotel to the head of the family, introducing myself as his long-lost cousin twice removed."
"What is your hotel, if I may ask?" inquired Mr. Starr.
I told him, and it turned out that it had been his till this very morning, when he had removed his things to "Lorelei," with the intention of living on board till he was ready to start. Now he proposed to have them taken back to the hotel, and rearranged on the barge when his aunt came. As for that sly old person, the caretaker, our new friend volunteered to straighten out everything with him, our affair as well as his own.
"When he discovers that we can"t be bothered having the law of him, as he richly deserves, he will remember his English, or I"ll find the way to make him," said the young man in such a joyous, confident way, that thereupon I dubbed him our "lucky Starr."
IV
"How funny if I"ve got relations who can"t speak any language except Dutch!" I said, after I"d sent a letter by messenger to the address of the Robert van Buren found in the directory.
But half an hour later an answer came back, in English. Mine very sincerely, Robert van Buren, would give himself the pleasure of calling on his cousin immediately. When I received this news it was one o"clock, and we were finishing lunch at the hotel, in the society of Mr. Starr, who had already wired to his aunt that she was to play the part of chaperon.
I read the letter aloud, and Phil and I decided that it sounded _old_.
"Mother spoke once or twice of father"s cousin, Robert van Buren; so I suppose he"s about the age my father would have been if he"d lived," I said. "I hope he"ll not turn out a horror."
"I hope he"ll not forbid you to a.s.sociate with my aunt and me," cut in Mr. Starr. "It"s a stiff kind of handwriting."