He was on his feet lounging against the mantelpiece as she entered, but he straightened himself to meet her, and dazzled though she was, she saw his outstretched hand.
As it closed upon her own, she found her voice, though panting between tears and laughter. "Max! You--you!"
"A happy Christmas to you!" said Max.
He grasped her hand very firmly. How well she remembered that strong restraining grip! How often had she felt the controlling magic of it!
Once she had even hotly resented it; but to-day--to-day--
She saw his mouth go up at one corner in the old, quizzing way. ""If my heart by signs can tell--"" he began, and ended, openly smiling, "I should almost dare to fancy you were--well, shall we say not annoyed?--to see me."
"Annoyed!" she laughed, still struggling with an outrageous desire to cry.
He looked at her critically. "You haven"t grown any plumper since I saw you last, fair lady. Do you live on air in these parts? You will be flattered to hear that your resemblance to the great Nick is more p.r.o.nounced than ever. Where is he, by the way? I hope he hasn"t been eaten by a tiger, though I scarcely think any tiger, would be such a fool as to expect to find any nourishment in him."
"Oh, don"t be horrid!" she said, laughing more naturally. "That"s too gruesome a joke after what happened this afternoon."
"I wasn"t joking," said Max. "I"m a serious-minded person. And what did happen this afternoon--if it isn"t indiscreet to ask?"
She raised her eyes to his in astonishment. "But you were there!" she said.
"Who told you so?" demanded Max.
"I saw you myself, I spoke to you. I told you about--about Noel being in the temple--with the tiger." She halted a little over the explanation.
Max smiled at her--a curious smile that seemed to express relief. "I didn"t think you recognized me in a helmet," he said. "Yes, I was there.
I"d been on the brute"s track since daybreak. I"m told that it"s the proper thing to let natives do all the stalking in this country. But to my mind that"s half the fun. Gives the tiger a sporting chance, too."
"You were actually hunting it all by yourself!" said Olga, with a quick shudder.
Her hand still lay in his; he gave it a sudden sharp squeeze. "Don"t shiver like that! It"s a sign of too vivid an imagination. Yes, I was all on my own, and enjoyed it. It was my first tiger too. I"ve learned quite a lot about the Indian jungle to-day. What made Nick choose the haunts of a man-eater for his Christmas party? Was it one of his little jokes?"
"We didn"t believe in the man-eater," said Olga, beginning to make subtle efforts to recover possession of her hand. "There hadn"t been one so near for years, and Nick said he thought it was bunk.u.m."
"There," said Max, "he did not display his usual shrewdness of intelligence. Where is the little G.o.d by the way?"
"He"s following on with Noel. They stopped behind to finish packing."
Max"s fingers closed more firmly upon hers, so that without open resistance she could not free herself. "Noel seems to have developed into quite a picturesque cavalier," he observed impersonally.
He was watching her, she knew; and over her face there ran a great wave of colour. She was furiously aware of it even before she saw his faint smile. Desperately she sought to turn the subject.
"Why didn"t you come back to us when the tiger was dead?" she said. "Why didn"t you let Noel tell me you were there?"
She caught the old glint of mockery in his eyes as he made reply. "As you have foreseen, fair lady," he observed, "one answer will suffice for both questions. It was not my turn just then. Moreover, you knew I was there."
"I wasn"t absolutely sure," she protested quickly. "I thought it probable that I had made a mistake."
"Didn"t you expect to see me?" he asked her coolly.
She stared at him. "How could I? I never dreamed of your being in India."
He pa.s.sed the question by. "And yet you were the only person in India whom I took the trouble to inform of my arrival."
Her eyes widened. "What can you mean?"
"Didn"t you get a message from me this morning?" he asked.
"From you?" she said incredulously.
"I sent you a message," said Max.
Her hand leaped suddenly in his. So that was the explanation! She began to tremble. "I--didn"t understand," she said piteously.
She wished he would turn his eyes from her face, but he kept them fixed upon her. "I wonder who got the credit for it," he said.
She turned from his scrutiny in quivering silence. But her hand remained in his.
He took her gently by the shoulder. "Olga, tell me!" he said.
"I didn"t know it came from you," she whispered.
"Why not? I wrote a line with it."
"Yes, but--but--"
"But--" said Max, with quiet insistence.
She tried to laugh. "It was very absurd of me. The initials weren"t very clear. I thought they were--someone else"s."
"Noel"s?" he said.
She nodded.
There was a brief silence, during which she dared not look round. Then he spoke, his voice drily humorous. "I suppose you thanked him for it then?"
"No, I didn"t," she said. "At least--at least--I was vexed, but I didn"t want to hurt his feelings."
"No?" said Max, in the same cynical tone.
Her hand slipped free at last. She spoke more firmly. "I told him I couldn"t accept it."
"Poor Noel!" observed Max. He took his hand from her shoulder also, and she knew that he thrust it into his pocket. "And what did he say to that?"
She hesitated. "Well, of course he--he explained--that he hadn"t sent it."
"And you believed him?"
"Of course I did. He--we thought perhaps it was a hoax."