It flatters a man to be accused of sarcasm by the other s.e.x, and Staniford was not superior to the soft pleasure of the reproach. "Do you think I make other people feel so, too?"
"Mr. Dunham said--"
"Oh! Mr. Dunham has been talking me over with you, has he? What did he tell you of me? There is n.o.body like a true friend for dealing an underhand blow at one"s reputation. Wait till you hear my account of Dunham! What did he say?"
"He said that was only your way of laughing at yourself."
"The traitor! What did you say?"
"I don"t know that I said anything."
"You were reserving your opinion for my own hearing?"
"No."
"Why don"t you tell me what you thought? It might be of great use to me.
I"m in earnest, now; I"m serious. Will you tell me?"
"Yes, some time," said Lydia, who was both amused and mystified at this persistence.
"When? To-morrow?"
"Oh, that"s too soon. When I get to Venice!"
"Ah! That"s a subterfuge. You know we shall part in Trieste."
"I thought," said Lydia, "you were coming to Venice, too."
"Oh, yes, but I shouldn"t be able to see you there."
"Why not?"
"Why not? Why, because--" He was near telling the young girl who hung upon his arm, and walked up and down with him in the moonlight, that in the wicked Old World towards which they were sailing young people could not meet save in the sight and hearing of their elders, and that a confidential a.n.a.lysis of character would be impossible between them there. The wonder of her being where she was, as she was, returned upon him with a freshness that it had been losing in the custom of the week past. "Because you will be so much taken up with your friends," he said, lamely. He added quickly, "There"s one thing I should like to know, Miss Blood: did you hear what Mr. Dunham and I were saying, last night, when we stood in the gangway and kept you from coming up?"
Lydia waited a moment. Then she said, "Yes. I couldn"t help hearing it."
"That"s all right. I don"t care for your hearing what I said. But--I hope it wasn"t true?"
"I couldn"t understand what you meant by it," she answered, evasively, but rather faintly.
"Thanks," said Staniford. "I didn"t mean anything. It was merely the guilty consciousness of a generally disagreeable person." They walked up and down many turns without saying anything. She could not have made any direct protest, and it pleased him that she could not frame any flourishing generalities. "Yes," Staniford resumed, "I will try to see you as I pa.s.s through Venice. And I will come to hear you sing when you come out at Milan."
"Come out? At Milan?"
"Why, yes! You are going to study at the conservatory in Milan?"
"How did you know that?" demanded Lydia.
"From hearing you to-day. May I tell you how much I liked your singing?"
"My aunt thought I ought to cultivate my voice. But I would never go upon the stage. I would rather sing in a church. I should like that better than teaching."
"I think you"re quite right," said Staniford, gravely. "It"s certainly much better to sing in a church than to sing in a theatre. Though I believe the theatre pays best."
"Oh, I don"t care for that. All I should want would be to make a living."
The reference to her poverty touched him. It was a confidence, coming from one so reticent, that was of value. He waited a moment and said, "It"s surprising how well we keep our footing here, isn"t it? There"s hardly any swell, but the ship pitches. I think we walk better together than alone."
"Yes," answered Lydia, "I think we do."
"You mustn"t let me tire you. I"m indefatigable."
"Oh, I"m not tired. I like it,--walking."
"Do you walk much at home?"
"Not much. It"s a pretty good walk to the school-house."
"Oh! Then you like walking at sea better than you do on sh.o.r.e?"
"It isn"t the custom, much. If there were any one else, I should have liked it there. But it"s rather dull, going by yourself."
"Yes, I understand how that is," said Staniford, dropping his teasing tone. "It"s stupid. And I suppose it"s pretty lonesome at South Bradfield every way."
"It is,--winters," admitted Lydia. "In the summer you see people, at any rate, but in winter there are days and days when hardly any one pa.s.ses.
The snow is banked up everywhere."
He felt her give an involuntary shiver; and he began to talk to her about the climate to which she was going. It was all stranger to her than he could have realized, and less intelligible. She remembered California very dimly, and she had no experience by which she could compare and adjust his facts. He made her walk up and down more and more swiftly, as he lost himself in the comfort of his own talking and of her listening, and he failed to note the little falterings with which she expressed her weariness.
All at once he halted, and said, "Why, you"re out of breath! I beg your pardon. You should have stopped me. Let us sit down." He wished to walk across the deck to where the seats were, but she just perceptibly withstood his motion, and he forbore.
"I think I won"t sit down," she said. "I will go down-stairs." She began withdrawing her hand from his arm. He put his right hand upon hers, and when it came out of his arm it remained in his hand.
"I"m afraid you won"t walk with me again," said Staniford. "I"ve tired you shamefully."
"Oh, not at all!"
"And you will?"
"Yes."
"Thanks. You"re very amiable." He still held her hand. He pressed it.
The pressure was not returned, but her hand seemed to quiver and throb in his like a bird held there. For the time neither of them spoke, and it seemed a long time. Staniford found himself carrying her hand towards his lips; and she was helplessly, trustingly, letting him.
He dropped her hand, and said, abruptly, "Good-night."
"Good-night," she answered, and ceased from his side like a ghost.