"I didn"t know you were sailing to-morrow," she said. "It"s just a chance I couldn"t help that let me meet you now."
"You mean you avoided me--deliberately?"
Bull"s smile had pa.s.sed. But there was no umbrage in his manner. The girl"s appeal for him was never so great as at that moment. She had never been more beautiful to him. He had first seen her in that same long fur coat, and had gazed into her pretty eyes under the same fur cap. He was glad she was so clad now. To his mind no other costume could have so much charm for him.
"Yes."
The simple downrightness of the admission might have disconcerted another. But its honesty and lack of subterfuge only pleased the man.
"That"s what I thought. It"s this business standing between your folk and me?"
Nancy nodded.
"Yes. We are enemies."
"That"s so," Bull agreed. "That"s the pity of it. If you were on my side--"
"But I"m not. No." Nancy"s denial was almost sharp. It certainly was hurried. "I"m kind of glad I"ve seen you, though," she went on. "I"ve had it in mind I wanted to say things to you." A smile came back to her eyes. "You see, there are enemies and enemies. There"s the enemy you can regard well. There"s the enemy you can hate and despise. Well, I just want to say we"re enemies who don"t need to hate and despise--yet. I don"t know how things"ll be later. Maybe you"ll learn to hate me good before we"re through. But that"s as maybe. I"m going to do my work for all I know for my folks. I"m going to be in this fight right up to my neck. I"ve been warned that way. Well, that being so, I"m going to fight without looking for quarter, and I shall give none. That sounds tough, doesn"t it? But I mean it. And I wanted to say it before things start.
I"m glad I"ve had the chance--against my notions of things."
Bull laughed. He was in the mood to laugh--now.
"It sounds fine. Say--"
"Are you laughing at me?"
"There isn"t a thing further from my thoughts." Bull"s denial was sincere and prompt. "I"m glad you happened along. I"m glad you said those things. Fight this war--as I shall--with all that"s in you. It don"t matter a thing if you"re right or wrong. Fight it square and hard for your folk, and there isn"t a right man or woman, but who"ll respect you, and think the better of you for it. A good fight"s no crime when you"re convinced you"re right."
The girl drew a deep breath, and, to the man, it seemed in the nature of relief. A great anxiety for her stirred him.
"I"m glad you said that," she said. Then she gazed reflectively up at the old ramparts. "No. It"s no crime to fight when you"re convinced.
Besides it"s right, too, to fight for your side at any time. That"s how I see it. You"ll fight for yours--"
"Any old how." Bull"s eyes were deeply regarding. They were very gentle.
"Here," he went on, "fight has a clear, definite meaning for me. I fight to win. I"ll stop at nothing. It"s always a game of "rough and tough" with me. Gouge, chew, and all the rest of it. Frankly, there"s a devil inside me, when it"s fight. I want you to know this, so your scruples needn"t worry you."
"Yes."
Nancy"s gaze was turned seawards.
"And you sail--to-morrow? When do you return?" she asked a moment later.
Bull smilingly shook his head.
"We are at war," he said.
The girl"s eyes came back. She, too, smiled.
"I forgot." Then she added: "You go by the _Empress_?"
"Yes."
They had both contrived to make it difficult. The barrier was growing.
Both realised it, and Nancy was stirred more than she knew. She had seen this man and hurried over to him. She had purposely denied him for two weeks, but the sight of him on the promenade had been irresistible.
Now--now she hardly knew what to say; and yet there were a hundred things struggling in her mind to find expression. She was paralysed by the memory of the recent interview she had had with her employers--the great financial head of her house included--wherein she had learned all that the coming war meant personally to herself. She would have given worlds at that moment to have been able to blot out that memory. But she had no power to do so. It loomed almost tragically in its significance in the presence of this man.
Bull found it no less difficult. He had striven to make things easy for her. He had no second thought. And now he realised the thing he had done. His words had only served to fling an irrevocable challenge, and thus, finally and definitely, made the longed-for approach between them impossible.
He drew a deep breath.
"Yes. I sail on the _Empress_."
"And you are glad--of course?"
Bull laughed.
"Some ways."
"You mean--?"
"Why, I shouldn"t be sailing if things weren"t going my way," he said.
Then he turned about and his movement was an invitation. "But let"s quit it," he said. "Let"s forget--for the moment. You don"t know what this meeting has meant to me. I wanted to see you, if only to say "good-bye."
I thought I wasn"t going to."
They moved down the promenade together.
Nancy did her best. They talked of everything but the impending war, and the meaning of it. But the barrier had grown out of all proportion. And a great unease tugged at the heart of each. At length, as they came back towards the hotel, Nancy felt it impossible to go on. And with downright truth she said so.
"It must be "good-bye"--now," she said. "This is all unreal. It must be so. We"re at war. We shall be at each other"s throats presently. Well, I just can"t pretend. I don"t want to think about it. I hate to remember it. But it"s there in my mind the whole time; and it worries so I don"t know the things I"m saying. It"s best to say "good-bye" and "bon voyage"
right here. And whatever the future has for us I just mean that."
She held out her hand. It was bare, and soft, and warm, as the man took possession of it.
"I feel that way, too," he said. "But--" he broke off and shook his head. "No. It"s no use. You"ve the right notion of this. Until this war"s fought out there is nothing else for it. You"ll go right back to your camp and I"ll go to mine. And we"ll both work out how we can best beat the other. But let"s make a compact. We"ll do the thing we know to hurt the other side the most we can. If need be we"ll neither show the other mercy. And we"ll promise each to take our med"cine as it comes, and cut out the personal hate and resentment it"s likely to try and inspire. We"ll be fighting machines without soul or feeling till peace comes. Then we"ll be just as we are now--friends. Can you do it? I can."
For all the feeling of the moment Nancy laughed.
"It sounds crazy," she exclaimed.
"It is crazy. But so is the whole thing."
"Yes. Oh, it surely is. It"s worst than crazy." Pa.s.sion rang in the girl"s voice. Then the hazel depths smiled and set the man"s pulses hammering afresh. "But I"ll make that compact, and I"ll keep it. Yes.
Now, "good-bye," and a happy and pleasant trip."
Their hands fell apart. Bull had held that hand, so soft and warm and appealing to him, till he dared hold it no longer.
"Thanks," he said. "Good-bye. I can set out with a good heart--now."