"No matter what happens, you"ll always be to me Peter"s Marjory," she said. "You"ll always keep me proud."
CHAPTER XVI
A WALK ON THE QUAY
Monte, stepping out of his room early after a restless night, saw a black-haired young man wearing a shade over his eyes fumbling about for the elevator b.u.t.ton. He had the thin, nervous mouth and the square jaw of an American.
Monte stepped up to him.
"May I help you?" he asked.
"Thank you," answered Noyes; "I thought I could make it alone, but there is n"t much light here."
Monte took his arm and a.s.sisted him to the elevator. The man appeared half blind. His heart went out to him at once. As they reached the first floor the stranger again hesitated. He smiled nervously.
"I wanted to get out in the air," he explained. "I thought I could find a valet to accompany me."
Monte hesitated. He did not want to intrude, but there was something about this helpless American that appealed to him. Impulsively he said: "Would you come with me? Covington is my name. I "m just off for a walk along the quay."
"Noyes is my name," answered Peter. "I"d like to come, but I don"t want to trouble you to that extent."
Monte took his arm.
"Come on," he said. "It"s a bully morning."
"The air smells good," nodded Noyes. "I should have waited for my sister, but I was a bit restless. Do you mind asking the clerk to let her know where I am when she comes down?"
Monte called Henri.
"Inform Miss Noyes we"ll be on the quay," he told him.
They walked in silence until they reached the boulevard bordering the ocean.
"We have the place to ourselves," said Monte. "If I walk too fast for you, let me know."
"I "m not very sure of my feet yet," apologized Noyes. "I suppose in time I"ll get used to this."
"Good Lord, you don"t expect it to last?"
"No. They tell me I have a fighting chance."
"How did it happen?"
"Used them a bit too much, I guess," answered Noyes.
"That"s tough."
"A man has so darned much to do and such a little while to do it in,"
exclaimed Noyes.
"You must live in New York."
"Yes. And you?"
"I generally drift back for the holidays. I"ve been traveling a good deal for the last ten years."
"I see. Some sort of research work?"
The way Noyes used that word "work" made Monte uncomfortable. It was as if he took it for granted that a man who was a man must have a definite occupation.
"I don"t know that you would call it exactly that," answered Monte. "I "ve just been knocking around. I have n"t had anything in particular to do. What are you in?"
"Law. I wonder if you"re Harvard?"
"Sure thing. And you?"
Noyes named his cla.s.s--a cla.s.s six years later than Monte"s.
"Well, we have something in common there, anyhow," said Covington cordially. "My father was Harvard Law School. He practiced in Philadelphia."
"I"ve always lived in New York. I was born there, and I love it. I like the way it makes you hustle--the challenge to get in and live--"
He stopped abruptly, putting one hand to his eyes.
"They hurt?" asked Monte anxiously.
"You need your eyes in New York," he answered simply.
"You went in too hard," suggested Monte.
"Is there any other way?" cried Noyes.
"I used to play football a little," said Monte. "I suppose it"s something like that--when a man gets the spirit of the thing. When you hit the line you want to feel that you "re putting into it every ounce in you."
Noyes nodded.
"Into your work--into your life."
"Into your life?" queried Monte.
"Into everything."
Monte turned to look at the man. His thin lips had come together in a straight line. His hollow cheeks were flushed. Every sense was as alert as a fencer"s. If he had lived long like that, no wonder his eyes had gone bad. Yet last night Monte himself had lived like that, pacing his room hour after hour. Only it was not work that had given a cutting edge to each minute--not life, whatever Noyes meant by that.
His thoughts had all been of a woman. Was that life? Was it what Noyes had meant when he said "everything"?