"Be serious," I thundered. "This isn"t any time to joke!"
"When you talk about a paucity of intellect," he laughed softly, "it"s a wonder you don"t bite yourself."
"Oh, Tommy, please let up; I"m sorry, honest--I"m wretched, too!"
His manner changed then. Putting his arm through mine, he led me outside, going toward our landing.
"This is just the time to joke, old man," he said, when we reached it.
"She made up her mind to leave, _p.r.o.nto_! Why? Conscience said obey Monsieur, but heart said nixy! What"s to do then? Start home quick, of course, before little heart gives old conscience the solar plexus!
That"s how I size it up!"
"But I don"t see anything to joke about," I said gloomily.
"Well, let me shuffle again--now take a look! When Smilax left with her order, I sent a note to the mate, telling him to bring both yachts down.
Then we"ll have to split the crew, and in the mix-up I"ll see that you and she get on the _Whim_, while Monsieur sails on----But I see you get me! If you can"t stifle her conscience before we reach Miami, you"re a mud-hen."
"Great guns," I whispered, grabbing him by the arms, "we might sail----"
"All over the Gulf," he chuckled, giving me a push toward the water.
"There"s your h.e.l.lespont, son, as sure as Leander was a gentleman! Cross it now and tell her it"s all right about that order!"
"My two days aren"t up yet; I"m bound."
"That"s nothing. Wait!"
He was off to the old chief"s bungalow and reappeared with Monsieur, whose broad smile was anything but rea.s.suring.
"You wish to relieve her uncertainty about that order?" he asked, coming up. "Certainly, my boy Jack, go and say what you please."
"What I please?" I asked pointedly.
"Why not what you please? She goes with me to Azuria--we have arranged it. You could not dissuade her now. Even could you, she knows she can not resist my authority. Yes, go and say what you like."
He was laughing by this time, at his success rather than my discomfiture, but Tommy saw that I was making little distinction between the two and wisely led him away.
As I stepped upon the little island Echochee came down to meet me.
"How"s your Lady?" I asked.
"You go see," she answered in a low voice, pointing to the open door.
As I entered the commodious living room Doloria looked up, but did not smile. She was reclining on a _chaise-longue_, beneath a shaded lamp whose rays still blended with the light of a dying afterglow. Her hunting costume had been discarded for a flimsy kind of an exquisite thing of blue--hardly a dress, although it had a lot of lace and seemed to fit her perfectly. It was open at the throat like some dresses, and the sleeves fell away from her arms; but I had seen one instinctive movement she made to pull it closer which might have indicated embarra.s.sment.
"I"ve come with Monsieur"s permission," I said, bowing over her hand.
"With Monsieur"s permission," she repeated after me. "We seem to do nothing but with Monsieur"s permission."
I saw that she was nervous and very much upset, so replied as gently as I could:
"But this visit involved my promise, otherwise I wouldn"t have asked him. I want to tell you that it"s all right about the yacht--your sending for her, I mean. She"ll be on hand to-morrow."
"Thanks, Chancellor." Her tone had changed to one of complete weariness.
"Now leave me, please."
"Leave you," I exclaimed. "I"ll do nothing of the kind! The two-day ban is off, and Monsieur has told me I can say anything I please!"
"And having his permission to say anything you please, did you rehea.r.s.e it before him, too?"
This left me helpless, fervently wishing I"d had more of Tommy"s experience with girls" moods. He knew a lot about them, and would have understood just what to do. But I felt suddenly enraged--not at her, but at everything, and cried:
"I don"t give a d.a.m.n for him or his permission! He shan"t take you away!"
For the first time she smiled, and held out her hands to me, saying:
"That"s good-medicine-talk, Jack. I like it even if it won"t cure me.
Say it again--that you don"t give a d.a.m.n for him!"
I would have said something in an entirely different way had not Echochee been moving about the next room, but I kneeled, leaning over her, keeping her hand and whispering:
"He shan"t dominate our lives! You"re going back with me--don"t you know you are?"
"Don"t make me sorry you came, Jack," she said softly. "I must go with him. So let"s talk of other things and keep our last evening here from being a horror."
"I"ve got to talk about it, as I"ve got to breathe and think and move and love you! It"s all one! It"s my existence, and if you went away it would be like tearing me to pieces!"
"Oh, but don"t you see that I must," she cried despairingly. "I didn"t close my eyes all night, thinking, thinking, thinking! It was agony.
It"s agony now. But my decision"s been through the fire, Jack, and I know I"m right!"
"No decision counts for anything against all you mean to me!"
"Oh, Jack, I"m so sorry!" she moaned, looking at me without dissimulation and letting me see that her face was marked by a solemnity and tragedy that wrung my heart. "G.o.d," she whispered, putting her hand to my forehead, "how I suffer while I see your tortured eyes!"
"Then out of sorrow, pity, tell me what the fellow said," I implored, nearly beside myself. "Let me know the strength of your duty, so my own strength can have a chance. It isn"t fair to make a beggar of me when I might be fighting for happiness! Let me see his weapons so I can strike back; then, if I lose, I"ll lose standing up--and the future," I added, less impetuously, "isn"t so gray to the man who loses standing up."
She had turned away with a quick gesture of anguish and seemed to be crying, but when she looked at me again there were no signs of tears.
"He says others have demands and rights, and the many must outweigh the few."
"That depends on the greatness of each side"s claims," I began, when she interrupted by continuing:
"My conscience decided that--it had no choice; every claim has been weighed--accurately." Her voice trembled a little, and I thought she was trying to make it harsh. "He said that you and I were thrown out from separate spheres, opposite poles. By chance our orbits happened to cross, and you rendered me this tremendous service. But it was only a part of the foreordination--only to make my path easier to a greater duty ahead, a greater destiny to be fulfilled. Now this commands--he says. The call of my birthright has come, and I must answer. He says that neither of us will mind it in a little while, as memories pa--pa.s.s." She wavered at last, and again turned away her face.
"But you don"t believe that stuff?" I cried.
"Oh, his words are so unanswerable--when he speaks them! Then he has the authority to command me!"
"They"re not unanswerable," I said hotly. "_You_ haven"t weighed our happiness against this unknown voice of your people, your birthright--he did it for you! His cold logic read the scales--not your heart or your conscience! He"s built a wall around you like a cistern, and you can"t see out. If it was ordained for us to face death, then by the same law we"ve got to face life! Sweetheart, don"t you see what I mean?"