V. SENTIMENTAL EXCHANGE
If Lorry slept that night he was not aware of it. The next morning,after he had breakfasted with his mother, he tried in vain to recall aminute of the time between midnight and eight a.m. in which he did notthink of the young woman who had flown away with his tranquillity. Allnight long he tossed and thought. He counted ten thousand black sheepjumping over a pasture fence, but, after the task was done and thesheep had scattered, he was as far from sleep as ever. Her face waseverywhere. Her voice filled his ear with music never-ceasing, but itwas not the lulling music that invites drowsiness. He heard the clockstrike the hours from one to eight, when he arose, thoroughly disgustedwith himself. Everything seemed to taste bitter or to look blue. Thatbreakfast was a great strain on his natural politeness. He worshippedhis mother, but in several instances that morning he caught himselfjust in time to prevent the utterance of some sharp rejoinder to herpleasant, motherly queries. Twice she was compelled to repeat questions,his mind being so far away that he heard nothing save words that anotherwoman had uttered, say twenty-four hours before. His eyes were red, andthere was a heavy droop to the lids; his tones were drawling and hisvoice strangely without warmth; his face was white and tired.
"You are not well, Grenfall," his mother said, peering anxiously intohis eyes. "The trip has done you up. Now, you must take a good, longrest and recover from your vacation."
He smiled grimly.
"A man never needs a rest so much as he does at the end of his vacation,eh, mother? Well, work will be restful. I shall go to the office thismorning and do three days' work before night. That will prove to youthat I am perfectly well."
He made a pretence of reading the morning paper. There was nothing tointerest him on' those cold, commonplace pages, not one thing--butwait! A thought struck him suddenly, and for ten minutes he searched thecolumns assiduously, even nervously. Then he threw down the paper with asigh of relief.
There was nothing to indicate that her train had been wrecked. She hadundoubtedly reached New York in safety. He looked at his watch. She wasprobably enjoying her breakfast at that very moment. Perhaps she wasthinking of him and--perhaps not. The memory of that last tender handclasp and the soft glow in her eyes stood like a wall between the fearthat she had forgotten and the certainty that she remembered. Had notthis memory kept him awake? That and the final, mysterious emotion whichhad shown itself in her face as he had last looked upon it? A thousandtimes had he pondered over that startled look and the signs ofagitation. Was it fear? Was it dismay? Was it renunciation? Whateverit was, it sorely disturbed him; it had partly undone the charm of themoment before--the charm that could not and would not be gainsaid.
True to his intention, he went to the office early, virtuously inclinedto work. His uncle greeted him warmly and a long conference overbusiness affairs followed. To Lorry's annoyance and discomfiture hefound himself frequently inattentive. Several important cases werepending, and in a day or two they were to go into court with a damagesuit of more than ordinary consequence. Lorry, senior, could not represshis gratification over the return of his clever, active nephew at suchan opportune time. He had felt himself unable to handle the case alone;the endurance of a young and vigorous mind was required for the comingbattle in chancery.
They lunched together, the elder eager and confidential, the otherrespectful and--absent-minded. In the afternoon the junior went over thecase, and renewed search for authorities and opinions, fully determinedto be constant in spite of his inclination to be fickle. Late in theday he petulantly threw aside the books, curtly informed his astonisheduncle that he was not feeling well, and left the office. Until dinnertime he played billiards atrociously at his club; at dinner his mothersharply reproved him for flagrant inattentions; after dinner he smokedand wondered despondently. To-morrow she was to sail! If he could butsee her once more!
At 7:30 his mother found him in the library, searching diligentlythrough the volume of the encyclopedia that contained the G's. When sheasked what he was looking for he laughed idiotically, and, in confusion,informed her that he was trying to find the name of the most importantcity in Indiana. She was glancing at the books in the case when she wasstartled by hearing him utter an exclamation and then lean to his feet.
"Half-past seven! I can make it!"
"What is the matter, Gren dear?"
"Oh!" he ejaculated, bringing himself up with a start. "Iforgot--er--yes, mother, I'll just have time to catch the train, youknow. Will you kindly have Mary clean up this muss of books and soforth? I'm off, you see, to New York--for a day only, mother,--backtomorrow! Important business--just remembered it, you know,--ahem!Good-by, mother! Good-by!" he had kissed her and was in the hall beforeshe fairly understood what he was talking about. Then she ran after him,gaining the hallway in time to see him pass through the street door,his hat on the side of his head, his overcoat fluttering furiously ashe shoved his arms into the sleeves. The door slammed, and he was off toNew York.
The train was ready to pull out when he reached the station, and it wasonly by a hard run that he caught the last platform, panting but happy.just twenty-four hours before she had left Washington, and it wasright here that she had smiled and said she would expect him to come toEdelweiss. He had had no time to secure a berth in the sleeper, but wasfortunately able to get one after taking the train. Grenfall went tosleep feeling both disappointed and disgusted. Disappointed because ofhis submission to sentiment; disgusted because of the man who occupiedthe next section. A man who is in love and in doubt has no patience withthe prosaic wretch who can sleep so audibly.
After a hasty breakfast in New York he telephoned to the steamshipcompany's pier and asked the time of sailing for the Kaiser Wilhelm.On being informed that the ship was to cast off at her usual hour, hestraightway called a cab and was soon bowling along toward the busywaterway. Directly he sat bolt upright, rigid and startled to findhimself more awakened to the realization of his absurd action. Again itentered his infatuated head that he was performing the veriest schoolboytrick in rushing to a steamship pier in the hope of catching a final,and at best, unsatisfactory glimpse of a young woman who had appealedto his sensitive admiration. A love-sick boy could be excused for such adisplay of imbecility, but a man--a man of the world'. Never!
"The idea of chasing down to the water's edge to see that girl isenough to make you ashamed of yourself for life, Grenfall Lorry," heapostrophized. "It's worse than any lovesick fool ever dreamed of doing.I am blushing, I'll be bound. The idiocy, the rank idiocy of the thing!And suppose she should see me staring at her out there on the pier? Whatwould she think of me? I'll not go another foot! I won't be a fool!"
He was excited and self-conscious and thoroughly ashamed of the tripinto which his impetuous adoration had driven him. Just as he wastugging at the door in the effort to open it that he might order thedriver to take him back to the hotel, a sly tempter whispered somethingin his ear; his fancy was caught, and he listened:
"Why not go down to the pier and look over the passenger list, just tosee if she has been booked safely? That would be perfectly proper andsensible, and besides it will be a satisfaction to know that she getsoff all right. Certainly! There's nothing foolish in that.... Especiallyas I am right on the way there.... And as I have come so far...there's no sense in going back without seeing whether she has securedpassage.... I can find out in a minute and then go home. There won't beanything wrong in that. And then I may have a glimpse of her before theship leaves the pier. She must not see me, of course. Never! She'd laughat me! How I'd hate to see her laughing at me!" Then, sinking back againwith a smile of justification on his face, he muttered: "We won'tturn back; we'll go right ahead. We'll be a kind of a fool, but not sofoolish as to allow her to see us and recognize us as one."
Before long they arrived at the wharf, and he hurried to the office nearby. The clerk permitted him to look over the list. First he ran throughthe first-class passengers, and was surprised to find that there wasno such name as Guggenslocker
in the list. Then he went over the secondclass, but still no Guggenslocker.
"Hasn't Mr. Guggenslocker taken passage?" he demanded, unwilling tobelieve his eyes.
"Not on the Kaiser Wilhelm, sir."
"Then, by George, they'll miss the boat!" Lorry exclaimed. "Maybethey'll be here in a few minutes."
"They can't get anything but steerage now, sir. Everything else isgone."
"Are you sure they haven't taken passage?" asked the bewildered Lorry,weakly.
"You can see for yourself," answered the young man, curtly. Lorrywas again in a perspiration, this time the result of a vague, growingsuspicion that had forced itself into his mind. He wandered aimlesslyaway, his brain a chaos of speculation. The suspicion to which he hadgiven countenance grew, and as it enlarged he suffered torment untold.Gradually he came to the conclusion that she had fooled him, had lied tohim. She did not intend to sail on the Wilhelm, at all. It was all veryclear to him now, that strangeness in her manner, those odd occasionalsmiles What was she? An adventuress! That sweet-faced girl a littleordinary coquette, a liar? He turned cold with the thought. Nor wasshe alone in her duplicity. Had not her uncle and aunt been as readyto deceive him? Were they trying to throw him off their track for somesubtle purpose? Had they done something for which they were compelledto fly the country as quickly as possible? No! Not that! They certainlywere not fleeing from justice. But why were they not on board the KaiserWilhelm?
Suddenly he started as if he had been struck, and an involuntaryexclamation of pain and horror escaped his lips. Perhaps somethingunforeseen had happened--an accident--illness--even death!
The clanging of bells broke upon his ears and he knew that the greatship was about to depart. Mechanically, disconsolately he walked out andpaced the broad, crowded wharf. All was excitement. There was the rushof people, the shouts, the cheers, the puffing of tugs, the churningof water, and the Kaiser Wilhelm was off on its long voyage.Half-heartedly, miserably and in a dazed condition he found a place inthe front row along the rail. There were tears in his eyes, tears ofanger, shame and mortification. She had played with him!
Moodily he watched the crowd of voyagers hanging over the rails of themoving leviathan of the deep. A faint smile of irony came to his lips.This was the boat on which his heart was to have been freighted fromnative shores. The craft was sailing, but it was not carrying the cargothat he had, in very good faith, consigned to Graustark. His heart wascertainly not on board the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.
Gloomily his disappointed eyes swept along the rail of the big steamer,half interested in spite of themselves. Twice they passed a certainpoint on the forward deck, unconscious of a force that was attractingthem in that direction. The third time he allowed them to settle for aninstant on the group of faces and figures and then stray off to otherparts of the ship. Some strange power drew them again to the forwarddeck, and this time he was startled into an intent stare. Could hebelieve those eyes? Surely that was her figure at the rail--therebetween the two young women who were waving their handkerchiefs sofrantically. His heart began to jump up and down, wildly, doubtingly,impatiently. Why could not that face be turned toward the wharf as theothers were? There was the blue coat but not the blue cap. A jauntysailor hat sat where the never-to-be-forgotten cap had perched. Thechange was slight, but it was sufficient to throw him into the mostfeverish state of uncertainty. An insane desire to shout a command tothis strange young woman came over him.
The ship was slowly opening a gap between herself and the wharf, and heknew that in a few moments recognition would be impossible. Just as hewas losing hope and was ready to groan with despair, the face beneaththe sailor hat was turned squarely in his direction. A glaze obscuredhis eyes, a numbness attacked his brain. It was Miss Guggenslocker!
Why was her name omitted from the passenger list? That question was thefirst to whirl through his addled brain. He forgot the questionings,forgot everything a moment later, for, to his amazement and delight anddiscomfiture, he saw that she was peering intently at him. A pair of bigglasses was leveled at him for a second and then lowered. He plainly sawthe smile on her face, and the fluttering cambric in her hand. She hadseen him, after all,--had caught him in a silly exhibition of weakness.Her last impression of him, then, was to be one of which he could notfeel proud. While his heart burned with shame, it could not have beensuspected from the appearance of his face. His eyes were dancing, hismouth was wide open with joy, his lips were quivering with a suppressedshout, his cheeks were flushed and his whole aspect bespoke ecstacy. Hewaved his hat and then his handkerchief, obtaining from her vigorous andunrestrained signs of approbation. Her face was wreathed in smiles asshe leaned far over the rail, the picture of animated pleasure.
Making sure that her uncle and aunt were not visible, he boldly placedhis fingers to his lips and wafted a kiss out over the water!
"Now she'll crush me," he cried to himself, regretting the rash act andpraying that she had not observed it.
Her handkerchief ceased fluttering in an instant, and, with sinkingheart, he realized that she had observed. There was a moment ofindecision on the part of the fair one going out to sea, and then thelittle finger tips of both hands went to her lips and his kiss came backto him!
The people near him were surprised to hear a wild yell from his lips andthen to see him wave his hat so madly that there was some danger of itsbeing knocked to pieces against the railing or upon the persons of thosewho stood too close to escape the whirling consequences. So unexpectedhad been her reception of what he considered a calamitous indiscretionthat he was to be pardoned for the ebullition of relief and joy thatfollowed. Had she drawn a revolver and fired angrily at him he could nothave been more astounded. But, to actually throw a kiss to him--to meethis imprudence in the same spirit that had inspired it! Too much tobelieve! In the midst of his elation, however, there came a reminderthat she did not expect to see him again, that she was playing with him,that it was a merry jest and not a heartache that filled her bosom atthe parting.
While he was still waving his handkerchief, debating savagely andjoyously the wisdom of the act, she became a part of the distant colorscheme; the blue figure faded and blended into the general tone andcould no longer be distinguished. She was gone, but she had tossed hima kiss from lips that he should always see. As he turned away from thewater he found himself wondering if there had been tears in her eyes,but the probability was so remote that he laughed foolishly and aloud Acouple of girls heard the laugh and giggled in sympathy, but he turned ascowling face upon them and disappeared in the throng.
Uppermost in his bewildered mind was the question: Why is she not inthe passenger list? Acting on a sudden impulse, he again sought outthe clerk in charge and made a most thorough inspection. There was noGuggenslocker among the names. As a last resort h asked:
"They could not have sailed under an assumed name, could they?"
"I can't say as to that. Where are they going?"
"Graustark."
But the young man shook his head slowly, Lorry's shaking in unconsciousaccord.
"Are you sure that you saw the young lady on board?"
"Well, rather!" exclaimed Lorry, emphatically.
"I was going to say there are a lot of Italian and German singers on theship, and you might have been mistaken. But since you are so positive,it seems very strange that your friends are not on the list."
So Lorry went away discouraged and with a vague fear that she might havebeen a prima donna whose real name was Guggenslocker but whose stagename was something more euphonious. He instantly put away the thoughtand the fear. She was certainly not an opera singer--impossible!He drove back to his hotel, and made preparations for his return toWashington. Glancing casually over the register he came to the namethat had been haunting him--Guggenslocker! There were the names, "CasparGuggenslocker and four, Graustark." Without hesitation he began toquestion the clerk.
"They sailed on the Kaiser Wilhelm to-day;" said that worthy. "That'sall I know about them. T
hey came yesterday and left to-day."
Mr. Grenfall Lorry returned to Washington as in a dream--a fairy dream.The air of mystery that had grown from the first was now an impenetrablewall, the top of which his curiosity could not scale. Even his fancy,his imagination, served him not. There was but one point on which he wassatisfied: he was in love. His own condition was no mystery.
Several weeks later he went to New York to question the Captain ofthe Wilhelm, hoping to clear away the clouds satisfactorily. To hisamazement, the captain said there had been no Guggenslockers on boardnor had there been persons answering the description, so far as he couldtell.
Through the long hot summer he worked, and worried, and wondered. In thefirst, he did little that was satisfactory to himself or to his uncle;in the second, he did so much that he was advised by his physician totake a rest; in the last, he indulged himself so extensively that it hadbecome unbearable. He must know all about her? But how?
The early months of autumn found him pale and tired and indifferentalike to work and play. He found no pleasure in the society thathad known him as a lion. Women bored him; men annoyed him; the playsuffocated him; the tiresome club was ruining his temper; the wholeworld was going wrong. The doctor told him he was approaching nervousprostration; his mother's anxious eyes could no longer be denied, so herealized grimly that there was but one course left open to him.
He suggested it to the doctor, to his mother and to his uncle, and theyagreed with him. It involved Europe.
Having fully decided again to cross the sea, his spirits revived. Hebecame more cheerful, took an interest in things that were going on,and, by the time the Kaiser Wilhelm sailed in September, was the pictureof health and life.
He was off for Edelweiss--to the strange Miss Guggenslocker who hadthrown him a kiss from the deck that sailing-day.