CHAPTER XXX
WORD MUSIC
The boat had a mast stepped near the bow, and a triangular cloth sail.The Very Young Man sat in the stern, steering with a short, broad-bladedpaddle; Aura lay on a pile of rushes in the bottom of the boat, lookingup at him.
For about half a mile the Very Young Man sailed along parallel with thebeach, looking for the man they had marooned. He was nowhere in sight,and they finally headed out into the lake towards Orlog, which theycould just see dimly on the further shore.
The breeze was fresh, and they made good time. The boat steered easily,and the Very Young Man, reclining on one elbow, with Aura at his feet,felt at peace with himself and with the world. Again he thought thisgirl the prettiest he had ever seen. There was something, too, of aspiritual quality in the delicate smallness of her features--a sweetnessof expression in her quick, understanding smile, and an honest clearnessin her steady gaze that somehow he seemed never to have seen in a girl'sface before.
He felt again, now that he had time to think more of her, that same olddiffidence that had come to him before when they were alone in thestoreroom of her home. That she did not share this feeling was obviousfrom the frankness and ease of her manner.
For some time after leaving the island neither spoke. The Very Young Manfelt the girl's eyes fixed almost constantly upon him--a calm gaze thatheld in it a great curiosity and wonderment. He steered steadily onwardtowards Orlog. There was, for the moment, nothing to discuss concerningtheir adventure, and he wondered what he should say to this girl whostared at him so frankly. Then he met her eyes, and again she smiledwith that perfect sense of comradeship he had so seldom felt with womenof his own race.
"You're very beautiful," said the Very Young Man abruptly.
The girl's eyes widened a little, but she did not drop her lashes. "Iwant to be beautiful; if you think it is so, I am very glad."
"I do. I think you're the prettiest girl I ever saw." He blurted out thewords impetuously. He was very earnest, very sincere, and very young.
A trace of coquetry came into the girl's manner. "Prettier than thegirls of your world? Are they not pretty?"
"Oh, yes--of course; but----"
"What?" she asked when he paused.
The Very Young Man considered a moment. "You're--you're different," hesaid finally. She waited. "You--you don't know how to flirt, for onething."
The girl turned her head away and looked at him a little sidewisethrough lowered lashes.
"How do you know that?" she asked demurely; and the Very Young Manadmitted to himself with a shock of surprise that he certainly wastotally wrong in that deduction at least.
"Tell me of the girls in your world," she went on after a moment'ssilence. "My sister's husband many times he has told me of the wonderfulthings up there in that great land. But more I would like to hear."
He told her, with an eloquence and enthusiasm born of youth, about hisown life and those of his people. She questioned eagerly and with anintelligence that surprised him, for she knew far more of the subjectthan he realized.
"These girls of your country," she interrupted him once. "They, too, arevery beautiful; they wear fine clothes--I know--my brother he has toldme."
"Yes," said the Very Young Man.
"And are they very learned--very clever--do they work and govern, likethe men?"
"Some are very learned. And they are beginning to govern, like the men;but not so much as you do here."
The girl's forehead wrinkled. "My brother he once told me," she saidslowly, "that in your world many women are bad. Is that so?"
"Some are, of course. And some men think that most are. But I don't; Ithink women are splendid."
"If that is so, then better I can understand what I have heard," thegirl answered thoughtfully. "If Oroid women were as I have heard mybrother talk of some of yours, this world of ours would soon be full ofevil."
"You are different," the Very Young Man said quickly. "You--and Lylda."
"The women here, they have kept the evil out of life," the girl went on."It is their duty--their responsibility to their race. Your goodwomen--they have not always governed as we have. Why is that?"
"I do not know," the Very Young Man admitted. "Except because the menwould not let them."
"Why not, if they are just as learned as the men?" The girl wassmiling--a little roguish, twisted smile.
"There are very clever girls," the Very Young Man went on hastily; hefound himself a little on the defensive, and he did not know just why."They are able to do things in the world. But--many men do not likethem."
Aura was smiling openly now, and her eyes twinkled with mischief."Perhaps it is the men are jealous. Could that not be so?"
The Very Young Man did not answer, and the girl went on more seriously."The women of my race, they are very just. Perhaps you know that, Jack.Often has my brother told us of his own great world and of its problems.And the many things he has told us--Lylda and I--we have often wondered.For every question has its other side, and we cannot judge--from himalone."
The Very Young Man, surprised at the turn their conversation had taken,and confused a little by this calm logic from a girl--particularly fromso young and pretty a girl--was at a loss how to go on.
"You cannot understand, Aura," he finally said seriously. "Women may beall kinds; some are bad--some are good. Down here I know it is not thatway. Sometimes when a girl is smart she thinks she is smarter than anyliving man. You would not like that sort of girl would you?"
"My brother never said it just that way," she answered with equalseriousness. "No, that would be bad--very bad. In our land women areonly different from men. They know they are not better or worse--onlydifferent."
The Very Young Man was thinking of a girl he once knew. "I hate clevergirls," he blurted out.
Aura's eyes were teasing him again. "I am so sorry," she said sadly.
The Very Young Man looked his surprise. "Why are you sorry?"
"My sister, she once told me I was clever. My brother said it, too, andI believed them."
The Very Young Man flushed.
"You're different," he repeated.
"How--different?" She was looking at him sidewise again.
"I don't know; I've been trying to think--but you are. And I don't hateyou--I like you--very, very much."
"I like you, too," she answered frankly, and the Very Young Man thoughtof Loto as she said it. He was leaning down towards her, and their handsmet for an instant.
The Very Young Man had spread his robe out to dry when he first got intothe boat, and now he put it on while Aura steered. Then he sat besideher on the seat, taking the paddle again.
"Do you go often to the theater?" she asked after a time.
"Oh, yes, often."
"Nothing like that do we have here," she added, a little wistfully."Only once, when we played a game in the field beyond my brother's home.Lylda was the queen and I her lady. And do you go to the opera, too? Mybrother he has told me of the opera. How wonderful must that be! Sobeautiful--more beautiful even it must be than Lylda's music. But nevershall it be for me." She smiled sadly: "Never shall I be able to hearit."
An eager contradiction sprang to the Very Young Man's lips, but the girlshook her head quietly.
For several minutes they did not speak. The wind behind them blew thegirl's long hair forward over her shoulders. A lock of it fell upon theVery Young Man's hand as it lay on the seat between them, and unseen hetwisted it about his fingers. The wind against his neck felt warm andpleasant; the murmur of the water flowing past sounded low and sweet andsoothing. Overhead the stars hung very big and bright. It was likesailing on a perfect night in his own world. He was very conscious ofthe girl's nearness now--conscious of the clinging softness of her hairabout his fingers. And all at once he found himself softly quoting somehalf-forgotten lines:
"If I were king, ah, love! If I were king What tributary nations I would bring To bow before your scepter and to swear Allegiance
to your lips and eyes and hair."
Aura's questioning glance of surprise brought him to himself. "That isso pretty--what is that?" she asked eagerly. "Never have I heard onespeak like that before."
"Why, that's poetry; haven't you ever heard any poetry?"
The girl shook her head. "It's just like music--it sings. Do it again."
The Very Young Man suddenly felt very self-conscious.
"Do it again--please." She looked pleadingly up into his face and theVery Young Man went on:
"Beneath your feet what treasures I would fling! The stars would be your pearls upon a string; The world a ruby for your finger-ring; And you could have the sun and moon to wear If I were king."
The girl clapped her hands artlessly. "Oh, that is so pretty. Never didI know that words could sound like that. Say it some more, please."
And the Very Young Man, sitting under the stars beside this beautifullittle creature of another world, searched into his memory and for herwho never before had known that words could rhyme, opened up the realmof poetry.