XXXI.

Since the wedding had taken place in Nice, the bride and bridegroom felt that they had to “get away” for their honeymoon, and elected a voyage by yacht. “I have got away with the goods,” said Lord Ottercove, “and I must get away with them.”

“I must leave at once,” said de Jones.

“I agree,” from Ottercove.

But as de Jones would not part with his secretary, and the new Lady de Jones would not part with her husband, they all left together, Frank as a supernumerary.

Perhaps, as a result of his marriage to Mrs. Kerr, Lord de Jones found delight in concentrating on his missionary work, dictating for hours and hours to Eva, who complained of “her poor brains.” He dictated to her, and made her read aloud her shorthand, and every time it seemed to him a mystery and a miracle. He did not really believe anyone capable of deciphering those puzzled and bewildered little signs they made.

He was beautifully in love with her, and every word she typed seemed to him a romance. He scanned the typescript, and suddenly perceived a letter she had erased with her own darling fingers so as to insert the right one: his heart filled with tears.

Frank conceived it his duty to warn her. “Be careful of him. This dictating is all very well, but it’s not the end of the business. It’s unwholesome to be alone with that man. He can--he can--”

“He can do nothing.”

“He can seduce you.”

“You have.”

“True. I’d forgotten.”

She looked at him quizzically.

“You don’t know that Chris--yes, I might as well say it plainly--well, you know as well as I do about Chris and your mother.”

“They are married.”

“Now they are. They haven’t before. Raymond is a living indictment of their relations.”

“Yes--Raymond--he somehow never cared for his father. But I don’t mind Chris loving me, because he is a friend of Mummy’s.”

“I have nothing further to say.”

“Thank goodness for that!”

But he would return at once with more to say.

“You shouldn’t make yourself so cheap, Eva!”

“Why shouldn’t I? He is so lonely, and never had a nice girl to love him.”

“Eva!”

“It gives him so much pleasure, and it’s so little trouble to me.”

“You leave my girl wife alone!” said Ottercove, coming upon Chris and Eva suddenly in the seclusion of the Captain’s bridge. “Why don’t you leave the girl alone?”

De Jones blinked at him. “There is a divinity,” he said, “that shapes our ends, rough-hew them as we may.”

“You’ve got your wife, Chris. What do you want with mine?”

“She reminds me of her mother,” said de Jones.

“Ha! Not so bad!”

“She’s more like her mother was than her mother is.”

“But I’ve got away with the goods!” He strolled up and down several times, and then stopped, peering at the horizon. “Oh, my heart!”

“I think it’s the stomach,” said Chris.

“Yes, I think it’s the stomach,” said Ottercove.

“Poor darling!” from Eva.

At that, tears came to his eyes, and he turned away to hide his emotion.