Part 21 (2/2)
”That man has been well posted. He may have been influenced by a mistaken public spirit or quite possibly by a less praiseworthy motive; but if we have any more bad breakdowns I can foresee trouble,” Geoffrey said to himself.
Then he turned his eyes towards the groups of pa.s.sengers, and presently started at the sight of a lady carrying a camp chair, a book, and a bundle of wrappings along the heaving deck. It was Millicent Leslie, and there was no doubt that she had recognized him, for she had set down her burden and was waiting for his a.s.sistance. Geoffrey was at her side in a moment and presently ensconced her snugly under the lee of the deckhouse, where he waited, by no means wholly pleased at the meeting. He had spent most of the previous night with certain men interested in finance and provincial politics, and being new to the gentle art of wire-pulling had not quite recovered his serenity. He regretted the good cigar he had thrown away, and scarcely felt equal to sustaining the semi-sentimental trend of conversation Millicent had affected whenever he met her, but she was alone, and cut off all hope of escape by saying:
”You will not desert me. One never feels solitude so much as when left to one's own resources among a crowd of strangers.”
”Certainly not, if you can put up with my company; but where is your husband?” Geoffrey responded. Millicent looked up at him with a chastened expression.
”Enjoying himself. Some gentlemen, whose good-will is worth gaining, asked him to go inland for a few days' fis.h.i.+ng, and he said it was necessary he should accept the invitation. Accordingly, I am as usual left to my own company while I make a solitary journey down the Sound.
It is hardly pleasant, but I suppose all men are much the same, and we poor women must not complain.”
Millicent managed to convey a great deal more than she said, and her sigh suggested that she often suffered keenly from loneliness; but while Geoffrey felt sorry for her, he was occupied by another thought just then, and did not at first answer.
”What are you puzzling over, Geoffrey?” she asked, and the man smiled as he answered:
”I was wondering if the same errand which took your husband to Victoria, was the same that sent me there.”
”I cannot say.” Millicent's gesture betokened weariness. ”I know nothing of my husband's business, and must do him the justice to say that he seldom troubles me about it. I have little taste for details of intricate financial scheming, but practical operations, like your task among the mountains, would appeal to me. It must be both romantic and inspiring to pit one's self against the rude forces of Nature; but one grows tired of the prosaic struggle which is fought by eating one's enemies' dinners and patiently bearing the slights of lukewarm allies'
wives. However, since the fear of poverty is always before me, I try to play my part in it.”
Helen Savine had erred strangely when she concluded that Geoffrey Thurston was without sympathy. Hard and painfully blunt as he could be, he was nevertheless compa.s.sionate towards women, though not always happy in expressing his feelings, and when Millicent folded her slender hands with a pathetic sigh, he was moved to sincere pity and indignation. He knew that some of the worthy Colonials' wives and daughters could be, on occasion, almost brutally frank, and that, in spite of his efforts, Leslie was not wholly popular.
”I can quite understand! It must be a trying life for you, but there are always chances for an enterprising man in this country, and you must hope that your husband will shortly raise you above the necessity of enduring uncongenial social relations.”
”Please don't think I am complaining.” Millicent read his sympathy in his eyes. ”It was only because you looked so kind that I spoke so frankly. I fear that I have grown morbid and said too much. But one-sided confidence is hardly fair, and, to change the subject, tell me how fortune favors you.”
”Where shall I begin?”
Millicent smiled, as most men would have fancied, bewitchingly.
”You need not be bashful. Tell me about your adventures in the mountains, with all the hairbreadth escapes, fantastic coloring, and romantic medley of incidents that must be crowded into the life of anyone engaged in such work as yours.”
”I am afraid the romance wears thin, leaving only a monotonous, not to say sordid, reality, while details of cubic quant.i.ties would hardly interest you. Still, and remember you have brought it upon yourself, I will do my best.”
Geoffrey reluctantly began an account of his experiences, speaking in an indifferent manner at first, but warming to his subject, until he spoke eloquently at length. He was not a vain man, but Millicent had set the right chord vibrating when she chose the topic of his new-world experiences. He stopped at last abruptly, with an uneasy laugh.
”There! I must have tired you, but you must blame yourself,” he said.
”No!” Millicent a.s.sured him. ”I have rarely heard anything more interesting. It must be a very hard battle, well worth winning, but you are fortunate in one respect--having only the rock and river to contend against instead of human enemies.”
”I am afraid we have both,” was the incautious answer, and Millicent looked out across the white-flecked waters as she commented indifferently, ”But there can be n.o.body but simple cattle-raisers and forest-clearers in that region, and what could your enemies gain by following you there?”
”They might interfere with my plans or thwart them. One of them nearly did so!” and Geoffrey, hesitating, glanced down at his companion just a second too late to notice the look of suspiciously-eager interest in her face, for Millicent had put on the mask again. She was a clever actress, quick to press into her service smile or sigh, where words might have been injudicious, and with feminine curiosity and love of unearthing a secret, was bent on drawing out the whole story. It did not necessarily follow that she should impart the secret to her husband, she said to herself. Geoffrey was, for the moment, off his guard, and victory seemed certain for the woman.
”How did that happen?” she asked, outwardly with languid indifference, inwardly quivering with suspense, but, as luck would have it, the steamer, entering one of the tide races which sweep those narrow waters, rolled wildly just then, and Geoffrey held her chair fast while the book fell from her knee and went sliding down the slanted deck.
Vexed and nervously anxious, Millicent bit one red lip while Thurston pursued the volume, and she could hardy conceal her chagrin when he returned with it.
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