Part 56 (2/2)
”Off and on. There are drawbacks to everything, but in the main it's been just great.”
Then Mrs. Harvey waddled up, panting, breathless, eager and happy. She almost smothered Madeline with kisses and talked incessantly between whiles.
”Kitty said it was you, and I said it wasn't. But you have improved. You see my sight is not quite as good as it used to be.”
”Another of mother's compliments!” Kitty laughed.
”It's nothing of the sort,” Mrs. Harvey protested. ”I meant what I said, but I really must get my gla.s.ses strengthened.”
”You must, mother. You really won't be able to recognise father at the rate you are going on.”
”And you are still Madeline Grover? I don't want to be inquisitive my dear, but we understood, you know, you were coming across to marry a t.i.tle; was it a duke or a knight? I really get mixed up as to the order they stand in.”
”I'm not going to marry either,” Madeline said, impulsively. ”I'm going to remain as I am.”
”No-o?” from both mother and daughter.
”It's the honest truth.”
”Well, with all your money you are independent of a t.i.tle, my dear,”
Mrs. Harvey said, absently.
”But I haven't any money,” Madeline said, ”except what my trustee allows me. But really, do you know for certain if I shall be well off when I come of age?”
”Don't you know yourself?”
”I really know nothing. Father never talked to me about money matters, and Sir Charles copies his example in that respect.”
”Then you had better come and talk to my husband. If there's anything about money he doesn't know, I should like to discover it.”
”I should like to see Mr. Harvey very much.”
”Then come back and have lunch with us on the _Skylark_. There's plenty of room, and you'll be as welcome as the President of the United States.”
”Oh, it would be just delightful,” Madeline said, eagerly, ”there's nothing I should enjoy so much.”
Madeline was almost bewildered at the size and magnificence of the _Skylark_. Mr. Harvey, having struck a copper lode a few years previously, found himself with more money than he knew profitably how to spend, and with more time on his hands than he knew wisely how to use.
He built for himself a marble mansion in New York, and purchased one of the largest steam yachts that ever ploughed the seas, and was now doing his best to earn a night's repose by sight-seeing.
Peter J. Harvey welcomed Madeline on board the _Skylark_ with many expressions of delight. He was a typical American, tall, square-shouldered, and not over-burdened with flesh. He had straight hair, which he wore rather long, a clean-shaven face, a wide mouth, a strong, square chin, and a most refres.h.i.+ng American accent.
He was not exactly a vain man. At any rate, he did his best to keep his vanity under proper control, and if he boasted occasionally he believed he had something to boast of. He was still in the prime of life, being the right side of fifty by two or three years. Kitty was the eldest of six--three boys and three girls, the youngest, Bryant, having celebrated his seventh birthday two days before. Besides the family, there were numerous cousins and uncles and aunts, with others whose relations.h.i.+p to the Harveys was difficult to trace.
The lunch was set out in the grand saloon, and was served in the best style. The stewards wore bottle-green coats trimmed with gold braid.
<script>