Part 46 (1/2)

And suddenly Toby raised her head and spoke. ”I will do--whatever you wish,” she said.

There was a slight break in her voice, but it held no indecision. Her eyes looked straight into his in the starlight. He saw them s.h.i.+ning and knew that they were big with tears. But she did not flinch from his look or start as his lips came to hers. She slipped her other arm about his neck and clasped him close.

”You'll be good to me, Bunny?” she said in a whisper.

And he answered her deeply, his lips against her own. ”I will be good to you, my darling, so help me, G.o.d!”

CHAPTER VIII

THE MAGICIAN'S WAND

”I can't think where I have seen that girl before,” said Sheila thoughtfully, drumming her fingers on the white rail, her soft eyes fixed upon the jewelled bay. ”She has an arresting face.”

”You have never seen her,” said Saltash carelessly, flicking cigarette-ash overboard. ”She has the sort of face that the old Italians wors.h.i.+pped and some of the moderns too. You have seen it in their pictures.”

Sheila's brows were drawn. ”I have seen her--somehow--dressed as a boy,”

she said. ”Could it have been a picture?”

”Yes. One of Spentoli's. I've got a print somewhere. It's called, 'The Victim'--a lad with a face like Larpent's daughter, fighting a leopard.”

Saltash spoke with easy conviction, his restless eyes flas.h.i.+ng to and fro, often glancing but never resting upon the girl beside him. ”That's what you're thinking of. It's an unsatisfactory sort of picture. One wonders which is 'The Victim.' But that is Spentoli all over. He always leaves one wondering.”

”I know the thing you mean.” Sheila nodded meditatively. ”Yes, she is--rather like that. The boy was 'The Victim' of course.” She turned towards him suddenly with the words. ”You can't possibly doubt that. The brute's teeth are almost in his throat. I think it's a horrible picture myself.”

Saltash laughed. ”A deliverer arrives sometimes,” he remarked, ”even in the last, most awful moment of all. Have you never said to yourself how seldom the thing we really expect comes to pa.s.s?”

Sheila's lips parted with a touch of scorn. ”Perhaps it is safer not to expect,” she said.

”Perhaps,” agreed Saltash, with his quick grimace. ”I learnt that lesson a long time ago. There are so many slips--especially when the cup is full.” He added inconsequently, ”And even if it gets there, the wine is sour as often as not when you come to drink.”

”I can quite believe it,” said the girl, and looked out once more over the wreathing flowers to the rippling waters of the bay.

Her mouth took a firm line, and Saltash, glancing at her, began to laugh.

”Do you know, Miss Melrose, it's rather curious, but you remind me of Spentoli too in some ways? I don't know if you and Miss Larpent possess the same characteristics, but I imagine you might develop them, given the same conditions.”

Sheila stiffened at the words. ”I am sure you are quite wrong,” she said coldly. ”Captain Larpent's daughter is quite obviously a child of impulse. I--am not.”

”I think you would be impulsive enough to fight the leopard if he came your way,” contended Saltash with idle insistence. ”Or perhaps you would charm him. I imagine that might be more in your line.”

Again the girl's lip curled. She said nothing for a moment, then deliberately, for the first time in her life, she snubbed him. ”No, I should never try to charm--a beast, Lord Saltash.”

”You prefer them savage?” countered Saltash.

She made a careless gesture with one hand, without replying. She did not even look towards him. ”I think Miss Larpent might be quite clever in that respect,” she said. ”She is--a born charmer.”

”By Jove!” he said. ”What a cruel compliment!”