Part 9 (1/2)

Austin laughed. ”No,” he said. ”I made none for Jefferson. I think I rubbed a few not particularly pleasant impressions into the other man. I felt I had to. It was, of course, a piece of abominable presumption.”

Macallister leaned against the bulkhead and regarded him with a sardonic grin.

”I would have liked to have heard ye,” he said.

CHAPTER VII

AT THE BULL FIGHT

Austin was writing in the saloon, which was a little cooler than his room, at about eight o'clock that night, while Jacinta and Mrs. Hatherly made ineffectual attempts to read in the ladies' cabin, for the _Estremedura_ was on her way south again, with the trade-wind combers tumbling after her. She rolled with a long, rhythmic swing, and now and then shook and trembled with the jar of her lifted propeller. Muriel Gascoyne was accordingly alone with her father on the deck above. She sat in a canvas chair, while Gascoyne leaned upon the rails in front of her. There was a full moon overhead, and a fantastic panorama of fire-blackened hills, wastes of ash and lava, whirling clouds of sand, black rocks lapped by spouting surf, and bays of deepest indigo, unrolled itself upon one hand. It is, however, probable that neither of the pair saw much of it, for their thoughts were not concerned with the volcanic desolation.

”It is a pity I did not come a few weeks earlier,” said Gascoyne with a sigh.

Muriel's eyes were a trifle hazy, but her voice was even. ”If you had come then, and insisted upon it, I might have given him up,” she said.

”That means it is irrevocable now? I want you to make quite sure, my dear. This man does not belong to our world. Even his thoughts must be different from ours. You cannot know anything of his past life--I scarcely think he could explain it to you. He would regard nothing from the same standpoint as we do.”

”Still, it cannot have been a bad one. I can't tell you why I am sure of that, but I know.”

Gascoyne made a little, hopeless gesture. ”Muriel,” he said, a trifle hoa.r.s.ely, ”it is a terrible risk--and if you marry him you must inevitably drift away from me. You are all I have, and I am getting old and lonely, but that is not of the greatest moment. It would be horrible to think of you drifting away from all you have been taught to believe in and hold sacred.”

It was a strong appeal, perhaps the strongest he could have made, for the girl had been without breadth of view when she left home, and the boundaries of her outlook had coincided with those of the little rural parish. Still, in some strange fas.h.i.+on she had gained enlightenment, and she was resolute, though her blue eyes slowly brimmed with moisture. It was true that he would be very lonely.

”Ah,” she said, and it was a significant sign that she questioned the comprehension of the man whom she had regarded as almost infallible a few weeks earlier, ”how can I make you understand? There are, perhaps, many worlds, and we know there are many kinds of men. They must think differently, but does that matter so very much, after all? There is the same humanity in all of us.”

”Undoubtedly! In Turks, idolaters, and unbelievers. Humanity in itself is fallen and evil.”

Muriel smiled. ”Father,” she said, ”you don't believe that there is no good in all those who have not been taught to believe as we do.”

Gascoyne did not answer her, though it is possible that there were circ.u.mstances under which he would have returned a very slightly qualified affirmative.

”There is a perilous optimism abroad,” he said.

”Still,” said Muriel, unconscious of the irony of her deprecatory answer, ”Mr. Jefferson is neither a Turk nor an idolater. He is only an American sailor.”

Gascoyne sighed dejectedly, for there was, it seemed, nothing left for him to appeal to. The girl's beliefs had gone. The simple, iron-fast rules of life she had once acknowledged were now apparently discredited; but even in his concern he was vaguely sensible that an indefinite something which he did not recognise as the charity that love teaches was growing up in place of them. Still, he felt its presence as he watched her, and knew that it could not be altogether born of evil.

”My dear,” he said, ”how shall I implore you to consider?”

Muriel smiled out of hazy eyes. ”It is too late. He has my promise, and I belong to him. Nothing that you could say would change that now. He has gone out--to Africa--believing in me, and I know that he may never come back again.”

Gascoyne appeared a trifle startled, and remembered a curious remark that Austin had made to the effect that there was a heavy responsibility upon his daughter. He could not altogether understand why this should be, but he almost fancied that she recognised it now. There was also a finality and decision in the girl's tone which was new to him.

”I think you know how hard it was for me to get away, but it seemed necessary. I came out to implore you to give this stranger up,” he said.

The girl rose, and stood looking at him gravely, with one hand on the chair arm to steady herself as the steamer rolled, and the moonlight upon her face. It was almost reposeful in its resolution.

”Father,” she said, ”you must try to understand. Perhaps I did wrong when I gave him my promise without consulting you, but it is given, and irrevocable. He has gone out to Africa--and may die there--believing in me. I don't think I could make you realise how he believes in me, but, though, of course, he is wrong, I grow frightened now and then, and almost hope he may never see me as I really am. That is why I--daren't--fail him. If there was no other reason I must keep faith with him.”

”Then,” said Gascoyne, very slowly, ”I must, at least, try to resign myself--and perhaps, my apprehensions may turn out to be not quite warranted, after all. I was horribly afraid a little while ago, but this man seems to have the faculty of inspiring confidence in those who know him. They cannot all be mistaken, and the man who is purser on this steamer seems to believe in him firmly. His views are peculiar, but there was sense in what he said, and he made me think a little less hardly of Mr. Jefferson.”