Part 30 (1/2)

In this instance, however, he was handicapped to exasperation by that confounded ankle!

Besides, he couldn't in decency pursue the woman; she was ent.i.tled to a certain amount of privacy, of freedom from his attentions.

Furthermore, he had no right as yet to offer her attentions. It seemed necessary frequently to remind himself of that fact, in spite of the vile humour such reminders as a rule aroused.

He pa.s.sed into one such now, scowling darkly in the face of an exquisite, flawless day.

One thing was settled, he a.s.sured himself: as soon as he was able to get about with comfort, he would lose no time in hunting up his wife's attorneys and finding out why they were slow about prosecuting her case.

Failing satisfaction in that quarter--well, he would find some way to make things move. It wasn't fair to him to keep him bound to the vows of a farcical union. He was not prepared to submit to such injustice. He would, if needs must, hire detectives to find him his wife, that he might see and in person urge upon her his equal right to release from an unnatural bondage!

He had lashed himself into a very respectable transport of resentful rage before he realized what way his thoughts were leading him; but he calmed down as quickly when, chancing to lift his eyes from their absorbed study of the planks composing the veranda floor, he discovered a motor-boat drawing in toward the landing-stage.

At once a smile of childlike serenity displaced the scowl. Instinctively he gathered himself together to rise, but on reconsideration retained his seat, gallantry yielding to an intuitive sense of dramatic values; a chair-bound invalid is a much more sympathetic object than a man demonstrating a surprisingly quick recovery from an incapacitating accident.

Nevertheless, there seemed no objection to his returning a cheerful flourish to the salute of a slender arm, brown and bare to the point where a turned-back s.h.i.+rtwaist sleeve met a rounded elbow.

At precisely the proper distance from the dock, the motor ceased its purring; the boat swept on, white water crisping beneath its stem, ripples widening fanlike from its flanks and sketching sweeping plumes of purple on the calm ultra-marine surface--its speed at first not perceptibly moderated. Gradually, then, it yielded to the pa.s.sive resistance of the waters, moving slower and more slow until at length it nosed the landing-stage with a touch well-nigh as gentle as a caress.

Poised lightly over the bows, the woman waited, her figure all in white sharp-cut against the blue of sky and water, with an effect as vital as it was graceful. Then at the right instant leaping to the dock with the headwarp, she made the little vessel fast with two deft half-hitches round the out-most pile, and turning came swinging to dry land and up the gentle slope to the veranda, ease and strength and joy of living inherent in every flowing movement, matching well the bright comeliness of her countenance and the s.h.i.+ning splendour of her friendly eyes.

No imaginable consideration, however selfish, could have kept Whitaker any longer in his chair.

”The most amiable person I know!” he cried, elated. ”Greetings!”

She paused by the steps, looking up, a fascinating vision.

”No--please! I've only stopped for an instant. Do sit down.”

”Shan't--until you do.”

”But I really can't stop.”

She ascended the steps and dropped coolly into a chair, laughing at her own lack of consistency. Whitaker resumed his seat.

”You're really able to stand without a.s.sistance?”

”I'm ashamed to admit it. Between you and me--a dead secret--there's nothing really the matter with me any more. Sum Fat's a famous physician. I could run a race--only it's pleasanter to pretend I mustn't.”

”Very well. Then I shan't waste any more sympathy on you.”

”As a matter of fact, I can move only at the cost of excruciating agony.”

She considered him with a sober face and smiling eyes. ”I don't believe you. You're a fraud. Besides, I didn't come to see you at all; I came to find out why Mr. Ember dares so to neglect me. Did you deliver my invitation?”

”I did, unwillingly. He was desolated, but he couldn't accept--had to run back to town immediately after dinner.”

”He's as great a fraud as you. But since he isn't here, I shall go.”

She got up with a very evident intention of being as good as her word.