Part 21 (1/2)

”To play on. What did you think--think it was a can-opener?”

Blix choked with merriment over his foolery, and Condy added proudly:

”Look there! I made those sandwiches!”

They looked as though he had--great, fat chunks of bread, the crust still on; the ”devilish” ham in thick strata between; and, positively, he had b.u.t.tERED the bread. But it was all one with them; they ate as though at a banquet, and Blix even took off her hat and hung it upon one of the nearby bushes. Of course Condy had forgotten a corkscrew.

He tried to dig out the cork of the claret bottle with his knife, until he had broken both blades and was about to give up in despair, when Blix, at the end of her patience, took the bottle from him and pushed in the cork with her finger.

”Wine, music, literature, and feasting,” observed Condy. ”We're getting regularly luxurious, just like Sardine-apalus.”

But Condy himself had suddenly entered into an atmosphere of happiness, the like of which he had never known or dreamed of before. He loved Blix--he had just discovered it. He loved her because she was so genuine, so radiantly fresh and strong; loved her because she liked the things that he liked, because they two looked at the world from precisely the same point of view, hating shams and affectations, happy in the things that were simple and honest and natural. He loved her because she liked his books, appreciating the things therein that he appreciated, liking what he liked, disapproving of what he condemned.

He loved her because she was nineteen, and because she was so young and unspoiled and was happy just because the ocean was blue and the morning fine. He loved her because she was so pretty, because of the softness of her yellow hair, because of her round, white forehead and pink cheeks, because of her little, dark-brown eyes, with that look in them as if she were just done smiling or just about to smile, one could not say which; loved her because of her good, firm mouth and chin, because of her full neck and its high, tight bands of white satin. And he loved her because her arms were strong and round, and because she wore the great dog-collar around her trim, firm-corseted waist, and because there emanated from her with every movement a barely perceptible, delicious, feminine odor, that was in part perfume, but mostly a subtle, vague aroma, charming beyond words, that came from her mouth, her hair, her neck, her arms, her whole sweet personality. And he loved her because she was herself, because she was Blix, because of that strange, sweet influence that was disengaged from her in those quiet moments when she seemed so close to him, when some unnamed, mysterious sixth sense in him stirred and woke and told him of her goodness, of her clean purity and womanliness; and that certain, vague tenderness in him went out toward her, a tenderness not for her only, but for all the good things of the world; and he felt his n.o.bler side rousing up and the awakening of the desire to be his better self.

Covertly he looked at her, as she sat near him, her yellow hair rolling and blowing back from her forehead, her hands clasped over her knee, looking out over the ocean, thoughtful, her eyes wide.

She had told him she did not love him. Condy remembered that perfectly well. She was sincere in the matter; she did not love him. That subject had been once and for all banished from their intercourse. And it was because of that very reason that their companions.h.i.+p of the last three or four months had been so charming. She looked upon him merely as a chum. She had not changed in the least from that time until now, whereas he--why, all his world was new for him that morning! Why, he loved her so, she had become so dear to him, that the very thought of her made his heart swell and leap.

But he must keep all this to himself. If he spoke to her, told her of how he loved her, it would spoil and end their companions.h.i.+p upon the instant. They had both agreed upon that; they had tried the other, and it had worked out. As lovers they had wearied of each other; as chums they had been perfectly congenial, thoroughly and completely happy.

Condy set his teeth. It was a hard situation. He must choose between bringing an end to this charming comrades.h.i.+p of theirs, or else fight back all show of love for her, keep it down and under hand, and that at a time when every nerve of him quivered like a smitten harp-string. It was not in him or in his temperament to love her calmly, quietly, or at a distance; he wanted the touch of her hand, the touch of her cool, smooth cheek, the delicious aroma of her breath in his nostrils her lips against his, her hair and all its fragrance in his face.

”Condy, what's the matter?” Blix was looking at him with an expression of no little concern. ”What are you frowning so about, and clinching your fists? And you're pale, too. What's gone wrong?”

He shot a glance at her, and bestirred himself sharply.

”Isn't this a jolly little corner?” he said. ”Blix, how long is it before you go?”

”Six weeks from to-morrow.”

”And you're going to be gone four years--four years! Maybe you never will come back. Can't tell what will happen in four years. Where's the blooming mouth-organ?”

But the mouth-organ was full of crumbs. Condy could not play on it.

To all his efforts it responded only by gasps, mournfulest death-rattles, and lamentable wails. Condy hurled it into the sea.

”Well, where's the blooming book, then?” he demanded. ”You're sitting on it, Blix. Here, read something in it. Open it anywhere.”

”No; you read to me.”

”I will not. Haven't I done enough? Didn't I buy the book and get the lunch, and make the sandwiches, and pay the car-fare? I think this expedition will cost me pretty near three dollars before we're through with the day. No; the least you can do is to read to me. Here, we'll match for it.”

Condy drew a dime from his pocket, and Blix a quarter from her purse.

”You're matching me,” she said.

Condy tossed the coin and lost, and Blix said, as he picked up the book:

”For a man that has such unvarying bad luck as you, gambling is just simple madness. You and I have never played a game of poker yet that I've not won every cent of money you had.”

”Yes; and what are you doing with it all?”