Part 18 (2/2)
”Poor man! And the affair of yesterday was one of them? Forgive me if I am rude; but it is all so new and interesting!”
”It seemed only right,” explained the Prince, ”that I should compensate you in some way for the annoyance I had caused you.”
The words were said so candidly and simply that the ironical smile faded from Susie's lips and she was silent for a moment.
”I think the American way the nicer,” she said at last, decisively. ”An American would have considered an apology ample reparation. With us a gift means something--it has a sentimental value. Besides, girls are never permitted to accept gifts of value. Flowers are the only things which may be given them.”
”Flowers!” repeated the Prince, eagerly, looking at her.
”And only by their nearest, dearest friends,” added Susie, hastily.
”Well, it is a very different point of view,” said the Prince, the light fading from his face. ”I have even heard that in America there are workmen who consider a tip an insult.”
”It's unthinkable, isn't it? And yet, I'm proud to say, it's true. I may add that many Americans feel humiliated when they offer a tip to a man--it's like branding him with a badge of servility.”
”I must confess,” said the Prince, ”that such an att.i.tude seems to me absurd. What other badge than that of servility shall the servant wear?”
”He need wear no badge, if he does his work honestly and well,” retorted Susie, hotly. ”There is nothing disgraceful in service.”
”No,” agreed the Prince, with some hesitation, ”perhaps not; nor, for that matter, is there anything disgraceful in a badge. But I have not said what I wished to say, which was that I hope you believe my offence was wholly unintentional and that you pardon me.”
”I am not vindictive,” answered Sue, smiling at his earnest tone, ”and therefore you are pardoned. But it seems unjust that Jax should suffer imprisonment.”
”Oh, he will get his outing, but with Gluck, who is less absent-minded.
Yesterday, I had much to occupy me.”
”And to-day?”
”Not so much. I am resting on my oars.”
”Yes,” said Susie, and contented herself with the monosyllable. She was keenly on the alert; determined not to betray Lord Vernon's confidence, yet, at the same time, desirous of helping, in some way, her companion.
She distinctly approved of him. Then, too, she had somehow got the impression that the other side was not playing fairly, and her whole American spirit revolted against unfairness.
”I should like to tell you about it,” he began, with a sudden burst of confidence. ”But perhaps you know?”
”I know some of it. I can guess that it means a great deal to you.”
”It does--more than you can guess; I think. Not so much to me, personally, as to our people. I believe that I am speaking only the exact truth when I say that it will be much better for the people of Schloshold-Markheim if our branch of the house is recognised and not the other. Our branch has been, in a way, for many years, progressive; the other is and always has been--well--conservative.”
He had the air of searching for a word that would not go beyond the truth; Susie, glancing at him, decided that he had chosen one which fell far short of it.
”We have a certain claim of kins.h.i.+p and friends.h.i.+p upon England,” he added, ”and we are very anxious to enlist her aid, even though we lose this time; for there may soon be another vacancy. The head of the other branch has no heir and is not well.”
He might have added that the August Prince George, of Schloshold, was hovering on the verge of dissolution as the result of forty years'
corruption--a corruption of which not all the waters of the Empire could cleanse him; but there are some things which are better left unsaid.
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