Part 20 (1/2)
There was no answer The woman drew back She would have closed the door, but a sli across the threshold She shrieked in terror The new-cos who her rare visits to the town She was hoping to greet her Manoel, she half expected to find Marcel, but to be faced by an officer was the last thing she had thought of In abject fear, she broke into a wild appeal to the Virgin; the officer h not loudly
”Be not afraid, senhora--I am a friend,” he said with quiet confidence, and the fact that he addressed her so courteously was a wondrously soothing thing in itself But he raised a fresh wave of dread in her soul when he peered into the cabin and spoke words she did not understand
”I think you are here, mademoiselle,” he said in French ”I am come to share your retreat for a little while Perchance by daybreak I may arrive at some plan At present, you and I are in difficulties, is it not?”
Iris recognized the voluble, jerky speech A wild foreboding gripped her heart until she was like to shudder under its fierce anguish
”You, Captain San Benavides?” she asked, and her utterance was unnaturally calm
”I, mademoiselle,” he said, ”and, alas! I aht at this hour, seeing that the island is overrun with infuriated soldiers”
The concluding sentence was addressed to Luisa Go instinctively that the e of tears He entered, and the door was closed behind hileailded the steel scabbard of his sword In that dins of his three days' sojourn on Grand-pere were not in evidence, and he had not been harle on the main road or in the rush for the launch
He doffed his rakish-looking kepi and bowed low before Iris Perhaps the white misery in her face touched him more deeply than he had counted on Be that as it enuine sympathy vibrated in his voice as he said:
”I am the only man who escaped, mademoiselle The others? Well, it is war, and war is a lottery”
”Do you mean that they have been killed, all killed?” she murmured with a pitiful sob
”I--I think so”
”Youthink? Do you not know?”
He sighed His hand sought an earette case Such was the correct military air, he fancied--to treat misfortunes rather as jests
He frowned because the case was empty, but smiled at Iris
”It is so hard, ue Permit me to explain that which has arrived We encountered a picket, and surprised it Having secured some weapons and accouterments, we hastened to the quay, where was moored the little steamshi+p Unhappily, she was croith soldiers They fired, and there was a short fight I was knocked down, and, what do you call it?--_etourdi_--while one ht count ten I rose, half blinded, and what do I see? The vessel leaving the quay--full of ed in co her arrival It was a Brazilian warshi+p, mademoiselle She shoo red rockets followed by a white one It was only a matter of minutes before she met the little steamshi+p I tell you that it was bad luck, that--a vile bloas angry, yes I stas Then I run!”
Iris made no reply She hid her face in her hands She could fra to tell her that Hozier and the rest had been overwhelmed by fate at the very instant escape seemed to be within reach The Brazilian, probably because of difficulties that beset hie, did nothiiven by soic incident wherein Marcel, shot through the lungs, fell over hi the convict for an assailant, wrestled furiously with a dying ed hoained the deck of the launch, and that his failure to reach the vessel was due to his own careful self-respect For San Benavides was not a coward He could be brave spectacularly, but he had no stoht in the dark, when stark hazard chooses soe entlee and proved -do Saperlotte! If one had a cigarette one could talk more fluently!
”Believewith a proud humility that was creditable to his powers as an actor, ”the tears came to my eyes when I understood what had happened For iven ht of you, solitary, waiting here in distress, so I hurried into the village, and my uniform secured me from interruption until I was able to leave the road and cross the hills”
Then the lightning of a woman's intuition pierced the abyss of despair
Surely there were curious blanks in this thrilling narrative As was her hen thoroughly aroused, Iris stood up and seized San Benavides alht eyes searched his face with a pathetic earnestness
”Why do you think that the launch did not get away?” she cried ”It was dark The ht have been in shadow If the launch ----”
”Chere ,” he protested
”At sea?”