Part 20 (2/2)
The words caloo the truth fro lips
”Yes Of course, I could not wait there in that open place I was co from town and citadel
I avoided them by a miracle And my sole concern then was your safety”
”Oh, my safety!” she wailed brokenly ”How does it avail me that my friends should be slain? Why was I not with them? I would rather have died as they died than live in the knowledge that I was the cause of their death”
San Benavides essayed a confidential hand on her shoulder She shrank from him; he was not pleased but he purred amiably:
”Mademoiselle is profoundly unhappy Under such circus that are unmerited, is it not? If anyone is to blame, it is my wretched country, which cannot settle its political affairs without bloodshed Ah, mademoiselle, I ith you, and tender you e of tropical rain beat on the hut with a sudden fury
Conversation at once became difficult, nearly impossible Iris threw herself back on the trestle in a passion of grief that rivaled the outer tempest San Benavides, by sheer force of habit, dusted his clothes before sitting on the chair brought by Luisa Goaze had dwelt on Iris and him alternately while they spoke She understood no word that was said, but she gathered that the news brought by this handso the heartstrings
”Was there fighting, senhor?” she asked, close to his ear, her voice pitched in a key that conquered the storm
He nodded He was very tired, this dandy; now that Iris gave no further heed to hi day
”Were they soldiers who fought?”
He nodded again
”No islanders?”
Then he raised a hand in protest, though he laughed softly
”Your good o to Sueste and tend his cattle When he comes home it will be his duty to inform the Governor that we are here He will be rewarded, not punished _Sangue de Deus_! I may be shot at dawn I pray you, letout of syently stroked her hair Like her lish lady's friends were captured, perhaps dead Even her liht her what short shrift was given to those who defied authority The Republic of Brazil does not permit its criminals to be executed, but it shows no lishain power She remembered how a mutiny was once crushed on the island, and her eyes streaood-looking soldier's plight Never, since she came to Fernando Noronha to rejoin her convict husband, had she been addressed so politely by any member of the military caste The manners of the officers of the detachment at Fort San Antonio were not to be compared with those of Captain San Benavides Her heart went out to him
”We must try to help you, Senhor Capitano,” she said ”If the others are dead or taken, you may not be esture Life or death was a matter of complete indifference to hi,” he said ”Have you any cigarettes? A arette!”
”But listen, senhor Why not take off your uniform and dress in my clothes? You can cut off your mustaches, and wear a mantilha over your face, and ill keep you here until there is a chance of reaching a shi+p Certainly that is better than being shot”
He glanced at Iris Vanity being his first consideration, it is probable that he would have refused to be alvanized hilared wildly around for so the threatened scrutiny of a search party Luisa Goh skirt and a shawl He huddled into a corner near the bed,--in such wise that the figures of Iris and Manoela would cloak the rays of the lamp,--placed his draord across his knees, and draped the two garitated, but not daring to refuse admittance to the dreaded soldiery, the woered in He was alone, and a swirl of wind and rain caused the lauish his features until the door was closed again
But Iris knew hih the new-coun in his hands, and his face was blood-stained, she knew
With a shriek that disuess that joy is more boisterous than sorrow, she leaped up and threw her arms around him
”Oh, Philip, Philip!” she sobbed ”He told me you were deadand I believed hihtful to one who had faced death for her sakethe past hour, yet Hozier was so surprised by its warmth that he could find never a word at the ood sense to throw aside the shattered rifle and return her eo exhausted in body, his e that this racious woman did truly love hiht, he took with hiht his were real, or that they tould ever ainst his breast He could feel the beating of her heart The perfuing to hih all eternity No wonder he could not speak Had he uttered a syllable, he irl herself
San Benavides supplied a timely tonic