Nedra Part 11

"I think so, don't you? It is sure to be embarra.s.sing, any way you put it, isn't it?" she asked, laughing nervously.

"Oh, I don't know," he replied airily. "People of our nerve should not be embarra.s.sed by anything on earth." He arose and a.s.sisted her to her feet. Then, slipping his arm through hers, he started for the companionway. "The prospect of being brother and sister for ten thousand miles is rather obnoxious to me," he went on. She looked at him in surprise and then blushed faintly. As they descended the steps, he put his arm around her shoulder. At the bottom he stopped and glanced around apprehensively, something like alarm appearing in his face. His arm slipped from her shoulder to her waist and contracted suddenly.

"What is the matter, Hugh?" she whispered, looking quickly about as if expecting a calamity.

"Is any one in sight?" he demanded anxiously.

"I don't see a soul," she answered.

"Then I'm going to give up the brother act for a moment or two. This is a good, sequestered spot, and I'm going to kiss you." And he did so more than once. "That's the first chance I've had to kiss you since we came aboard. What an outrage it is that brothers cannot be more attentive to their own sisters than to other men's sisters."

"It seems to be customary for brothers to neglect their sisters," she suggested demurely.

"A brother who neglects his sister ought to be horsewhipped," declared he.

"Amen to that. They use the cat-o'-nine-tails on board s.h.i.+p, you must remember," she said, smiling.

Shortly afterward he dropped in to see Veath and was welcomed gladly. He was lying in his berth, and Hugh sent for a bottle of his champagne. Two gla.s.ses of the wine put new life into him and something of a sparkle flew to his dull eyes, as if cast there by the bubbling liquor. His tongue loosened a little, Hugh finding him to be a bright, sensible fellow, somewhat ignorant of the ways of the world, but entirely capable of taking care of himself. Moreover, with the renewed vigor displaying itself, he was far better looking than his new acquaintance had thought.

His blue eyes, keen and clear, appealed to Hugh's love for straightforwardness; his wide mouth bespoke firmness, good nature, and the full ability to enjoy the humorous side of things. The lines about his clean-cut, beardless face were a trifle deep, and there was a network of those tiny wrinkles which belong to men of forty-five and not to those of twenty-eight.

Evidently his had not been a life of leisure. As he lounged easily upon the edge of the berth, Hugh could not but admire his long, straight figure, the broad shoulders and the pale face with its tense earnestness.

"Manila, you know, is an important post these days," said Veath.

"There's a lot of work to be done there in the next few years. I'm from Indiana. Every able-bodied man in our district who voted right and hasn't anything else to do wants a government job. Of course, most of them want to be consul-generals, postmasters, or heads of bureaus, but there are some of us who will take the best thing that is offered.

That's why I am going to Manila. Politics, you know, and my uncle's influence with the administration." Ridgeway observed that wine made loquacious a man who was naturally conservative. "Where are you going?"

he continued.

"We are going to Manila."

"What!" gasped Veath. "You don't mean it!"

"Certainly. Why not?" and Hugh smiled delightedly over the sensation he had created.

"Why--why, it seems improbable," stammered Veath. "I had looked upon Manila as the most wretched hole in the world, and yet I find you going there, evidently from choice."

"Well, you'll have to change your opinion now," said Hugh.

"I do--forthwith. It cannot be such a bad place or you wouldn't be taking your sister there. May I ask what is your object in going to Manila?"

Hugh turned red in the face and stooped over to flick an imaginary particle of dust from his trousers' leg. There was but one object in their going and he had not dreamed of being asked what it was. He could not be employed forever in brus.h.i.+ng away that speck, and yet he could not, to save his life, construct an answer to Veath's question. In the midst of his despair a sudden resolution came, and he looked up, his lips twitching with suppressed laughter.

"We are going as missionaries."

He almost laughed aloud at the expression on Veath's face. It revealed the utmost dismay. There was a moment's silence, and then the man in the berth said slowly:

"Is Miss Ridge a--a missionary also?"

"The very worst kind," replied Hugh cheerily.

"Going out among the natives, I suppose?"

"What natives?"

"Why,--the Igorrotes, or whatever they are, of course."

"Oh, of course--to be sure," cried Hugh hastily. "I am so d--d absent-minded."

Veath stared in amazement.

"You must not think it strange that I swear," said Hugh, mopping his brow. "I am not the missionary, you know."

"Oh," was the other's simple exclamation. Another pause and then, "You don't mean to say that such a beautiful woman is going to waste her life among savages?"

"She's got her head set on it and we think the only way to break her of it is to give her a sample of the work. I am going with her ostensibly to protect, but really to make her life miserable."

"I rather admire her devotion to the church," said Veath, still a trifle dazed.

"She's a great crank on religion," admitted Hugh. Then he could feel himself turn pale. He was pa.s.sing Grace off as a missionary, and thereby placing her under restrictions that never before had entered into her gay life. Veath would treat her as if she were of fragile gla.s.s and it would not be long until the whole boat would be staring at the beautiful girl who was going to the heathen. Remorse struck him and he tried to flounder out of the position.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GRACE VERNON]

"I should not have said that about her views. You would never take her to be an ardent church-member, and she is particularly averse to being called a missionary. The truth about the matter is that very few people home know about this move of hers and there is no one on s.h.i.+p who even suspects. She would not have had me tell it for the world."

"My dear Mr. Ridge, don't let that trouble you. She shall never know that you have told me and I shall never repeat it. Please rest a.s.sured; her wishes in the matter are most certainly to be considered sacred,"

cried Veath warmly.

"Thanks, old man," said Hugh, very much relieved. "Your hand on that. I am not sorry I told you, for I'm sure you will be careful. She objects to the--the--well, the notoriety of the thing, you know. Hates to be glared at, questioned, and all that sort of thing."

"She is very sensible in that respect. I have but little use for the people who parade their G.o.dliness."

"That's just the way she looks at it. She would be uncomfortable all the way over if she thought that a single person knew of her intentions.

Funny girl that way."

"If I were you, I don't believe I'd tell any one else," said Veath hesitatingly.

"That's all right, Veath. Depend upon me, I'll not breathe it to another soul. It shall not go a bit farther. Grace wants to go about the good work as quietly as possible. Still, I am bound to make her forget the heathen and return to America another woman altogether." Mr. Veath, of course, did not understand the strange smile that flitted over his companion's face as he uttered the last remark. "I'm glad I met you, Veath; we'll get along famously, I'm sure. There's no reason why we shouldn't make the voyage a jolly one. I think we'd better get ready for luncheon," said Hugh, looking at his watch.

Hugh took his departure, and fifteen minutes later was seated at one of the tables in the dining-room with Grace beside him. He had told her of the missionary story and was trying to smile before her display of genuine annoyance.

"But I don't want him to treat me as if I were a missionary," she pouted. "What fun can a missionary have?"

"Oho, you want to have fun with him, eh? That's the way the wind blows, is it? I'll just tell Mr. Veath that you pray night and day, and that you don't like to be disturbed. What do you suppose he'd be if he interrupted a woman's prayers?" demanded he, glaring at her half jealously.

"He'd be a heathen and I should have to enlighten him," she answered sweetly.

Just then Mr. Veath entered the saloon and took a seat beside her. She looked surprised, as did Mr. Ridgeway. They looked to the far end of the table and saw that Veath's original chair was occupied by another man.

"I traded seats with that fellow," murmured Veath, a trifle red about the ears. Miss Vernon's face a.s.sumed a stony expression for an instant, but the gleam of pure frankness in his eyes dispelled her momentary disapproval. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked hastily.