The Man from Brodney's Part 18

Bobby Browne was holding forth, with his usual exuberance, on the magnificence of the British navy. The Marquess of B----, uncle to the Princess, swelled with pride as he sat at the table and tasted his julep through the ever-obliging straw. The Princess, fanning herself wearily, leaned back and looked up into the mystic night, the touch of dreamland caressing her softly. The others--eight or ten men and half as many women--listened to the American in twice as many moods.

"There she is now, sleeping out there in the harbour, a great, big thing with the kindest of hearts inside of those steel ribs. Her Majesty's s.h.i.+p, the _King's Own!_ Think of it! She convoys a private yacht; she stops off at this beastly island to catch her breath and to see that all are safe; then she charges off into the horizon like a bird that has no home. Ah, I tell you, it's wonderful. Samrat, fill the Count's gla.s.s again. May I offer you a cigarette, Princess? By the way, I wonder how Chase came off with his side show?"

"Saunders tells me that he was near to being butchered, but luck was with him," said Deppingham. "His s.h.i.+p came home."

"It was a daring trick. I'm glad he pulled it off. He's a man, that fellow is," said Browne. "See, Princess, away up there in the mountain is his home. There's a light--see it? He keeps rather late hours, you see."

"Tell me about him," said the Princess suddenly. She arose and walked to the vine-covered wall, followed by Bobby Browne.

"I don't know much to tell you," said he. "He's made an enemy or two and they are trying to drive him out. I'd be rather sorry to see him go.

We've asked him down here, just because we can't bear to think of a fellow-creature wasting his days in utter loneliness. But he has, so far, declined with thanks. The islanders are beginning to hate him. They distrust him, Britt says. Of course, you know why we are here, you--"

"Every one knows, Mr. Browne. You are the most interesting quartette in the world just now. Every one is wondering how it is going to end. What a pity you _can't_ marry Lady Agnes."

"Oh, I say!" protested Browne. She laughed merrily.

"But how dull it must be for Mr. Chase! Does he complain?"

"I can't say that he does. Britt--that's my lawyer--Britt says he's never heard a murmur from him. He takes his medicine with a smile. I like that sort of a fellow and I wish he'd be a little more friendly. It couldn't interfere with his duties and I don't see where the harm would come in for any of us."

"He has learned to know and keep his place," said she coolly. Perhaps she was thinking of his last night in the palace garden. Away up there in the darkness gleamed his single, lonely, pathetic little light.

"Isn't it rather odd, Mr. Browne, that his light should be burning at two o'clock in the morning? Is it his custom to sit up--"

"I've never noticed it before, now you speak of it. I hope nothing serious has happened to him. He may have been injured in--I say, if you don't mind, I'll ask some one to telephone up to his place. It would be beastly to let him lie up there alone if we can be of any service to--"

"Yes, do telephone," she broke in. "I am sure Lady Deppingham will approve. No, thank you; I will stand here a while. It is cool and I love the stars." He hurried off to the telephone, more eager than ever, now that she had started the new thought in his brain. Five minutes later he returned to her, accompanied by Lady Agnes. She was still looking at--the stars? The little light among the trees could easily have been mistaken for a star.

"Lady Deppingham called him up," said Bobby.

"And he answered in person," said her ladys.h.i.+p. "He seemed strangely agitated for a moment or two, Genevra, and then he laughed--yes, laughed in my face, although it was such a long way off. People can do what they like over the telephone, my dear. I asked him if he was ill, or had been hurt. He said he never felt better in his life and hadn't a scratch. He laughed--I suppose to show me that he was all right. Then he said he was much obliged to me for calling him up. He'd quite forgotten to go to bed. He asked me to thank you for bringing a wars.h.i.+p. You saved his life. Really, one would think you were quite a heroine--or a G.o.dsend or something like that. I never heard anything sweeter than the way he said good-night to me. There!"

The light in the bungalow bobbed mysteriously for an instant and then went out.

"How far is it from here?" asked the Princess abruptly.

"Nearly two miles as the crow flies--only there are no crows here. Five miles by the road, I fancy, isn't it, Bobby? I call him Bobby, you know, when we are all on good terms. I don't see why I shouldn't if you stop to think how near to being married to each other we are at this very instant."

"I wonder if help could reach him quickly in the event of an attack?"

"It could, if he'd have the kindness to notify us by 'phone," said Browne.

"But he wouldn't telephone to us," said Lady Deppingham ruefully. "He's not so communicative as that."

"Surely he would call upon you for help if he----"

"You don't know him, Genevra."

The Princess smiled in a vague sort of way. "I've met him quite informally, if you remember."

"I should say it was informally. It's the most delicious story I've ever heard. You must tell it to Mr. Browne, dear. It's all about the Enemy in Thorberg, Mr. Browne. There's your wife calling, Bobby. She wants you to tell that story again, about the bishop who rang the door bell."

The next morning the captain of the _King's Own_ came ash.o.r.e and was taken to the chateau for dejeuner. Late in the afternoon, the Marquess and his party, saying farewell to the Princess and the revived legatees, put out to the yacht and steamed away in the wake of the great wars.h.i.+p.

The yacht was to return in a month, to pick up the Princess.

Genevra, her maids, her men and her boxes, her poodle and her dachshund, were left behind for the month of March. Not without misgiving, it must be said, for the Marquess, her uncle, was not disposed to look upon the island situation as a spot of long-continued peace, even though its hereditary companion, Prosperity, might reign steadily. But she refused to listen to their warnings. She smiled securely and said she had come to visit Lady Agnes and she would not now disappoint her for the world.

All this, and much more, pa.s.sed between them.

"You won't be able to get help as cleverly and as timely as that American chap got it last night," protested the Marquess. "Wars.h.i.+ps don't browse around like gulls, you know. Karl will never forgive me if I leave you here----"

"Karl is of a very forgiving nature, uncle, dear," said Genevra sweetly.

"He forgave you for defending Mr. Chase, because you are such a nice Englishman. I've induced him to forgive Mr. Chase because he's such a nice American-?although Mr. Chase doesn't seem to know it-?and I'm quite sure Karl would shake his hand if he should come upon him anywhere.

Leave Karl to me, uncle."

"And leave you to the cannibals, or whatever they are. I can't think of it! It's out of the--"

"Take him away, Aunt Gretchen. 'And come again some other day,'" she sang blithely.

And so they sailed away without her, just as she had intended from the beginning. Lord Deppingham stood beside her on the pier as the sh.o.r.e party waved its adieus to the yacht.

"By Jove, Genevra, I hope no harm comes to you here in this beastly place," said he, a look of anxiety in his honest eyes. "There goes our salvation, if any rumpus should come up. We can't call 'em out of the sky as Chase did last night. Lucky beggar! That fellow Chase is ripping, by Jove. That's what he is. I wish he'd open up his heart a bit and ask us into that devilish American bar of his."

"He owes us something for the wars.h.i.+p we delivered to him last night,"

said Bobby. "He has made good with his wars.h.i.+p story, after all, thanks to the _King's Own_ and Britt."

"And the fairy Princess," added Lady Deppingham.

"I am doubly glad I came, if you include me in the miracle," said Genevra, shuddering a little as she looked at the lounging natives.

"Isn't it rather more of a miracle that I should come upon mine ancient champion in this unheard-of corner of the globe?"

"I'd like to hear the story of Chase and his Adventures in the Queen's Garden," reminded Bobby Browne.

"I'll tell it to you to-night, my children," said the Princess, as they started for the palanquins.

Hollingsworth Chase dodged into the American bar just in time to escape the charge of spying.

CHAPTER XV

MR. SAUNDERS HAS A PLAN

Miss Pelham's affair with Thomas Saunders by this time had reached the stage where observers feel a hesitancy about twitting the parties most concerned. Even Britt, the bravest jester of them all, succ.u.mbed to the prevailing wind when he saw how it blew. He got in the lee of popular opinion and reefed the sails of the good s.h.i.+p _Tantalus_.

"Let true love take its course," he remarked to Bobby Browne one day, after they had hearkened to Deppingham's furious complaint that he couldn't find Saunders when he wanted him if he happened to be wanted simultaneously by Miss Pelham. "Miss Pelham is a fine girl. Your wife likes her and looks after her. She's a clever girl, much cleverer than Saunders would be if he were a girl. She's found out that he earns a thousand a year and that his mother is a very old woman. That shows foresight. She says she's just crazy about London, although she doesn't know where Hammersmith is. That shows discretion. She's anxious to see the boats at Putney and talks like an encyclopaedia about Kew Gardens.

That shows diplomacy. You see, Saunders lives in Hammersmith, not far from the bridge, all alone with his mother, who owns the house and garden. It's all very appealing to Miss Pelham, who has got devilish tired of seeing the universe from a nineteenth story in Broadway. I heard her tell Saunders that she keeps a couple of geranium pots on the window sill near which she sits all day. She says she's keen about garden flowers. Looks serious to me."

"She's a very nice girl," agreed Bobby Browne.