A New Sensation Part 8

"Already I contemplate those heavenly hours when you and I will sail out upon the seas of Elysium," was another sample sentence, a type of the others. I paused in the rapid walk that I took up and down my room to look in my mirror, and was almost frightened at what I saw there. My cheeks were suffused with unusual color, my eyes dilated, my hair dishevelled, where I had run my nervous hands through it. My collar was rumpled, my tie disarranged, and in a room where the mercury was not above seventy the beads of perspiration stood on my forehead.

Dame! I went to the bath-room that formed a part of my little suite, let the icy water run till it filled the bowl and bathed my hands and face in it. Slowly I dried them with the towel, and then applied bay rum in liberal quant.i.ty.

I realized disagreeably for the hundredth time how that awful neurasthenia had left its traces upon me, and that if I was ever to wholly recover I must regain control of my emotions. With this in view I again seated myself at my desk and indited the following:

Dear Miss May:--It is with much satisfaction that I have perused your letter. The amount necessary to purchase the articles you need shall be left entirely to you. I will furnish whatever sum you decide upon. I will be at your lodging promptly at two. If there is anything else that occurs to you, please consider yourself at full liberty to mention it then. In the meantime I am going to Cook's office to pay the balance on the two rooms, as the time for doing so will soon expire.

Your Friend,

D.C.

It was pretty sensible, I thought, as I read it over; a sort of medium between the cold tone of an ordinary employer and the unrestrained ardor of a happy boy. I was glad, however, to get out of doors and breathe the frosty air, for my temperature was still excessive. At Cook's I learned that several new names had been booked, and that there would soon be no more room, as things were going.

"I have given Mr. Wesson the upper berth in your room, subject to your approval," added the clerk. "He has a positive dread of bunking with an absolute stranger and he says you made him a conditional promise."

"That's all right," I said, pleased at the news. "I am sure we shall get along together finely. You may register the berth in the opposite room, that you have reserved for me, in the name of 'Miss M. May.' I have finally prevailed upon my cousin to go."

While he was entering the name, I wrote a check for the balance, upon receiving which the clerk handed me the tickets, from New York to St.

Thomas.

"Hadn't you better book for the entire cruise?" he asked. "I don't believe you will care to remain at St Thomas longer than the day the Madiana is to be there."

"Oh, yes, I shall," I answered. "I stayed on the island three weeks the last time, and found it delightful. Probably I shall join some of your later cruises, but I must go unhampered."

"Supposing when you are ready to take one of the other boats you find every cabin full?" he asked, in a good-natured way.

"That's a risk I must run. The Royal Mail comes every fortnight, and there are three or four steamers a week, of one kind or another, at St.

Lucia. There are ways enough to keep moving and I am unlimited as to time."

"Well, if I don't see you again," he said, with that affability that only one of Cook & Son's clerks can a.s.sume, "I wish you a very pleasant voyage."

"I am sure to have that," I replied.

I wondered if he would doubt it if he knew all!

Before leaving I purchased several books about the Caribbean, for the purpose of giving them to Miss May. There was "English in the West Indies," as entertaining as a romance, though in some respects hardly more reliable; Stark's "History and Guide to Barbados and Caribbee Islands," better than nothing, in the absence of a really desirable work on the subject; and half a dozen paper covered doc.u.ments, issued by the Quebec SS. Company, a perusal of which revealed so many discrepancies as to make one doubt whether the line actually ran any boats to that part of the world. With these under one arm I went over to the "Lambs" and partook of a brace of chops and some musty ale. Then, after smoking a cigar, I found the clock indicating that I might with safety begin my second pilgrimage to the Mecca of my ambition.

Crossing Broadway, great was my astonishment, and very small my satisfaction, to come suddenly upon Miss Statia Barton. She was looking undeniably pretty in her fur turban and cloth jacket, but she had no charms for me at that moment and I was sorry to lose the few seconds necessary to be courteous to her.

"Have you deserted us entirely?" she asked, with a constrained smile.

"Tom said this morning he hadn't seen you for nearly a week."

"My time is much occupied," I answered. "You know it is but a few days now before I sail."

Had I been less full of another subject I should certainly have noticed that the coldness of my manner hurt her, and I hope I am not brute enough to do that intentionally. But, I did not think of such a thing then, nor till a long, long time after.

"Have you arranged the--the other matter?" she asked, with short breath.

"Excuse me. We can gain nothing by talking on that subject," said I.

"Then your charmer has decided not to go with you?" she said, interrogatively, but with a hard little laugh. "I thought it would come to that."

I was foolish enough to take out Miss May's letter and hold it up.

"On the contrary, since you insist on knowing," I answered, "here is the final decision, and it is in favor of the plaintiff."

Her eyes opened as the conviction that I was telling the truth forced itself upon her. She was evidently not pleased.

"Mr. Camran," she said, in tones as clear and cutting as ice, "I asked you a moment ago why you had not been to my home. I now say you need never call there again, as far as I am concerned, and I shall endeavor to have my brother write you to the same effect."

"Don't put Tom to so much trouble," I replied, stung by her manner. "I have business too important and too pleasant to allow much time for mere duty calls."

Lifting my hat, an action that she did not see, as her eyes were bent on the sidewalk, I resumed my stroll. I should have been more annoyed at the occurrence if another subject had not so fully filled my head. The clocks struck two before I reached the number I sought, and I walked more rapidly.

"Miss May said you were to come to her room at once," said the colored servant, when she recognized my features. Needing no second invitation I mounted the stairs.

Her door stood slightly open and as I entered, without knocking, she rose from a low rocker and came toward me.

I could not have resisted had I been liable to execution for the offense; I met her in the middle of the apartment and held out both my hands.

In the most unaffected and delightful manner she extended her own and I clasped them.

"It is settled, then?" I cried. "You are going!"

"Take a seat," she said, releasing herself composedly. "There are still a few things that I must talk over with you."

The blood rushed back upon my heart, leaving my face pale. I was very glad to get the support of the arm-chair to which she motioned me.

"I have recently been ill, as I told you," I said in pleading tones, "and doubts, whatever their nature, are trying to me. Tell me only this--you are going?"

She breathed deeply for several seconds and then, with her head slightly on one side, looked at me.

"Do you really want me to?" she asked, gently.

CHAPTER VII.

GETTING READY FOR MY JOURNEY.

She could not know the pain she gave me by her evasions, that was the excuse I found for her. The dread that after all she intended to disappoint me pressed like a heavy weight upon my brain. She must have seen something in my face that alarmed her, for she asked if I would like a gla.s.s of water--or wine. When I replied in the negative she came at once to the preliminaries that were in her mind.

"I am going, of course," she said. "That is, if you think it worth while to grant all the demands I find necessary. I shall be glad when this disagreeable part of our bargain is ended, and I believe you will be equally, if not more so."

"What is it now?" I inquired, rather querulously. "What do you want?

Come to the point, I beg, without further delay."