第92章 Hortense's Cigarette Goes Out(4)

But Kitty,despite her gayety,had serious thoughts upon her mind.

Charley's attentions to me had met all that politeness required,and as we went aft again,his sister caused certain movements and rearrangements to happen with chairs and people.I didn't know this at once,but I knew it when I found myself somehow sitting with her and John,and saw Hortense with Charley.Hortense looked over at Kitty with a something that had in it both raised eyebrows and a shrug,though these visible signs did not occur;and,indeed,so far as anything visible went (except the look)you might have supposed that now Hortense had no thoughts for any man in the world save Charley.And John was plainly more at ease with Kitty!He began to make himself agreeable,so that once or twice she gave him a glance of surprise.There was nothing to mark him out from the others,except his paleness in the midst of their redness.Yachting clothes bring out wonderfully how much you are in the habit of eating and drinking;and an innocent stranger might have supposed that the Replacers were richly sunburned from exposure to the blazing waters of Cuba and the tropics.Kitty deemed it suitable to extol Kings Port to John."Quaint"was the word that did most of this work for her;she found everything that,even the negroes;and when she had come to the end of it,she supposed the inside must be just as "quaint"as the outside.

"It is,"said John Mayrant.He was enjoying Kitty.Then he became impertinent."You ought to see it.""Do you stay inside much?"said Kitty.

"We all do,"said John."Some of us never come out.""But you came out?"Kitty suggested.

"Oh,I've been out,"John returned.He was getting older.I doubt if the past few years of his life had matured him as much as had the past few days.Then he looked at Kitty in the eyes."And I'd always come out--if Romance rang the bell.""Hm!"said Kitty."Then you know that ring?"

"We begin to hear it early in Kings Port,"remarked John."About the age of fourteen."Kitty looked at him with an interest that now plainly revealed curiosity also.It occurred to me that he could not have found any great embarrassment in getting on at Newport."What if I rang the bell myself?"explained Kitty.

"Come in the evening,"returned John."We won't go home till morning."Kitty kissed her hand to him,and,during the pleased giggle that she gave,I saw her first taking in John and then Hortense.Kitty was think-ing,thinking,of John's "crudity."And so I made a little experiment for myself.

"I wonder if men seem as similar in making love as women do in receiving it?""They aren't!"shouted both John and Kitty,in the same indignant breath.

Their noise brought Bohm to listen to us.

This experiment was so much a success that I promptly made another for the special benefit of Bohm,Kitty's next husband.I find it often de-lightful to make a little gratuitous mischief,just to watch the victims.

I addressed Kitty."What would you do if a man said he could drown in your hair as joyfully as the Duke of Clarence did in his butt of Malmsey?""Why--why--"gasped Kitty,"why--why--"

I suppose it gave John time;but even so he was splendid.

"She has heard it said!"This was his triumphant shout.I should not have supposed that Kitty could have turned any redder,but she did.John buried his nose in his tall glass,and gulped a choking quantity of its contents,and mopped his face profusely;but little good that effected.

There sat this altogether innocent pair,deeply suffused with the crimson of apparent guilt,and there stood Kitty's next husband,eyeing them suspiciously.My little gratuitous mischief was a perfect success,and remains with me as one of the bright spots in this day of pleasure.

Vivacious measures from the piano brought Kitty to her feet.

"There's Gazza!"she cried."We'll make him sing!"And on the instant she was gone down the companionway.Bohm followed her with a less agitated speed,and soon all were gone below,leaving John and me alone on the deck,sitting together in silence.

John lolled back in his chair,slowly sipping at his tall glass,and neither of us made any remark.I think he wanted to ask me how I came to mention the Duke of Clarence;but I did not see how he very well could,and he certainly made no attempt to do so.Thus did we sit for some time,hearing the piano and the company grow livelier and louder with solos,and choruses,and laughter.By and by the shadow of the awning shifted,causing me to look up,when I saw the shores slowly changing;the tide had turned,and was beginning to run out.Land and water lay in immense peace;the long,white,silent picture of the town with its steeples on the one hand,and on the other the long,low shore,and the trees behind.

Into this rose the high voice of Gazza,singing in broken English,"Razzla-dazzla,razzla-dazzla,"while his hearers beat upon glasses with spoons--at least so I conjectured.

"Aren't you coming,John?"asked Hortense,appearing at the companionway.

She looked very bacchanalian.Her splendid amber hair was half riotous,and I was reminded of the toboggan fire-escape.

He obeyed her;and now I had the deck entirely to myself,or,rather,but one other and distant person shared it with me.The hour had come,the bells had struck;Charley's crew was eating its dinner below forward;Charley's guests were drinking their liquor below aft;Charley's correct meal-flag was to be seen in the port fore rigging,as he had said,red and triangular;and away off from me in the bow was the anchor watch,whom I dreamily watched trying to light his pipe.His matches seemed to be bad;and the brotherly thought of helping him drifted into my mind--and comfortably out of it again,without disturbing my agreeable repose.