What mischief was this that hid in the Scottish sunshine, whispering
in every heather-scented breeze--laughing at her from every little
wave on Isla Water?--counselling her to this new and delicate
audacity, imbuing her with a secret gaiety of heart, and her very
soul fluttering with a delicious laughter--an odd, perverse,
illogical laughter, alternately tremulous and triumphant!
Was she in love, then, with this man? She remembered his unconscious
head on her knees in the limousine, and the snow clinging to his
bright hair--
She remembered the telephone, and the call to the hospital--and the
message. ... And the white night and bitter dawn. ... Love? No, not
as she supposed it to be; merely the solicitude and friendship of a
woman who once found something hurt by the war and who fought to
protect what was hers by right of discovery. That was not love. ...
Perhaps there may have been a touch of the maternal passion about
her feeling for this man. ... Nothing else--nothing more than that,
and the eternal indefinable charity for all boys which is inherent
in all womanhood--the consciousness of the enchantment that a boy
has for all women. ... Nothing more. ... Except that--perhaps she
had wondered whether he liked her--as much as she liked him.... Or
if, possibly, in his regard for her there were some slight depths
between shallows--a gratitude that is a trifle warmer than the
conventional virtue--
When at length she ventured to turn her head and look at him he
seemed to be asleep, lying there in the transformed shadow of the
lawn umbrella.
Something about the motionless relaxation of this man annoyed her.
"Kay?"
He turned his head squarely toward her, and 'o her exasperation she
blushed.
"Did I wake you? I'm sorry," she said coldly.
"You didn't. I was awake."
"Oh! I meant to say that I think I'll stroll out. Don't come if you
feel lazy."
He swung himself up to a sitting posture.
"I'm quite ready," he said. ... "You'll always find me ready,
Yellow-hair--always waiting."
"Waiting? For what?"
"For your commands."
"You very nice boy!" she said gaily, springing to her feet. Then,
the subtle demon of the sunlight prompting her: "You know, Kay, you
don't ever have to wait. Because I'm always ready to listen to any
pro--any suggestions--from you."
The man looked into the girl's eyes:
"You would care to hear what I might have to tell you?"
"I always care to hear what you say. Whatever you say interests me."
"Would it interest you to know I am--in love?"
"Yes. ... With wh--whom are--" But her breath failed her.
"With you. ... You knew it, Yellow-hair. ... Does it interest you to
know it?"
"Yes." But the exhilaration of the moment was interfering with her
breath again and she only stood there with the flushed and audacious
little smile stamped on her lips forcing her eyes to meet his
curious, troubled, intent gaze.
"You did know it?" he repeated.
"No."
"You suspected it."
"I wanted to know what you--thought about me, Kay."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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