V
The _Savannah_ weighed at dawn, and all that day they steamed by the
glorious isles of the matchless Adriatic. Their destination was Venice,
whence Faber would go via Munich to Berlin. The others were to travel
direct by the Simplon to London--all but Harry Lassett, who meant to put
in a few days at Montana before he returned.
They carried a young doctor from Ragusa, but he soon discovered that he
had little to do save to take a fee, a performance which he accomplished
with truly professional grace. Maryska had a heart of iron, it appeared,
and a constitution to match it. Whatever the unnameable night had taught
her of life or of men, she held the damnable secret with the tenacity of
a race born to such acts and schooled in the creeds of ferocity. Very
silent, suspicious of all, agitated and given to fits of trembling when
alone, those with her could not read that riddle of a child's dreams
aright. To Gabrielle she remained an enigma, seemingly wanting in
gratitude and anxious to escape every occasion for it. Gordon Silvester
she treated as though he did not exist; Harry Lassett was a problem in
manhood to awake distrust and find her eyes furtive. John Faber she
trusted wholly.
They had allowed her to come on deck during the heat of the day, and she
lay there in a hammock swung between hatches. An untamed restlessness
found her starting at every sound. She would sit up and watch the
passers-by as though afraid of them; or stare at the crew with deeply
black eyes, as though seeking a friend among them. Her requests that
Faber should be sent to her were unceasing. In his turn, he liked to
hear her talk. He would watch those eloquent eyes, and forget that she
had called him "an old, old man" in the early days of their
acquaintance.
"Will you come and sit beside me, Mr. Faber, just a little while? I do
not want the others to come. I will not have them near me."
"But, Maryska, my dear, they just want to be kind to you, that's all.
Don't you like Miss Gabrielle, now?"
She thought about it. Then she said: "Is she your wife, Mr. Faber?"
"My!--what an idea! I haven't got a wife. She's engaged to the young man
over there."
"Not the one with the wolf's whiskers and the teeth."
"Of course not; he's her father. The other one who's playing with the
quoits."
She watched Harry Lassett a little while; her face became grave.
"_He_ used to play that when last he came from America. He played with
me, and then I won money for him from the others. We can't do that here;
is that right, Mr. Faber?"
He laughed and took her hand.
"Let me tell you about this money, Maryska. Do you know I'm very rich,
my dear? They call me one of the richest men in the world. You mustn't
think about money any more. I've got more than you and I will ever spend
if we live to be as old as Methuselah. So just change the subject,
little lady, and find another."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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