Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; Islands -- Fiction; Love stories; Nobility -- Fiction
She came to anchor much closer in than ships usually ventured, and an
officer put off in the small boat, heading for the pier, which was
already crowded with the native women and children. Every one knew that
the yacht brought the Princess who was to visit her ladyship; nothing
else had been talked of among the women since the word first came down
from the château that she was expected.
The Enemy came down from his bungalow, attracted by the unusual and
inspiring spectacle of a ship at anchor. A line of anxiety marked his
brow. Two figures had watched his windows all night long, sinister
shadows that always met his eye when it penetrated the gloom of the
moonlit forest.
Lord and Lady Deppingham were on the pier before him. Excitement and joy
illumined her face; her eyes were sparkling with anticipation; he could
almost see that she trembled in her eagerness. He came quite close to
them before they saw him. Exhilaration no doubt was responsible for the
very agreeable smile of recognition that she bestowed upon him. Or,
perhaps it was inspired by womanly pity for the man whose loneliness was
even greater and graver than her own. The Enemy could do no less than go
to them with his pleasantest acknowledgment. His rugged face relaxed
into a most charming, winsome smile, half-diffident, half-assured.
He passed among the wives of his clients without so much as a sign of
recognition, coolly indifferent to the admiring glances that sought his
face. The dark, langourous eyes that flashed eager admiration a moment
before now turned sullen with disappointment. He had ignored their
owners; he had avoided them as if they were dust heaps in the path; he
had spurned them as if they were dogs by the roadside. And yet he smiled
upon the Englishwoman, he spoke with her, he admired her! The sharp
intake of breath that swept through the crowd told plainer than words
the story of the angry eyes that followed him to the end of the pier,
where the officer's boat was landing.
"I have heard that you expect a visitor," said the Enemy in his most
agreeable manner. Lady Deppingham had just told him that she had a
friend aboard the yacht.
"Won't you go aboard with us," asked Deppingham, at a loss for anything
better to say. The Enemy shook his head and smiled.
"You are very good, but I believe my place is here," he said, with a
swift, sardonic glance toward his herd of followers. Lady Deppingham
raised her delicate eyebrows and gave him the cool, intimate smile of
comprehension. He flushed. "I am one of the lowly and the despised," he
explained humbly.
"The Princess is to be with me for a month. We expect more sunshine than
ever at the château," ventured her ladyship.
"I sincerely hope you may be disappointed," said he commiseratingly,
fanning himself with his hat. She laughed and understood, but Deppingham
was half way out to the yacht before it became clear to him that the
Enemy hoped literally, not figuratively.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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