Nor was Darcy Powers so good a judge of character as he fondly imagined;
for his aunt did not accept the situation in the right spirit at all.
She pretended to do so, and he thought she did, but in her heart she was
bitterly angry and hurt. Her nephew was all she had in the world, and
she loved him. She had been looking forward to this vacation of his for
two years; and then he came driving up with this Miss Smith!
She listened to his explanation with a pleasant smile. Still with a
pleasant smile, she conducted Miss Smith to the spare bedroom and was
very civil to her. Then her nephew had to go off to see certain old
ladies who had known him since childhood and wanted to see him
immediately, and Mrs. Mount ceased to smile.
Miss Smith was not worrying any more. Indeed, she had almost stopped
thinking altogether. She had got off the boat that morning into a new
world. She had got into a carriage with Mr. Powers and driven along a
dream road. The colors. The white road, the white walls, the white
houses, glistening like sugar in the sun! The pure blue of the sky, the
glimpses of the sapphire sea, the glossy green of the palm leaves, the
dark green of the cedars, the pink roses, the purple bougainvillea, the
scarlet hibiscus!
Mrs. Mount’s cottage was an enchanted cottage, like the one that
_Hänsel_ and _Gretel_ found in the wood, standing in a garden glorious
with flowers. And Mrs. Mount herself was so handsome and dignified and
polite, and this little bedroom was so bright, so sweet, so sunny!
“I’m really here!” thought Miss Smith. “I did come! It’s true!”
She had not even taken off her hat or opened her suit case. She just sat
there by the window, lost in an innocent and utterly happy dream. This
new world was so beautiful, and every one was so kind to her!
“Darcy is a dear boy,” said a voice from the garden, which she
recognized as Mrs. Mount’s; “but this is _too_ much!”
“I heard,” said another voice, unknown to Miss Smith, but belonging to
Mrs. Mount’s cousin, Miss Pineville, “that Darcy got off the boat this
morning with some stranger--”
“And brought her here!” said Mrs. Mount. “She scraped up an acquaintance
with him on shipboard--you know how easy that is--and told him some
preposterous tale about being a governess, and having lost her purse and
the family she was with. Of course there’s not a word of truth in it. A
governess! An adventuress--that’s what she is!”
“Does Darcy--” began the other.
“Oh, Darcy!” interrupted Mrs. Mount impatiently. “He’s completely taken
in by her; but I’m going to talk to him later. For instance, there’s
her name. She distinctly told me her name was Nina Smith; but she left
the book she’d been reading on the sitting room table, and written in it
was ‘Little M., from father.’ Nina doesn’t begin with an ‘M,’ does it?
And Smith! That’s just the name any one would take as an alias, to avoid
suspicion. But you wait! I’ll find out the truth! I won’t have my nephew
imposed upon!”
“I’d like to see her,” said the other eagerly. “Perhaps I--”
“I’ll call her out for a cup of tea,” said Mrs. Mount. “But be polite to
her, Eliza, until I’ve found out.”
So Mrs. Mount went in and knocked on Miss Smith’s door. There was no
answer. She knocked again, and then she opened the door. Miss Smith and
her suit case were gone.
At first Mrs. Mount was glad.
“She must have heard what I said to Eliza in the garden,” she told her
nephew. “She was frightened and ran away.”
“Frightened?” said he. “Is that how you imagine a sensitive young girl
feels when she hears herself slandered and insulted? I brought her
here--to you--because I thought you’d understand, and you’ve driven her
away. An adventuress? Why, one look at her face might have told you--”
He turned away abruptly, but one look at _his_ face had certainly told
Mrs. Mount something. She was no longer glad, but very sorry. She would
have told him so, but it was too late. He had gone out of the house,
slamming the door behind him.