"And that is--what?"
"To get as far away as ever we can from that terrible 'Dream' yacht and
its owner!"--she replied--"That man is a devil!"
I laughed. I could not help laughing. The estimate she had formed of
one so vastly her superior as Santoris struck me as more amusing than
blamable. I am often accustomed to hear the hasty and narrow verdict of
small-minded and unintelligent persons pronounced on men and women of
high attainment and great mental ability; therefore, that she should
show herself as not above the level of the common majority did not
offend so much as it entertained me. However, my laughter made her
suddenly angry.
"Why do you laugh?" she demanded. "You look quite pagan in that lace
rest-gown--I suppose you call it a restgown!--with all your hair
tumbling loose about you! And that laugh of yours is a pagan laugh!"
I was so surprised at her odd way of speaking that for a moment I could
find no words. She looked at me with a kind of hard disfavour in her
eyes.
"That's the reason,"--she went on--"why you find life agreeable. Pagans
always did. They revelled in sunshine and open air, and found all sorts
of excuses for their own faults, provided they got some pleasure out of
them. That's quite your temperament! And they laughed at serious
things--just as you do!"
The mirror showed me my own reflection, and I saw myself still smiling.
"Do I laugh at serious things?" I said. "Dear Miss Harland, I am not
aware of it! But I cannot take Mr. Santoris as a 'devil' seriously!"
"He is!" And she nodded her head emphatically--"And all those queer
beliefs he holds--and you hold them too!--are devilish! If you belonged
to the Church of Rome, you would not be allowed to indulge in such
wicked theories for a moment."
"Ah! The Church of Rome fortunately cannot control thought!"--I
said--"Not even the thoughts of its own children! And some of the
beliefs of the Church of Rome are more blasphemous and barbarous than
all the paganism of the ancient world! Tell me, what are my 'wicked
theories'?"
"Oh, I don't know!" she replied, vaguely and inconsequently--"You
believe there's no death--and you think we all make our own illnesses
and misfortunes,--and I've heard you say that the idea of Eternal
Punishment is absurd--so in a way you are as bad as father, who
declares there's nothing in the Universe but gas and atoms--no God and
no anything. You really are quite as much of an atheist as he is! Dr.
Brayle says so."
I had been standing in front of her while she thus talked, but now I
resumed my former reclining attitude on the sofa and looked at her with
a touch of disdain.
"Dr. Brayle says so!"--I repeated--"Dr. Brayle's opinion is the least
worth having in the world! Now, if you really believe in devils,
there's one for you!"
"How can you say so?" she exclaimed, hotly--"What right have you--"
"How can he call ME an atheist?" I demanded-"What right has HE to judge
me?"
The flush died off her face, and a sudden fear filled her eyes.
"Don't look at me like that!" she said, almost in a whisper--"It
reminds me of an awful dream I had the other night!"--She
paused.--"Shall I tell it to you?"
I nodded indifferently, yet watched her curiously the while. Something
in her hard, plain face had become suddenly and unpleasantly familiar.
"I dreamed that I was in a painter's studio watching two murdered
people die--a man and a woman. The man was like Santoris--the woman
resembled you! They had been stabbed,--and the woman was clinging to
the man's body. Dr. Brayle stood beside me also watching--but the scene
was strange to me, and the clothes we wore were all of some ancient
time. I said to Dr. Brayle: 'We have killed them!' and he replied:
'Yes! They are better dead than living!' It was a horrible dream!--it
seemed so real! I have been frightened of you and of that man Santoris
ever since!"
I could not speak for a moment. A recollection swept over me to which I
dared not give utterance,--it seemed too improbable.
"I've had nerves," she went on, shivering a little--"and that's why I
say I'm tired of this yachting trip. It's becoming a nightmare to me!"