Isabel, in the clinging knitted coat that displayed every attractive
line of her athletic figure, her cheeks reddened by triumph and the salt
wind, her gray eyes lifted in challenging coquetry, was a sufficiently
pleasant sight to dispel mere vexation. And Gerard had no right to feel
more than annoyance at a disappointment of which she supposedly knew
nothing.
"I ran away with you because I didn't want to ride home with Corrie,"
she confided, when the last button-hole was achieved. "You don't
mind--much?"
"I am overwhelmed by the honor," Gerard assured. He was neither surly
enough to refuse the light play to which she invited him, nor anchorite
enough to be insensible to the flattery of being sought. "But how did
Prince Corrie offend his sovereign lady?"
"Oh, that would be telling! You know, we are _not_ engaged."
"Not yet?"
"Not at all. And the last time we were out alone together, he--he asked
me to see if the oil was running through that little cup on the dash."
"And then?"
They were in the car now, Gerard behind the steering-wheel. Isabel
leaned down to touch her fingers to the dash, turning her vivid-hued,
consciously alluring face across her shoulder to the companion so close
beside her, the auburn curls tumbled about her forehead and her mouth
tempting as a small scarlet fruit.
"And then, we were like this when--guess what Corrie did?"
It was not in the least difficult to guess what the enamoured Corrie had
done. But Gerard shook his head, schooling his mirthful eyes.
"I could not, possibly, Miss Rose. I am very dull."
"Well, what would _you_ have done?"
"I? I should have shut both eyes and recalled St. Francis' rules of
deportment."
Isabel straightened herself, leaning back and folding her hands in her
lap.
"That's what Corrie did not do," she stated. "So I will not ride with
him. It was bad taste."
"I imagine Corrie found the taste most pleasant."
"Oh!"
"Have I guessed wrong?"
"You said that you were dull, Mr. Gerard."
"Then the guess is wrong. Poor Corrie!"
She shrugged her shoulders impatiently.
"You think a great deal about Corrie."
"Yes. We are friends," Gerard quietly answered.
She was clever enough to recognize the bar he set to flirtation with the
woman loved by the man he gave that name, and she regarded the obstacle
as a challenge. She was not sufficiently old or fine to realize that
such bars are not crossed by such men. If Gerard had loved her or
believed she might love him, he must have left his friend's house; as
Corrie would have left Gerard's in like case. As a matter of fact,
Gerard was perfectly aware of the immunity of both parties and that
Isabel was merely seeking temporary diversion--experimenting with the
possibilities of her own heady youth.
A forking of the road supplied a new subject for discussion.
"Turn to the left," Isabel directed, sitting erect.
Surprised, Gerard checked the machine.
"We did not come that way, Miss Rose."
"Of course not; you came by the long route, past the Goodwin farm. This
is a better road."
"Better?"
She followed his gaze down the vista of slippery, rut-grooved mud, and
colored.
"A shorter road, then," she amended petulantly. "I am sure I don't
care--go the long way if you wish. The storm is blowing back again, but
I can stand the rain."
Gerard hastily turned into the wretched travesty of a road.
"I beg your pardon; I only wondered if you were quite certain of the
route," he apologized.
There ensued a period of silence. The little car slipped and wallowed
through sliding mud and yellow puddles.
"I hope you do not drive here, yourself," Gerard observed.
"Do you think I should be afraid?"
"I think you might have serious trouble. There is a deep ditch on either
side, while the road is both narrow and slippery."
"I can drive anywhere. Ask Corrie."
"I suspect he is a biassed judge. But I should not have believed he
would let you drive here."
"He----I never did except in dry weather. I knew _you_ would not mind
any road and could drive in anything, so it did not matter."
"Please consider the compliment more than appreciated, mademoiselle,"
Gerard smiled. "There is going to be a splash when we strike that
puddle ahead; had you not better draw in your frock?"
She caught her white serge skirts around her and shrank nearer to her
companion with a gurgle of dismayed laughter.
"Let me get in the middle. Uh, what a muddy swamp! Oh--my face!"
In fact, the water had splashed as the car struck the pool where a
rain-swollen brook had overflowed the road. As Gerard turned to the
girl, she lifted a face sprinkled with drops which she strove to remove
with her handkerchief.
"Is it off?" she questioned. "Please look carefully. _All_ off?"
He was obliged to scrutinize the handsome countenance offered for
inspection at close range.
"A trifle of mud, still," he admitted.
"Where? Here?"
"No--more to the left. Beneath the eye--the other eye."
"This place?"
"Not quite."
It was incredible, the length of time that small spot evaded Isabel's
questing handkerchief, and the futility of Gerard's directions. He was
obliged to halt the car, at last.
"A little higher--not so much. There! No, not so low."
With a gesture of mock despair, she gave him the fragrant square of
linen.
"Wipe it off," she requested resignedly. "I can't motor all over Long
Island with a dirty face. There is no one in sight for miles; wipe it
off and never tell."
"I am very clumsy," he demurred.
"Well, it can't be helped."
Gerard might have echoed the exclamation. But he accepted the
handkerchief and deftly, if with inward embarrassment, removed the stain
from the ruddy cheek presented.
"It can't be off, Mr. Gerard?"
"Pardon, it is gone."
"You hardly touched it," doubtingly.
"If you could see----" he began in defense of his work.
"Look once more."
He obeyed, impersonally and coolly.
"Nothing, indeed," he asserted.
She glanced up at him through her long lashes, and flung herself back in
her seat.
"Thank you. Shall we go on?"
[Illustration: "WIPE IT OFF," SHE REQUESTED RESIGNEDLY, "WIPE IT OFF AND
NEVER TELL"]
The operation and the drive that preceded it had occupied considerable
time. It was an hour since the party had separated at the yacht club's
pier. The brief interval of comparative clearness had given place to
dark skies across which the capricious wind herded masses of gray cloud.
And presently several drops of rain fell and trickled down the
wind-shield of the car.
"Hurry," Isabel urged, sitting up with renewed animation. "It is going
to pour."
"The little machine isn't capable of much hurrying on this road," Gerard
regretted. "She hasn't any speed, of course. How far have we left to
go?"
"A long way, seven or eight miles. We haven't passed the country club,
yet."
"But Corrie drove over in an hour!"
"With his big car, yes," she retorted. "Perhaps this was not the best
way, after all. But it would take longer to go back, now, than to keep
on."
This was obvious. There was nothing to do except force the skidding,
panting automobile to maintain its best gait.
They were destined to lose that race. As they came opposite a low brick
building set amidst rolling green slopes and stretches of flag-dotted
turf, the storm overtook them.
"Up the driveway," Isabel cried. "We can just make it. This is the
country club--we'll 'phone home where we are staying."
Gerard sent the car up the wide gravelled path. An attendant was waiting
to receive them, another assumed charge of the automobile, and Isabel's
escort found himself standing beside her on the veranda with rather
confused ideas of how the affair had been accomplished.
"Koma says there is no one else here," she informed him. "We have all
the place to ourselves. How it rains!"
It certainly was raining, raining violently and steadily, a gray
downpour from a gray sky. She paused to look before continuing.
"I'll 'phone to Flavia, first of all. I can see we are going to have a
long wait. Koma will get us the best luncheon he knows how. Aren't you
hungry? I am. Come in."
Gerard uttered some reply. He was profoundly vexed at his situation,
without being able to blame himself for it or to fix any actual fault
upon Isabel. She had already turned away to enter the hall, and
presently he heard the tinkle of the telephone bell, followed by her
high-pitched voice.
"One one seven? Martin, I want Miss Rose. Yes, it is I. Oh!----We're at
the country club, Corrie. No, we didn't get lost; we just chose that
road.... Not a bit, it was good sport. We're having luncheon together,
here, and then I suppose we will play billiards until the rain stops.
Tell Flavia not to worry; we'll get home by dinner-time, and we're
enjoying ourselves.... Not wet, just splashed. Mr. Gerard spoiled a
handkerchief drying me, that's all the damage. Good-by."
She reappeared on the threshold, complacently satisfied. She had removed
her hood and veils, shaken her ruddy hair into becoming disorder, and
knew herself at her best.
"You are enjoying yourself, aren't you?" she demanded.
"Certainly," Gerard responded, without enthusiasm.
"Why not come in, then? Which do you like most to commence a
luncheon----Blue Points or little clams? Corrie and I quarrel over that
every time we are out together. He is as obstinate as, as--Corrie!"
"Clams," said he, at a venture. He had a vague recollection of seeing
Corrie dismiss oysters with scorn, and he felt viciously contrary.
"Why, so do I," agreed Isabel winningly. "Let us order some."
One cannot be disagreeable to a young girl under one's care, who also
is in a sense one's hostess. The luncheon was sufficiently gay. The rain
fell incessantly, beating against the diamond-paned windows, gurgling
down eaves and gutter-ways.
"We should have sailed home in the _Dear Me_," Isabel declared. "I am
sure there is enough water on the roads. Why did we not think of it?"
She detached a chrysanthemum petal from the vase of blossoms central on
the table, and dropped it into her finger-bowl, watching the agitation
of a diminutive scarlet-and-black beetle perched upon the sinking leaf.
"An execution?" Gerard inquired.
She raised her eyes, pouting prettily, and nodded.
"I hate those bugs," she explained. "Ugly animals! We put them in and
wager a box of bon-bons on how long they last. If it is still alive at
the end of five minutes, I lose. If it is drowned, I win."
"Does Corrie play that game with you?"
"N'no. Corrie doesn't like it. He will step off of a sidewalk into the
mud to avoid treading on a cricket. Do you suppose I never play with any
one except my cousin? Will you try this wager? _You're_ not silly?"
"I will, if I may. If that lady-bug is alive five minutes from now, I
win? No other conditions?"
"None," gleefully. "Take your watch. You'll lose, he's weakening now."
Gerard leaned across, lifted the struggling beetle upon his finger-tip,
and restored it to the safe refuge of the chrysanthemum bouquet.
"I believe he will live some time," he soberly predicted.
The girl stared, frowned, and laughed.
"No fair! No fair! That's not the game, Mr. Gerard."
"No? Then I will send the bon-bons."
"Chocolates."
"They shall be chocolates."
"And I may put back the nasty beetle?"
"On no account; I have ransomed him."
"Oh, very well," she shrugged, rising. "I'll take refuge in billiards
for the next game. Corrie taught me to play, but I can beat him, now."
"Perhaps he doesn't watch his game when his opponent is his cousin."
"Why, what else should he watch?" she wondered, arching her brows a
trifle too innocently.
"I cannot imagine, if you do not know," Gerard dryly responded, and held
open the door for her to pass out.
In the billiard room, Isabel rolled her sleeves above her elbows as a
preliminary measure.
"I haven't had that off for a year," she confided, indicating a flexible
platinum and turquoise bracelet encircling her firm, sun-browned arm.
"You are fond of it?" her companion inferred. "It is a beautiful bit of
work, indeed."
"I like it well enough. That isn't the reason, though. You see, it
locks, and after Corrie put it on my arm he kept the key. He says he
will give it to me on my wedding day. But it isn't worth that."
"Worth----?" he questioned.
"Getting married. Will you play me even?"
"Pray fix any odds you choose, Miss Rose. How many points does Corrie
usually give you?"
This time Isabel's stare of surprise was genuine.
"I meant, how many points should I allow _you_," she corrected
arrogantly.
"Oh, pardon me!" he submitted. "Suppose, in that case, we play for an
even score."
The storm did not abate. The wind drove the rain before it in glistening
gray sheets, the steady drumming of the downpour accompanied the click
of meeting ivory balls and the occasional speech of the players. After a
time, a deep-belled Mission clock in the hall struck four.
A sharp, incredulous cry from the girl rang out, after an interval of
silence in the room.
"Why--why, you've won!"
"So I have," acknowledged her antagonist. "Shall I apologize?"
Isabel started to speak, and checked herself. She had been chiefly
intent upon her own accomplishment, and Gerard's playing was of a
deceptive leisureliness and tranquillity.
"How many did you make in that last run?" she asked, finally.
"Only seventeen."
"You can't do it again."
"One never can tell."
"Play," she defied.
Gerard glanced hopelessly at the streaming windows.
"It is growing late," he demurred.
"Not late, yet. Besides, we can't go out in that weather with an open
automobile. They know at home where we are."
They did; that was precisely the core of Gerard's exasperation and
unrest. What impressions would this tete-a-tete afternoon convey to
Corrie? And what would Flavia think of her guest's guardianship of her
cousin? He picked up his cue with enforced resignation.
The clock had struck the half-hour, when a long blast from an electric
horn pierced through the clamor of the storm.
"Another motor-party caught out," Isabel hazarded, her tone decidedly
cross. She was losing again, and she did not like the experience. "Your
play. You seem to find it more amusing to look out the window."
Gerard was spared reply. The billiard-room door was pushed open by the
Japanese steward and a figure in gleaming rain-proof attire appeared on
the threshold--the figure of a chauffeur, cap in hand.
"Lenoir!" Isabel exclaimed.
The chauffeur saluted.
"Mr. Rose sent the limousine to convey mademoiselle and Mr. Gerard," he
informed them, in his precise, Parisian-flavored English.
"My uncle is home?"
"I had just driven Mr. Rose home from the city, mademoiselle, before he
telephoned to the garage that I should come here."
She tossed her cue upon the table, recklessly scattering the balls, and
turned toward the door.
"Bring our wraps, Koma," she bade. "We had better go."
Gerard contemplated Lenoir with marked kindness.
"It's a bad day to be out," he commented, in following Isabel from the
room, and passed into the chauffeur's hand a gratuity out of all
proportion to the occasion.
"Yes, sir," said Lenoir, demurely.
The drive home was short and uninteresting. On the veranda of the Rose
villa Corrie was waiting to meet the returning two, upon the limousine's
arrival.
"Well, of all the slow traveling I ever saw, this is the limit," he
greeted them derisively; "From noon until five o'clock! Fancy!"
"Never mind our driving; we have had a fine time," Isabel retorted, with
pettish tartness.
"Yes, ma'am, no doubt. I wouldn't have interrupted, myself. It was
father who did it, when he came in. He said you'd want some dinner
to-night."
He smiled at Gerard as cordially as ever, but there was a wistfulness
underlying his expression that inspired the older man with a hearty
desire to shake Isabel Rose. She could watch her young lover's emotions
with the same diverted interest with which she had watched the struggles
of the tiny black-and-scarlet beetle drowning in her finger-bowl.
"I wish you had been with us, Corrie," was all Gerard found to say.
Through the parted curtains, the library presented such a graceful
interior study as certain French artists have delighted in drawing. In
the octagonal, book-lined room of rich hues and soft lights, Flavia and
her father were seated together; busied in pleasant comradeship at the
table whose polished surface was littered with letters, books of
household accounts, and all those dainty metal and crystal trinkets the
jeweller conceives necessary to the writer. Evidently they had found
refreshment desirable, for a diminutive tea-table still stood near
Flavia, while a pushed-back chair beneath which a young Great Dane hound
lay asleep indicated that Corrie had been one of the group.
"Back, are you?" Mr. Rose called cheerily, to the two in the hall,
leaning back in his chair to view them more easily. "When I heard where
you were marooned, I guessed it was about time for a rescue. You
children oughtn't to try roundabout country roads with a storm blowing
up."
"Mr. Gerard wanted to go that way," Isabel alleged, with perfect
assurance. "I told him to do as he chose."
That distortion of facts was too much to be endured, with Corrie
listening and Flavia a witness. Gerard's chivalry momentarily lapsed
and he struck back with all the effectiveness of superior experience.
"Yes, certainly," he confirmed, carefully distinct. "I naturally wanted
to get Miss Rose safely at home as soon as possible, and since she said
that road was the shortest route, I took it, of course."
"The _shortest_?" Corrie echoed, astounded. "The----"
He broke the speech in time, hastily discreet. Isabel crimsoned hotly;
the glance she darted at her late escort was not dovelike. It was Flavia
who brought relief to the situation, as usual.
"These Long Island roads are outrageously misleading," she offered light
suggestion, rising with a smiling gesture of excuse to her father. "Isa
and I often lose our way when we drive out together. Don't you want to
change your damp things, dear?"
"Yes," assented her cousin, sullenly. "It's time to make ready for
dinner, anyhow."
Corrie held aside the curtain for the girls to pass out. His blue eyes
were dancing in pure mischief and relief. All the household understood
Isabel's propensity for flirtation--and its utter lack of significance.
If she had detained Gerard, not Gerard her, her lover-cousin had no
ground for especial apprehension.
"Punk weather," he commented, coming back.
"Dullest I ever experienced," supplemented his guest decidedly.
Mr. Rose set a paper-weight on the letter open before him, and lit a
cigar.
"We were discussing the buying of another automobile, Gerard, when you
came in," he imparted. "Come sit down for half an hour before we
dress--we not needing so long as the ladies for it--and give us your
advice on the choice."
"And I'll give you one of my monogram cigarettes," volunteered Corrie,
slipping a hand affectionately through Gerard's arm. "Oh, no--I don't
smoke them, but I like to carry them. And when you want something extra
fine, you ask Corwin B. Rose for one of his smokes. Let's sit here,
together."
V