“No, Mr. Pitt is not one of us. But, Miss Baldwin,” he concluded,
bending over her as he passed out, “you are. Your true life is about
to begin.”
And she followed him with her eyes as he left the room, though there
was that in her expression which suggested that she did so
unwillingly.
“Ah!”
The faintest exclamation of relief escaped her lips as the captain
disappeared. She sank back in her chair as if suddenly released. She
looked around; our eyes met. She excused herself in a dazed sort of
fashion and went to her room.
* * * * *
Hours afterward I was pacing the deck. It was another pitch-dark
night, and to one fresh from the glare of New York, the darkness was
well-nigh appalling. The _Wanderer’s_ searchlight seemed only a thin
knife-gash, parting the darkness before us. On either side of its beam
the blackness of night stood like a wall. There were no stars to be
seen above. East, north, south and west, naught but the dead night;
below, only the hiss of unseen waters through which we were rushing
toward—what?
I shuffled to and fro on the deck, caring neither where nor how I was
going. The scene between Brack and Miss Baldwin at the dinner-table
repeated itself again and again, each time with a new, sinister
significance. I know what power lay within Brack’s eyes. Had they not
roused me and thrilled me and made me fighting mad, which was exactly
what Brack, in idle sport wished to do? What would be the effect of
his will, gleaming through his glances, on a woman, on a young,
inexperienced girl like Miss Baldwin? For after all, she was nothing
but an inexperienced girl. Yes, I told myself, she was so
inexperienced, so ignorant, through the sheltered life she had lived,
that she did not know enough to recognize a distressing situation when
she met it. She was brave because she didn’t have sense enough to be
cautious.
“Mr. Pitt,” called a voice softly, “is that you?”
I swung around. I was near a cabin porthole and by its light I made
out Miss Baldwin coming toward me.
“I’m glad,” she said. “Don’t stop, please; let us walk.
“I came out,” she continued, as we fell into step, “because I didn’t
like to be alone.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. I seemed lonesome. It was nice to come out here and
find you.”