KIT'S SURPRISE
Soon after his arrival at Las Palmas, Kit started for Jefferson's
office. He had passed an hour with Wolf, who declared himself altogether
satisfied about the voyage and gave Kit some compliments. Kit's mood was
cheerful; his employer's frank praise was encouraging, and he felt he
was making good. Besides, Wolf would not want him again until next day
and, if he were lucky, he might find Olivia at home. It was about four
o'clock in the afternoon, and as a rule Mrs. Austin's visitors did not
arrive before the evening. On the voyage he had begun to see his
haunting Mrs. Austin's veranda was rash, but as he got nearer Las Palmas
his good resolutions melted.
Nevertheless he must first see Jefferson. When they steamed along the
Morocco coast they met the _Cayman_. She hove to and signalled, the
steamer's engines stopped, and a message was shouted through a
megaphone. Since Kit was keen to get to Mrs. Austin's to carry the
message was rather a bore, but he admitted that Jefferson ought to know
what his captain wanted.
In Spanish towns a merchant's office generally occupies the ground floor
of his house, and Kit liked Jefferson's. The narrow street was very hot,
and the reflections from the white walls hurt his eyes. To enter the
tunnel, guarded by a fine iron gate, and cross the shady _patio_ was a
relief. In the middle, a little fountain splashed, the walls were
lemon-yellow and a splendid purple bougainvillea trailed about the
pillars that carried a balcony. The dark spaces behind the posts looked
like cloisters. In front big heliotrope bushes occupied green tubs.
As he crossed the _patio_ Kit met Jefferson going to the gate.
"Hallo!" said Jefferson. "Got back all right? Sorry I can't stop. I've
fixed it to meet a customer at the Metropole."
Kit told him about their meeting the _Cayman_ and pulled out a folded
paper. "I made a note----"
"Thanks! I must order the truck the captain wants," said Jefferson, who
did not take the paper. "The port doctor allowed you had loaded up the
boat and brought a good flock of sheep. What did you trade for them?"
"We landed no goods; I imagined the sheep would be paid for afterwards.
Looks as if Wolf had an agreement with somebody in the interior."
"It's not usual. Nobody trusts us like that," Jefferson remarked in a
thoughtful voice. "You carried an interpreter. Did you talk to the
Berbers?"
"Not at all," said Kit. "You see----"
He stopped. Jefferson was his friend, but after all he was to some
extent his employer's antagonist. The other noted his pause.
"Oh, well, I reckon Wolf knows his job, but I'd watch out for those
fellows. They're a pretty hard crowd. Anyhow, I must get along. Do you
mind giving my English clerk the note?"
He smiled as if something amused him, and went off, and Kit crossed the
flags. At the arch that opened on Jefferson's office, he stopped
abruptly and wondered whether his imagination had cheated him.
A few yards off Betty sat in front of a writing-table. Her head was
bent; Kit saw her face in profile against the coloured wall and noted
the clean, flowing line. After a moment or two she looked up and Kit's
heart beat. His advance was impetuous, and when she gave him her hand he
pulled himself up with an effort. When he last saw Betty in the shabby
street at Liverpool, he had kissed her. It was strange and disturbing,
but he had come near to kissing her again. Betty, however, was very calm
and her hand was cool and steady.
"Why Kit! You looked startled!" she said.
"I'm very much surprised," he admitted. "You see, I thought you were at
Liverpool."
"At Liverpool? Then you didn't think I'd gone for a holiday to the South
Coast?"
Kit was embarrassed. It looked as if his mother had not used much tact,
but Betty's smile was gentle.
"Sometimes you're rather nice, Kit, but all the same you ought to see I
couldn't go."
"We won't talk about it," Kit replied. "When I came in you didn't look
at all--surprised."
Betty gave him a calm glance, but he thought she had noted his
hesitation. Surprised was not altogether what he had meant.
"I was not," she said. "I knew you were on board a ship that had just
arrived. Then I heard you talking to Mr. Jefferson."
He pulled up a chair and studied her while she neatly folded some
documents. Betty was thin, but if she had been ill, she was obviously
getting better. A faint colour had come to her skin, and her eyes were
bright. At Liverpool she had worn very plain, dark clothes, because they
were economical; now her dress was white and she had pretty grey shoes.
In fact, Betty was prettier than he had thought. Perhaps her escape from
monotonous labour and the dark Liverpool office accounted for much, but
she was not the tired girl he had known.
Kit looked about the room. There was not much furniture, and all was
made of Canary pine that polishes a soft brown. The wall was yellow, and
blue curtains hung across the arch; Kit knew they were needed to keep
out the morning sun. A rug was on the floor, and it was like the
curtains, the dull blue one saw in Morocco. Betty had fastened a spray
of heliotrope in her white dress.
"Do you like my room?" she asked.
"It's just right. The strange thing is, I hadn't noticed this before; I
don't think--Jefferson bothered about his office. Anyhow the room was
his."
"Now it's mine. Mrs. Jefferson gave me the rug. I think it came from
Africa. She said you were a friend of hers. Isn't she nice?"
"She is a very good sort," Kit agreed. "I'm glad you have got an office
like this; the dark stuffy hole at Liverpool wasn't fit for you. I
haven't asked if you're getting better, because I can see. Somehow you
are another girl."
Betty said nothing, but rather thought Kit another man. He looked
stronger and his skin was brown. Then something about his voice and
carriage indicated quiet confidence. At Liverpool when Kit was resolute
he was, so to speak, aggressive, as if he wanted others to remark his
firmness. Now his glance was calm, his nervous jerkiness had gone. All
the same, she thought he had not got fresh qualities but developed those
he had. Betty knew Kit.
"But where do you live?" he resumed. "In a Spanish town it's
awkward----"
"I live with Mrs. Jefferson. Before I came we agreed on this. She's very
nice and takes me about; sometimes for a drive to the mountains and
sometimes in the sailing boat. When I remember my other post, I feel as
if I'd got out of prison."
Kit was satisfied. To know Betty was happy was much; she deserved the
best. Then she gave him a thoughtful glance.
"It's strange you didn't know I was coming. Mr. Jefferson wrote to me a
month since."
"Jefferson wrote?"
"Of course. He stated he wanted somebody to answer his English letters
and undertake general office work, and he understood from you I might
take the post."
"I certainly did not tell Jefferson anything like this," said Kit. "I
gave Mrs. Austin my mother's letter, in which she said you were ill and
must leave the office. But Mrs. Jefferson was with Mrs. Austin, and
perhaps they talked about it afterwards."
"Then, giving me the post was _Mrs. Austin's_ plan?" Betty remarked and
Kit thought her voice was rather hard.
"I expect it was," he agreed. "Mrs. Austin does things like that. I
imagine she persuaded Wolf to send me on board _Mossamedes_."
Betty studied him. She did not think he saw the light he had given her.
Sometimes Kit was dull.
"Don't you like Mrs. Austin?" he asked.
"I like Mrs. Jefferson better," Betty replied. She stopped and noting
that Kit was puzzled, resumed: "She is kind. So is Mr. Jefferson. When
he comes into his office he throws away his cigar. He asks me--Won't I
write a note for him and count up the bills. He doesn't think because
I'm paid it doesn't matter how he talks. But why did you give Mrs.
Austin your mother's letter?"
"Now I think about it, I don't altogether know. She's sympathetic and I
was bothered because you were ill. I imagine she saw I was bothered."
"Were you bothered very much?"
"Of course," said Kit. "You were breaking down, and must stop at
Liverpool in the rain and cold; I had the sea and sun. Sometimes I was
savage because I couldn't help."
"Then you didn't think Mrs. Austin might persuade her husband to give me
a post at Las Palmas?"
"I did not. I gave her the letter, that's all. Mrs. Austin likes helping
people, and Austin and Jefferson wanted an English clerk. I expect this
accounts for their engaging you."
Betty doubted. For one thing, she had met Olivia and two or three young
men from the coaling wharfs, who had tried to amuse her by humorous
gossip about the English people at Las Palmas. Then Mrs. Austin had sent
Kit on board Wolf's steamer, which made longer voyages than the
_correillo_, and had persuaded Jefferson to engage her for his clerk.
Betty thought Mrs. Austin's object was plain, but wondered much what Kit
had said to her. Since she could not find out, she began to talk about
Liverpool, and Kit presently narrated his adventures on the African
coast.
Nobody disturbed them and the shady room was cool. The smell of
heliotrope floated in; one heard the fountain splash and the languid
rumble of the surf. Betty leaned back in her revolving chair and Kit
lighted a cigarette.
Jefferson was occupied for some time at the Metropole, but when he
crossed the _patio_ he slackened speed in front of the arch. He was a
sober merchant, but it was not very long since he was a romantic sailor,
and the picture that met his glance had some charm. His pretty clerk
rested her cheek in her hollowed hand; her pose was unconsciously
graceful, and she studied Kit with thoughtful eyes. Kit talked and his
face wore a strangely satisfied smile; Jefferson imagined he did not
know his cigarette had gone out. His thin figure was athletic, he looked
keen and virile. Jefferson approved them both. They had not his wife's
and Austin's cultivation, but they were honest, red-blooded people. In
fact, they were good stuff.
For all that he was puzzled; he had not thought Musgrave a philanderer.
Besides his office was not a drawing-room and he advanced rather
noisily. Kit pulled out his watch and got up with a start, but Betty did
not plunge into her proper occupation. Betty was generally marked by an
attractive calm; then she knew her employer.
"I expect you gave Miss Jordan the note about the stores for _Cayman_?"
Jefferson said to Kit.
Kit took out the paper. "Sorry, but I did not. I must get on board.
Perhaps I ought to have gone before."
"You can go now. Come back for supper, if you like," Jefferson replied
with a twinkle and put down some documents. "If you can give me a few
minutes, Miss Jordan----"
When Betty got to work at her typewriter he went to Mrs. Jefferson's
drawing-room.
"I have asked young Musgrave to supper and reckon he'll come," he said.
"Don't you know if he is coming?" Mrs. Jefferson rejoined.
"He didn't state his plans. I imagine he was rattled when I fired him
out. It had probably dawned on him he'd been loafing about my office
most part of the afternoon."
"You knew he was a friend of Miss Jordan's," Mrs. Jefferson remarked.
"I knew Jacinta Austin was pretty smart, but it begins to look as if she
was smarter than I thought."
Mrs. Jefferson smiled. "Oh, well, you have got a good clerk and Kit has
got a post he likes."
"But what about Olivia?"
"I don't think you need be disturbed about Olivia," said Mrs. Jefferson,
dryly. "Anyhow, you mustn't meddle. Your touch is not light."
"That is so," Jefferson agreed. "Jacinta's touch is surely light; she
can pull three or four wires at once, without your knowing how she's
occupied. For all that, I've a notion she'll some time snarl the wires
in a nasty tangle. Can't you give her a hint she's got to leave my clerk
and Kit alone?"
"I doubt. The thing is puzzling. You see, Betty refused Kit," Mrs.
Jefferson remarked in a thoughtful voice. "However, I think two of the
leading actors in the comedy know what they want. The others do not."
"It rather looks as if three didn't know."
"I think my calculation's accurate. However, I see no useful part for
us. Ours is to look on and smile when the play's amusing."
"If Jacinta hurts Miss Jordan, I won't smile," Jefferson rejoined. "I'm
fond of the girl, because in a way she's like you."
"Sometimes you're very nice," said Mrs. Jefferson, and went off to talk
to the Spanish cook in the kitchen that had, when Jefferson got the
house, adjoined the stable.