barges in front of us, the biggest in the lock, and we had not been able
to pass them before the doors began to open. Now we could not escape
until they had floated out into the canal, and, meanwhile, there might
be a little private tragedy in high life on board "Mascotte."
But a Dutchman's lighter is as sacred, Alb has explained to us all, as a
Dutchman's house; and when the loud, explosive Scotsman arrived on the
gunwale, uninvited and breathing fire, the lighter's owner proceeded
also to breathe fire. He swore; his Kees dog yapped; his children cried
and his wife vituperated. An understudy took the helm, and before Sir
Alec could jump across to another barge, in his pursuit of us, he found
himself engaged in an encounter with the skipper of his first choice.
The one could speak no English, the other could speak no Dutch; and in
his fury at seeing us slip out through the gates behind the two great
barges, he could do nothing but stammer with rage, and try to push past
the stout form which strove to detain him for argument.
Naturally, the push made matters worse. Sir Alec does not know Dutchmen,
especially lightermen, as well as I have learned to do, or he would have
refrained from that extreme--and on the man's own barge. His push was
given back with interest, and the last we saw of him, as other boats
surged round the scene of the contest, was in a gallant attempt to make
a twelve-foot jump, while a stout Dutch skipper and a stout Dutch
skipper's stout Dutch wife held on to his coat-tails.
Again I drew a full breath of relief, and I saw by Alb's face that he,
too, hoped for the best, for--whatever his private feelings might be--he
is too good a sportsman not to feel the spirit of a race.
We were out of the lock, our propeller churning the water, but--again
there was a "but." Alb made a dash for freedom by trying to glide
between the two immense barges which, alone of all the late denizens of
the lock, had refused to give us precedence. But his gracious ways had
not softened the hearts of these skippers, nor did they care for his
Club flag. All they did care for was to keep one another from getting
ahead.
Evidently they were old enemies, and this was not the first time that
they had engaged in deadly duel. Ancient scores had to be paid, and a
fig for those who came after!
Each glared at the other. Each tried to push his big craft ahead. Crash!
They stuck, and jammed, the man at the right, the man at the left,
pushing with all his force with a giant pole, each push locking both
barges the tighter.
We were on their heels, and on ours was the whole press of boats let out
from the lock, surging heavily forward.
Alb shouted something in Dutch. "I'm saying that the only thing is for
one to give way, and let the other go by in advance, not both try to
strain through together," he explained, when I anxiously demanded to
know what was happening.
Both men shook their heads, and grumbled, while from behind rose a Babel
of cries and adjurations.
"They won't," said Alb. "They say that they will never give way to each
other. They would smash their boats first. If anything happens to part
them they won't mind, because it will be fate, and neither one will have
given up for the other. Meanwhile, they say they're sorry, but they
won't move, and the rest of us must fare the best we can."
"Can't the lock-keeper do anything?" I asked.
"He can swear." Alb smiled; and I believe there was something in him
that sympathized with the two obstinate brutes.
"For goodness' sake tell them we'll give each one a hundred--no, a
thousand--gulden, if necessary, if only they'll agree as to which is to
yield, and move out of our road."
"I'll tell them," said Brederode, dubiously; and a few words passed
between the three.
"I knew what they'd answer," he announced, in a moment. "They say they
won't do it for a million. 'Every man has his price,' is a proverb that
doesn't count with Dutchmen, where principles are concerned. Now, I'm
going to try and force a way, but I'm afraid 'Mascotte' hasn't force
enough, and if not, it's all up, for here comes MacNairne."
I looked back and saw my uncle-in-law picking his way toward us from
boat to barge, from barge to lighter. He had lost his hat in that
argument of which I had not seen the end, but he had not lost his
determination, and at his present rate he would reach us in about two
minutes.
[Illustration: _At his present rate he would reach us in about two
minutes_]
Suddenly Alb put on full speed ahead, and gallantly little "Mascotte"
rammed her dainty nose between the two black and bulky barges. But her
strength did not match her courage. She got only a pinching for her
pains, and, as Alb exclaimed, we were caught.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I've done all I could, and don't see what I can
do more, short of knocking poor MacNairne on the head with a pole."
"You've been a brick, and I won't forget it," said I. A strange coolness
had come upon me with the knowledge that the worst was inevitable. I
felt that my small-sword alone could win me through. "All I ask is that,
whatever I do or say, you'll stand by me," I finished.
"Have you a plan?" he asked.
"Part of a plan. I----"
Before I had a chance to finish either plan or sentence the enemy was
upon us. I heard him coming, and turned round just in time to meet my
aunt's husband face to face as, climbing across from the nearest barge,
he leaped over the rail on to our little deck.
XXXVI
I smiled brilliantly at the dear fellow. I sprang to him, holding out a
welcoming hand.
"Why, Sir Alec, this _is_ a delightful surprise!" I exclaimed. "Where
_did_ you come from? I thought I had lost you, at Leeuwarden."
So utterly was he dumfounded, not to say flabbergasted, by the manner of
his reception, that I had time to spring these three quickly following
remarks upon him before he was able to answer.
When he did, it was with a sledge-hammer. "Well, I'm d--d!" said he.
I stared in gentle amazement; then, glancing quickly at Alb, appeared
suddenly to apprehend his meaning.
"Why, of course, you must be surprised to find me on a boat with
Jonkheer Brederode."
"You lied to me at Leeuwarden," went on Sir Alec. He was never a man to
mince words, as I noticed when visiting my aunt. Poor, pretty,
flirtatious Aunt Fay!
I now gathered dignity. My simple delight at an unexpected meeting with
a relative (in law) in a foreign waterway, froze into virtuous
indignation.
"Really, Sir Alec, I am at a loss to understand you," I said. "I greet
you in the most friendly----"
"Because you're a scoundrel and a hypocrite," said he.
This interruption I scorned to notice, save by proceeding as I had
intended to proceed.
"And you insult me. What do you mean, Sir Alec MacNairne?"
"I mean"--he caught me up without hesitation--"that you, though you
pretended to sympathize when I confided in you, were in league with
Rudolph Brederode to outwit and deceive me in the most shameless way."
"You forget yourself," said Brederode, turning red, and contriving to
keep his dignity in spite of Hendrik's sopping overalls. "I have never
deceived or injured you. If this were my boat, I should have to ask----"
"Don't try that on," said Sir Alec, scornfully. "It _is_ your boat."
"It happens to be the property of Miss Van Buren, a young American lady,
for whom I'm acting as skipper," returned Alb.
"Rot," was the terse comment of my uncle-in-law.
Alb bit his lip, and his eyes were growing dangerous. I had seen that
look on his face once or twice.
"And he's engaged to her," said I.
That is, something inside of me popped out those words, and there they
were, spoken, not to be taken back. Alb and I looked at each other. He
flushed again. But he did not speak.
"Produce this Miss Van Buren," sneered Sir Alec.
"I will," I promised. "But before I do, calm yourself. You are in no fit
state to speak to ladies."
"I wish to talk to my wife," said he.
"Aunt Fay is not on board this boat, and never has been," I pronounced,
each nerve on edge lest one lovely feminine head or another should pop
up from below. I knew well that we owed the extraordinary obedience of
the girls to the magnetic influence of that remarkable woman their
chaperon, and how long she could continue to exert the charm which
meshed them in the cabin, as Vivien meshed Merlin in the hollow oak, it
was impossible to guess. At any instant we might hear a girlish voice
calling the name of Lady MacNairne. Even if Tibe--but I dared not think
of Tibe.
Horatius holding his bridge alone, was nothing compared to me. No one
could help me now.
"Pooh! Do you expect me to believe that? After what happened at
Leeuwarden--when I trusted you?"
"You trusted me," said I, coldly, "with good reason, and it would be
well if you did so again. Kindly state what, from your point of view,
_did_ happen at Leeuwarden to bring this storm of unmerited abuse upon
my head."
"I dare say it would be convenient to you to forget. I met you with
Brederode at the Kermess. You seized me and prevented me from following
him as I wished to do. Then, when he had got out of my way, you assured
me that you'd find him. You said you were not with him on his boat, that
you hadn't been together ten minutes----"
"Neither had we," said I. "That was perfectly true. And I'm not on his
boat. As he told you, I'm on Miss Van Buren's. And if I didn't look you
up to tell you where you could find Jonkheer Brederode, it was because I
thought you would only lose your dignity by meeting him, and do Aunt Fay
and yourself both more harm than good. I know for a certainty that
Alb--that Brederode hasn't seen Aunt Fay since July anyhow. And why
should I let you and your stupid suspicions make trouble between a very
good fellow and--and--the girl he's in love with?"
This time I did not meet Alb's eyes. I was looking straight and with a
noble defiance into Sir Alec's.
"You are very high and mighty," said he. "But I'm not to be fooled again
by either of you. I've been chasing Brederode for weeks in that beastly
motor-launch, and I'm about sick of the whole business. I've got him
now, and you, too. And though you may both tell me till you're blue in
the face that my wife hasn't been and isn't on this boat, I won't
believe you till I've searched every hole and corner of it."
"Perhaps I had better go and ask Miss Van Buren whether she will kindly
permit my uncle-in-law to make such an examination of her property," I
said, with the ice of conscious rectitude in my voice.
"Very well," returned Sir Alec. "Go and fetch her."
With head aloft, I stalked to the top of the steps which I defy any
human being to descend with dignity.
What would happen between Sir Alec and Alb while I was gone, or what I
should say when I got below, I knew not. I could only trust to luck. Was
it going to turn out in vain, I asked myself, that all my life I have
been called "lucky Starr"?
The canvas curtain at the door of the outer cabin, which protects the
ladies from the heat of the motor-room, was unfurled and hanging at
length. Standing behind it, I spoke Miss Van Buren's name.
All was silent on the other side. But, after a delay of a few seconds,
Nell half pushed aside the heavy folds of canvas and looked out at me.
Her charming face was, for an instant, within twelve inches of mine. I
drew back in resignation. With my own hand I had given her to another.
Whether or no she would eventually become his, I could not tell, but I
felt that, after what I had done, she would never belong to me.
There was, however, very little time to think of that now. My business
was pressing.
"Come outside in the passage a minute," I said, in a low voice, still
hearing no sound from the other side of the curtain. "I want to speak to
you."
"Lady MacNairne----" she began.
I put my finger to my lips. "Sh!" said I.
"Oh, did you know she was ill?" asked Nell.
I shook my head.
"She is, poor dear. She had the most sudden attack, just after we came
down, and Phyllis and I haven't been able to leave her. She wouldn't let
one of us go up to tell you."
"Wonderful little woman!" I could scarcely refrain from exclaiming. "Her
cleverness--I mean her consideration--is extraordinary."
"It was her heart," explained Nell. "She's been lying down ever since,
holding Phyllis's hand and mine. But she's better now, and I'm not sure
she hasn't gone to sleep, for when I heard you call me, and tried to
slip my hand out of hers, she didn't seem to notice."
"She wouldn't," I said--to myself. "Where's Tibe?" I asked aloud.
"She's using him for a footstool."
All accounted for and under control! Yes; thrice wonderful little woman.
"We couldn't see anything of the race after all," went on Nell. "Did we
beat?"
"That's what I've come to talk to you about," I said, not knowing in the
least what I was going to say next. "It turned out," I went on slowly,
"that a man I--er--know, was on board the boat we were racing. We beat
it, but we didn't beat him; for he's walked on board since we've been
jammed by a couple of brutes on barges. Oh, no harm done--don't be
worried. The man is--in fact--Sir Alec MacNairne."
"Oh, the nice man we met at Amsterdam, and again at Leeuwarden, when
we--we--" She blushed at the recollection. "He's a distant relation
of----"
"Hush! Please don't speak her name or his loud enough for either to
hear," I whispered. "I can't explain all to you; but--will you trust
me?"
"Why, of course," said my lost Angel.
"Sir Alec MacNairne thinks his wife is on board, and he's very angry
with Brederode and me, because, you see, he and his wife have had a
quarrel," I vaguely explained. "He's got everything mixed up; and
because he's heard that a Lady MacNairne's on this boat, he's been
chasing us, full of fury. He's silly enough to believe that Brederode's
in love with his wife, and--I can't make you understand precisely why,
without giving away a secret of my _aunt's_--that nonsense of his is
likely to work _our_ Lady MacNairne a lot of harm."
"What a shame!" exclaimed sympathetic but puzzled Nell. "Can't anything
be done about it?"
"Something has been done," said I. "That's what I want you to forgive me
for, and--and help me to carry out, for Aunt Fay's sake. Poor Aunt Fay,
who's suffering with her heart at this minute! What will she have to
endure, if you don't stand by her!"
"I'll stand by her with all my might and main," said Nell. "What can I
do?"
"I'm breaking it to you--by degrees. The first degree is, I told Sir
Alec that Alb was--is--in love with you."
"Oh--how _could_ you?"
"It was fatally easy. And then I said you were engaged to him. That's
the second degree; and the third and last is, that I beg and implore you
to come on deck with me, and tell him it's true."
The girl had actually turned pale. "I can't possibly. Anything else--but
not that," she said.
"It's the one thing to save my poor aunt. Miss Van Buren--Nell--I tell
you frankly, if you won't do this, she--I'm afraid she won't much longer
be Lady MacNairne."
"Good gracious! How awful!" stammered the girl.
"Tragic!" I agreed. "And for me--but I say nothing of my feelings. You
know how devoted I am to my aunt. She'll be alone in the world--with
Tibe--if you refuse to sacrifice yourself in this way for her."
Nell's face was now white and set. I felt a brute; but what was I to do?
For the sake of every one concerned, I couldn't have the L.C.P. exposed,
or be exposed myself, and the trip broken up at the last, in contumely
for all.
I hung on her lips.
"Where is Jonkheer Brederode?" she asked.
"He's on deck, too."
"And you expect me to say--before him--that----"
"He's said the same, already. Or, at least, he agreed while I said it."
"Oh! Well, I don't see how I'm to go through with it. But for Lady
MacNairne's sake, I'll--do it. Come, let's get it over."
"Wait a minute," I urged, restraining her impatience. "I must explain a
little more, first. After Sir Alec has talked with you, he'll want to
come below to the cabins, and everywhere, searching for his wife; for he
won't believe, till he's made sure with his own eyes, that she's not on
board. If you're willing that he should, I am; but don't tell him that a
person named Lady MacNairne's really with us, or I can't answer for the
consequences."
"If he comes below, he'll see her."
"That doesn't matter, as they've never met; so long as he doesn't know
her name."
"Very well, he shan't learn it from me."
"And he mustn't from Miss Rivers. Will you warn your stepsister, not
under any provocation whatever, to speak the name of Lady MacNairne?"
"I will. But why couldn't you have said Phil was engaged to Jonkheer
Brederode?"
"Robert van Buren wouldn't have stood it."
"I see. But what about him? It's no use my telling him anything; he
would go and do the opposite. He's sitting in the outer cabin, alone,
where Lady MacNairne asked him to stay and keep guard over her, while
Phyllis and I stopped beside her in the inner room.
"Dear Aunt Fay," I murmured. "If you'll just warn Miss Rivers, and tell
my aunt that she'd better be asleep when Sir Alec MacNairne peeps in,
I'll tackle your cousin."
"Come, then," said Nell.
And I followed her into that tasteful little cabin which, in the dim
past, I decorated for my own use.
Luckily, it is a far more difficult task to persuade Robert van Buren to
say something than not to say anything at all; and though he was
puzzled, and not too pleased at being plunged into a mystery, I extorted
from him a promise to glare as much as he liked at the intruder but not
on any account to speak.
"He won't know you understand English," I said, determining to
strengthen in Sir Alec's mind, by every means in my power, the
impression of Robert's Dutchness.
I had just arranged matters when Nell came back with the strained air of
a martyr who hears the lions. We went up on deck together, and a glance
showed Sir Alec that no introduction was needed.
"What! This is Miss Van Buren, the young lady who is engaged to marry
Jonkheer Brederode!" he exclaimed.
Nell bowed, thankful no doubt that his way of putting it relieved her of
the necessity for words.
"You said in Leeuwarden that you didn't know the two young ladies in
Dutch costumes," my uncle-in-law flung at me.
"You may have gathered that impression. I certainly never said so," I
answered promptly--and truthfully too. "Perhaps I thought, at the time,
that the less attention bestowed on the ladies the better they would be
pleased," I added.
"You were right," remarked Nell, bravely.
"Oh, very well," said Sir Alec. Then, abruptly, "How's the dog?"
"He's as nice as ever," replied the girl.
Silence for an instant. MacNairne was visibly reflecting. The sight of
Miss Van Buren, and her tacit confirmation of my statement, was cooling
him down. He is a gentleman, and a good fellow when not in one of his
jealous rages; and evidently he did not wish to distress her, or shake
her faith in a man she was going to marry.
"I expected to find my wife on board this boat," he said at last
abruptly. "Is she here?"
"No," said Nell, "she is not, and never has been."
"It's your boat--not Brederode's?"
"It's my boat. He is--kindly acting as our skipper. If you would care to
go below, and satisfy yourself that La--that your wife isn't on board,
please do so."
Sir Alec looked at her, and she looked at him, straight in the eyes, as
why should she not, poor girl, having no guilty secret of her own to
conceal?
"Thank you," he said. "If I've your word for it, that's enough. I won't
go below. Instead, I will bid you good afternoon, and get back to my own
boat--if I can. But first--Starr, do you know where my wife is?"
"I don't," said I. "That I swear. I only wish I did, and I'd tell you
like a shot. Why don't you advertise in the papers: 'Come home. Forget
and forgive. I'll do the same.' Or something of the sort? I'm perfectly
sure that would fetch her, for she's very fond of you, you know--or
ought to know. She told me once that, in spite of all, you were one of
the best fellows in the world."
"Did she really?" the poor chap asked, his face flushing up--not with
rage this time.
"She did, indeed."
"Thank you," he said absent-mindedly. He thought for a moment, and then
spoke quickly, "Well, Brederode, I'm not sure that I oughtn't to
apologize."
"I _am_ sure, Sir Alec," Alb answered. But he was smiling.
"Here goes, then." The big Scotsman held out his hand. The tall Dutchman
in the blue overalls took it.
"I don't know about you, Starr," said Sir Alec. "I'm inclined to feel
that you, at all events, have treated me rather badly. As my wife's----"
"I've meant well all through," I broke in hurriedly. "And just now I
gave you a bit of good advice. You'll thank me when you've taken it."
"Perhaps I will take it," he muttered.
"Hurrah!" said Alb. "The grand pressure of the whole flock of us is
forcing the barrier apart. We shall make our way through in a few
minutes now."
"Good-by, then, all," exclaimed Sir Alec. "I must be getting back to my
boat. The bargees don't mind me much now it's dawned on their
intelligence that I'm neither mad nor an anarchist. Brederode, I
congratulate you on your engagement to Miss Van Buren. I hope, Miss Van
Buren, that you will be very happy. As for me, probably I shall leave
Holland to-morrow."
With that he turned his back upon us resolutely and made off, scrambling
on board the barge jammed nearest "Mascotte's" side. So he went on, from
one to another, until he had disappeared from sight.
"Miss Van Buren," said Brederode, "can you forgive us?"
"It is hard," she said, picking up a fold of her white dress and playing
with it nervously. "But we won't talk of it any more--ever. I must go
now, and see how Lady MacNairne is."
"Not yet. One moment. There's something I must say in justice to
myself," Brederode persisted.
She hesitated. And there was that in her face, that in his voice, which
made me realize suddenly that my explanations were not needed. I could
trust Alb not to give me away; and, as for him, he had forgotten all
about me--so had Nell. And I crept off unnoticed.
The one place for me was on board "Waterspin," and before the barrier
had done more than show signs of yielding I crawled over, slinking into
my cabin.
"Well, well!" I said to myself. "Well, well!" I said again, with my head
between my hands as I sat on my lonely bunk. There seemed nothing else
to say.
I stayed for a long time, until the press had broken, and we were going
on at full speed once more. Then I went to a window of the kitchen,
which Phyllis so much admired, and looked out. I could see the deck of
"Mascotte," and Brederode and Nell, who were still alone there together.
"Well, well!" I repeated idiotically; "it's I who did that. If it hadn't
been for me--but I don't know. I suppose it was bound to happen, anyway.
I wonder?"
Then I returned to my cabin and flitted about restlessly. Soon I became
conscious that I was humming an air. It was not, in itself, a sad air;
but there was a certain sadness as well as appropriateness in its
meaning for me----
_Giving agreeable girls away--
One for you, and one for you, but never (how does it go?),
never one for me!_
We were stopping. We had come to Middelburg. I looked out again. Nell
was on deck alone. Doubtless Alb had at last gone below to the
motor-room, and was exchanging the blue overalls for something more
decorous. Would he, even for the sake of conventionality, have left her
at such a moment unless everything were settled?
"Mascotte" and "Waterspin" were at rest, and I could avail myself of
Alb's absence to find out if I liked. I was not at all sure that I did
like. Nevertheless, something urged me to go, and before I quite knew
how or why I had come there, I stood beside the pretty white figure.
Nell looked up at me, radiant with emotion.
"Oh, Mr. Starr, you were just the one I wanted to see," she exclaimed.
"I was _willing_ you to come."
"Well, I came," I said, smiling. "I'm glad you want me."
"I want to ask you what to do. I sent him away. You know, we must stop
on board till Lady MacNairne's better, so--there's no hurry, and--he had
to change. At first he _wouldn't_ go without an answer. But I told him I
_must_ have ten minutes to make up my mind. He's explained everything.
He was never to blame. It was all Freule Menela's fault--and mine.
Please say what you think. You know him so well; you're old friends.
There's no one else I can talk to, and--I feel somehow--I have for a
long time--almost as if you were a kind of--adopted brother."
Brother again! Blow after blow; let them fall now, one upon another. I
had feared this, yet would not expect it. But I suppose I must
unwittingly have been born a brother.
"That's right," said I. "Go on--little sister." The words were getting
quite familiar now.