OUR NIGHT AT MARTINIQUE.
Of course I had to meet Wesson in the morning; and as I could assign no
reason for the distrust which I felt, I had to choose between giving him
the cut direct and putting on an air of coolness without a real affront.
I encountered him on deck, before I had been down to dress, as I went
out to take a view of the island of St. Kitts. He murmured something
about being glad to see me again, but did not attempt a prolonged
conversation. He evidently had not yet ascertained that I was his
roommate.
Slightly uneasy to have Miss May so far from me I went as soon as I was
dressed to her door and knocked. She was awake and in response to an
inquiry said she would be up to breakfast. Luckily she had been given a
room alone, due perhaps to a small inducement I had sent in a note left
with the agent the day before. As I stood outside I chafed at the
restrictions she continually put upon me; and yet I knew very well I had
no right to complain. What earthly business had I in the room of a
young, unmarried woman, before she was out of bed? The fact that I had
been in more than one under similar circumstances did not count in a
case like this.
The scornful words of my darling came back to me--the expression she had
used at St. Croix. I must put better control on my wild thoughts or I
would yet do something she might regard as unpardonable.
The table to which we were assigned in the salon had no especial
interest. The other people had become acquainted from their nine days'
voyage together and clearly looked upon us as interlopers. For this I
was not sorry. Beyond necessary requests to "pass" the butter or the
ice, I had nothing to say to them nor they to me; while Miss May's mouth
was sealed entirely to conversation.
The succeeding days would have been insufferably dull but for the
presence of my idol, as I had been to all the islands on my voyage of
three years previous. To show them to her with the confidence of an old
traveller was in itself a charm not to be despised. We went ashore
together at St. Kitts, and drove extensively; took our turtle dinner at
Antigua, where I was much grieved to hear that Mr. Fox, the American
consul, with whom I had formerly been acquainted, had died shortly after
my previous visit. He was one of the pleasantest men I ever met and an
honor to the civil service. A new consul, bound to Guadaloupe, was on
board, with his wife--a Chicago man with a French name and the unusual
ability to speak the language of the place to which he was accredited.
He struck me as much better educated than the average consul and withal
a good fellow. In his party, much of the time, were two charming young
ladies from Alleghany City, whose father, a German, was taking a well
earned vacation from his duties as cashier of a bank there. Had there
been any place in my mind that was not filled with Marjorie, I should
certainly have tried to become better acquainted with these girls.
I also made a smoking room acquaintance with three delightful fellows, a
Mr. T----, from Indianapolis, a Mr. S----, from Greensburg, and a Mr.
H----, from Brockton, Mass. The first was an attorney; the second
engaged in the theatrical business, and the third a license
commissioner. I should be sorry to think I had seen either for the last
time.
At Dominica I went ashore very early and engaged two horses for a ride
into the mountains, making arrangements with an individual who seemed
(actually) to rejoice in the cognomen of "Mr. Cockroach." He announced
himself to me as the owner of that title with evident pride and when we
came off after breakfast had ready two of as mean animals, judging by
appearance, as could be imagined. They endured the long climb, however,
remarkably well, and were as easy to sit as a rocking chair. Marjorie
unbent herself more than usual when we were in the heart of the hills,
with no one near, for the black boy who was supposed to follow us on
foot had a way of cutting across the fields and keeping out of sight
nearly all the time.
The island of Dominica is very beautiful and I remembered enjoying this
ride greatly on my previous visit. The vegetation is thoroughly
tropical. The excessive moisture caused by rains which occur daily
through most of the year gives to everything a luxuriance not exceeded
north of the equator, I believe. The mountain path by which we went is
too narrow in most places to ride abreast, but wherever we could get
side by side I managed to do so. At such times the sense of
companionship was thrillingly delicious, and while I dared not risk
offending by becoming too familiar, I managed to play the discreet lover
and was very happy.
I thought I was certainly improving. There had been a time, not so very
long before, when I would Have planted myself in the lady's way, and
exacted tribute before letting her by, trusting to her forgiveness after
the deed was done. I would have given much to have dared the same thing
now, but the thought did not seriously enter my head. I was certainly
growing better under my excellent teacher.
There was one point at which I had a jealous pang, so ridiculous that I
think it only right to detail the occurrence. We went out of our way to
view a sulphur pit, where the Evil One or some of his satellites have
apparently secured an opening to the air from the very Bottomless Pit
itself. The atmosphere is charged with fumes, while the deposit bubbles
and froths in a way to strike terror into the heart of an infidel. To
get a near view, one must be carried across a small stream by a couple
of negroes, or--take off his shoes and stockings and wade. Miss May
looked somewhat aghast at both propositions, and I allowed the boys to
carry me over first, to show her how safe the process was. But, though
it might be safe, it was clearly not graceful, for they handled a human
being quite as if he were a sack, thinking their duty done if they got
him across without dropping him in the brook.
She said, at first, that she believed she would rather wade and sat down
to take off her boots. Then, when it came to the hosiery and her fingers
had begun to wander toward the fastenings, she had another period of
doubt, calling to me to know if there was really anything worth seeing.
Finally putting on her boots again, she directed the negroes how to make
a sort of "cat's-cradle" chair and arrived safely in that manner.
It was then that I had my pang. For she put both her fair arms around
the neck of the bearers to steady herself in transit.
"I shall insist on being one of your porteurs, on your return," I said,
as she was placed on her feet. "If you are going to put your arms around
the neck of any man in this island it must be myself."
She tried to laugh off the idea, a little nervously, saying she had more
confidence in those experienced fellows on the slippery stones than she
had in me. I persisted a little longer, till it became evident my
expressions were not agreeable. In returning she managed to steady
herself by merely touching the shoulders of her bearers, and brought
back the smile to my face by calling my attention to the fact, with a
comic elevation of her eyebrows. I helped her mount her horse and all
the way from there she was kindness itself. On the whole the day was the
most delightful I had passed since leaving America.
She was to be my wife! This thought was uppermost in my mind. She must
be my wife! I would think of nothing but that blissful culmination.
It was not the time now to press for an affirmative answer. I must make
myself more and more agreeable, more indispensable to her. When the hour
came that she was about to leave me--when the alternative presented
itself to her mind of going back to her unpleasant struggle for bread
or becoming the consort of a man she had admitted was not distasteful to
her--I had no fear of the result.
The next stop after Dominica is Martinique and here I intended to make a
stay of a month at least. My tickets were only purchased as far as this
point. Our baggage was taken ashore and, as far as appeared, we had
bidden a permanent farewell to the good ship Pretoria.
Again, however, my plans were to be altered.
The Hotel des Bains at St. Pierre, is not by any means a first-class
house, but there is something quaint about it that to me has a certain
charm. The meals are served in the French style and not at all bad. The
beds are immense affairs, and I never yet saw a bed that was too big. In
the centre of what might be called the patio, so Spanish is the
architecture of the building, is a fish-pond, giving an air of coolness
to the entire place.
The patois of the servants is pleasing to my ear. I entered the house in
high spirits, remembering a delightful visit there in the former time.
The mulatto proprietor recognized me, as did his slightly lighter
colored wife, presiding over her duties as only a woman of French
extraction can.
"A large room with two beds, I presume?" asked the proprietor, in
French, bowing affably to Miss May.
"He asks if we wish a large room with two beds," I said translating his
words into English, smilingly, but she evidently did not consider the
joke worth laughing at. So I said that we wished two rooms, as near
together as possible.
Madame looked up. She was searching, evidently, for the wedding ring
that was absent from Marjorie's finger, to explain my decision. A
servant was called to attend to us and presently we were established in
very comfortable quarters.
As I wanted Miss May to see the island as soon as possible, a carriage
was summoned immediately, in which we took the road to Fort de France,
where we viewed the statue of the Empress Josephine, erected to
commemorate the fact that she was born in that vicinity. We had a nice
lunch at a hotel there and took rooms to secure the siesta to which we
had both grown accustomed. Then we drove back to St. Pierre, and arrived
at the Hotel des Bains in season for dinner.
The Carnival, which lasts here for four or five weeks, had already
begun. The streets were crowded with masquers and sounds of strange
music filled the air. There was something very odd in this imitation by
the negro race of the frivolities of the Latin countries of Europe as a
precedent of the forty days of Lent. Miss May viewed it with me from the
balcony of a restaurant until nearly ten o'clock. A number of the
steamer people were also there and I fancied we were the object of more
than ordinary attention from their eyes.
After reaching the hotel again I asked Miss May if she would mind being
left alone for an hour or so, while I went to see a peculiar dance. I
assured her that the house was absolutely safe. She made no objection
and I went with a party of Pretoria people--no women--to witness the
spectacle of which I had heard so much. It was not half as entertaining
as I had expected, but there were several girls of the Métisse variety
that well repaid me for going. The Métisse is a mixture of races, the
original Carib prevailing, one of the most fetching types extant. They
were dressed becomingly, in thin gowns, of which silk was at least one
of the textures used. On their heads were party-colored handkerchiefs,
draped as only a Martinique beauty can drape them.
At the risk of being thought extravagant in my statement I must say they
appeared to me strikingly handsome, both in their faces and their lithe
figures. I was told that each of those I saw was the mistress of some
well-to-do merchant of the place and strictly true to her lover. The
dance was not of a kind one would wish to take his sisters to see, but
it was evident the negroes put a less libidinous interpretation upon it
than the Caucasian visitors. It was one, however, where "a little goes a
long way," and before twelve I was in my room at the hotel.
I had just lit the lamp when I was surprised to hear a knock at the door
and opened it to find Miss May standing there, with an anxious
expression on her face.
"Don't undress," she said, in a slightly shaking voice. "I have been
full of all sorts of fears since you went away. I want you to sit up
awhile and talk to me."
I accepted the amendment, as they say in deliberative bodies, with the
greatest pleasure, for I would rather sit up with her than to sleep on
the softest down ever made into a couch. She went to the window, which
was innocent of glass, and threw open the wooden shutters.
"What did you hear to disturb you, a mouse?" I asked, jocularly.
"I don't know. The place is full of creepy sounds. The noise in the
street continues and every step in the corridors makes the boards creak.
Did you enjoy your dance?"
"Not specially," I said. And then I told her of the Métisse women I had
seen, praising their appearance.
She did not seem to notice what I was saying. She acted as if in
constant fear of something unpleasant.
"You do not care to talk as much as you thought you did," I remarked.
"No. I was tired and sleepy, but I did not like to be alone. Why can't
I--there wouldn't be any harm, would there?--lie on this smaller bed
just as I am, and you can get your sleep over yonder?"
Conflicting sentiments filled my brain as I listened. What a strange
woman she was! Alarmed at the least approach on my part, when we were on
a steamer deck, a veranda or in a carriage; and now proposing to drop to
slumber in my very bedroom, as if it were nothing at all!
A dim suspicion that she meant more than she said forced itself upon me
at first. Was I deceiving myself by paying too much attention to her
protestations? Had she run away merely for the sake of being pursued?
The best method to prove the truth or falsity of this was to take her
strictly at her word, which I decided to do. I told her that the room
and everything in it was at her disposal, as she very well knew. She
might lie on one bed, or the other, or the floor, or sit in a chair. It
was unfortunate that in this house, as I had already learned, there were
no rooms with communicating doors, or I would get our quarters changed.
She thanked me, as if I was doing her a particular favor, and, curling
herself up as she had suggested, was soon, to all appearances, sound
asleep.
Then the thoughts she had communicated to me, about the strange noises
in the house, entered my own head. I tossed on my pillow, from side to
side, sat up and lay down again a hundred times. There were mice enough
in the building to satisfy a cat for a year, if noises went for
anything. Late lodgers perambulated the halls, met each other and
whispered in tones much more disturbing than loud voices would have
been. Somebody, doubtless a servant, entered the next room, the one
Marjorie had occupied, and moved about there, as if in stocking-feet.
She had left her lamp lighted and this individual blew it out, as I
could tell from certain signs. When this was done he went away, but
returned again presently, repeating the operation several times.
All the nerves in my body quivered with the strain.
I looked at my watch every half hour, by the light of the moon that
shone clearly through the open window. I thought I must awaken my
companion; the loneliness was becoming unbearable. Nothing but shame
prevented me--shame and a disinclination to disturb her calm and regular
breathing.
At last I grew a little calmer. And the next I knew Marjorie was
standing by my side, with one of her hands on my forehead and saying in
whispers that if I was going to take breakfast I would have to think of
getting up.
It was after ten o'clock and I had slept the sleep of a tired man for
seven hours!