As they left the dinner-table, Opal passed the Boy on her way to her
stateroom, and laying her hand upon his arm, looked up into his face
appealingly. He wondered how any man could resist her.
"Let's put the book away, Paul, and never look at it again!"
"Will you be good to me if I do?" he demanded.
She considered a moment. "How?" she asked, finally.
"Come out for just a few moments under the stars, and say good-night."
"The idea! I can say good-night here and now!" She hesitated.
"Please, Opal! I seldom see you alone--really alone--and this is our
last night, you know. To-morrow we shall part--perhaps forever--who
knows? Can you be so cruel as to refuse this one request. Please come!"
His eyes were wooing, her heart fluttering in response.
"Well--perhaps!" she said.
"Perhaps?" he echoed, with a smile, then added, teasingly, "Are you
afraid?"
"Afraid?--I dare anything--to-night!"
"Then come!"
"I will--if I feel like this when the time comes. But," and she gave him
a tantalizing glance from under her long lashes, "don't expect me!"
Paul tried to look disappointed, but he felt sure that she would come.
And she did! But not till he had given up all hope, and was pacing the
deck in an agony of impatience. He had felt so certain that he knew his
beloved! She came, swiftly, silently, almost before he was aware.
"Well, ... I'm here," she said.
"I see you are, Opal and--thank you."
He extended his hand, but she clasped hers behind her back and looked
at him defiantly. Truly she was in a most perverse mood!
"Aren't we haughty!" he laughed.
"No, I'm not; I am--angry!"
"With me?"
"No!--not you."
"Whom, then?"
"With--myself!" And she stamped her tiny foot imperiously.
Paul was delighted. "Poor child," he said. "What have you done that you
are so sorry?"
"I'm not sorry! That's why I'm angry! If I were only a bit sorry, I'd
have some self-respect!"
Paul looked at her deliberately, taking in every little detail of her
appearance, his eyes full of admiration. Then he added, with an air of
finality, "But _I_ respect you!"
She softened, and laid her hand on his arm. Paul instantly took
possession of it.
"Do you really?" she asked, searching his face, almost wistfully. "A
girl who will do ...what I am doing to-night!"
"But what _are_ you doing, Opal?" he asked in the most innocent
surprise. "Merely keeping a wakeful man company beneath the stars!"
"Is that ...all?"
"All ..._now!_"
They stood silently for a minute, hand still in hand, looking far out
over the moonlit waters, each conscious of the trend of the other's
thoughts--the beating of the other's heart. The deck was deserted by all
save their two selves--they two alone in the big starlit universe. At
last she spoke.
"This is interesting, isn't it?"
"Of course!--holding your hand!"
She snatched it from him. "I forgot you had it," she said.
"Forget again!"
"No, I won't!... Is it always interesting?... holding a girl's hand?"
"It depends upon the girl, I suppose! I was enjoying it immensely just
then."
He took her hand again.
And again that perilously sweet silence fell between them.
At last, "Promise me, Paul!" she said.
"I will--what is it?"
"Promise me to forget anything I may say or do to-night ... not to think
hard of me, however rashly I may act! I'm not accountable, really! I'm
liable to say ...anything! I feel it in my blood!"
"I understand, Opal! See! the winds are boisterous and unruly enough.
You may be as rash and reckless as you will!"
Suddenly the wind blew her against his breast. The perfume of her hair,
and all the delicious nearness of her, intoxicated him. He laughed a
soft, caressing little lover-laugh, and raising her face to his, kissed
her lips easily, naturally, as though he had the right. She struggled,
helplessly, as he held her closely to him, and would not let her go.
"You are a--" She bit her lip, and choked back the offensive word.
"A--what? Say it, Opal!"
"A--a--_brute_! There! let me go!"
But he only held her closer and laughed again softly, till she
whispered, "I didn't--quite--_mean_ that, you know!"
"Of course you didn't!"
She drew away from him and pointed her finger at him accusingly, her
eyes full of reproof.
"But--you _said_ you wouldn't! You promised!"
"Wouldn't what?"
"Wouldn't do--what you did--again!"
"Did I?" insinuatingly.
"How dare you ask that? You----"
"'Brute' again? Quite like old married folk!"
"Old married folk? They never kiss!"
"Don't they?"
"Not each other!... other people's husbands or wives!"
"Is that it?"
"Surely----
'Think you, if Laura had been Petrarch's wife,
He would have written sonnets all his life?'
O no! not he!"
"I'm learning many new things, Opal! Let's play we're married, then--to
someone else!"
"But--haven't you any conscience at all?"
"Conscience?--what a question! Of course I have!"
"You certainly aren't using it to-night!"
"I'm too busy! Kiss me!"
"The very idea!"
"Please!"
"Certainly not!"
"Then let me kiss you!"
_"No!!!"_
"Why not?--Don't you like to be loved?"
And his arms closed around her, and his lips found hers again, and held
them.
At last, "Silly Boy!"
"Why?"
"Oh! to make such a terrible fuss about something he doesn't really
want, and will be sorry he has after he gets it!"
And Paul asked her wickedly, what foolish boy she was talking about now?
_He_ knew what he really wanted--always--and was not sorry when he had
it. Not he! He was sorry only for the good things he had let slip, never
for those he had taken!
"But--do let me go, Paul! I don't belong to you!"
"Yes you do--for a little while!" He held her close.
Belong to him! How she thrilled at the thought! Was this what it meant
to be--loved? And _did_ she belong to him--if only, as he said, for a
little while? She certainly didn't belong to herself! Whatever this
madness that had suddenly taken possession of her, it was stronger than
herself. She couldn't control it--she didn't even want to! At all
events, she was _living_ to-night! Her blood was rushing madly through
her body. She was deliciously, thoroughly alive!
"Paul!--are you listening?"
"Yes, dear!" the answer strangely muffled.
And then she purred in his ear, all the time caressing his cheek with
her small white fingers: "You see, Paul, I knew I had made some sort of
impression upon you. I must have done so or you wouldn't have--done
that! But any girl can make an impression on shipboard, and an affair at
sea is always so--evanescent, that no one expects it to last more than
a week. I don't want to make such a transitory impression upon you,
Paul. I wanted you to remember me longer. I wanted--oh, I wanted to give
you something to remember that was just a little bit different than
other girls had given you--some distinct impression that must linger
with you--always--always! I'm not like other women! Do you see, Paul? It
was all sheer vanity. I wanted you to remember!"
"And did you think I could forget?"
"Of course! All men forget a kiss as soon as their lips cease tingling!"
Paul laughed. "Wise girl! Who taught you so much? Come, confess!"
"Oh, I've known _you_ a whole week, Paul, and you----"
But their lips met again and the sentence was never finished.
At last she put her hands on each side of his face and looked up into
his eyes.
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Paul?"
"Of course not!"
"Of course you are!"
"You misunderstood me!--I said _'Not'_! But why? Are you ashamed of
me?"
"I ought to be, oughtn't I? But--I don't believe you can help it!"
His lips crushed hers again, fiercely. "I can't, Opal--I can't!"
She turned away her head, but he buried his face in her neck, kissing
the soft flesh again and again.
"Such a slip of a girl!" Paul murmured in her ear, when he again found
his voice. "Such a tiny, little girl! I am almost afraid you will vanish
if I don't hold you tight!"
Opal was thoroughly aroused now--no longer merely passive--quite
satisfactorily responsive.
"I won't, Paul! I won't! But hold me closer, closer! Crush this terrible
ache out of my heart if you can, Paul!"
There were tears in her voice. He clasped her to him and felt her heart
throbbing out its pain against its own, as he whispered, "Opal, am I a
brute?"
"N-o-o-o-o!" A pause. At last, "Let me go now, Paul! This is sheer
insanity!"
But he made no move to release her until she looked up into his eyes in
an agony of appeal, and pleaded, "Please, Paul!"
"Are you sure you want to go?"
"No, I'm not sure of that, but I'm quite sure that I _ought_ to go! I
must! I must!"
And Paul released her. Where was this madness carrying them? Was he
acting the part of the man he meant to be, or of a cad--an unprincipled
bounder? He did not know. He only knew he wanted to kiss her--_kiss_
her....
She turned on him in a sudden flash of indignation. "Why have you such
power over me?" she demanded.
"What power over you, Opal!"
"What's the use of dodging the truth, you professor of honesty? You make
me do things we both know I'll be sorry for all the rest of my life.
_Why_ do you do it?"
Her eyes blazed with a real anger that made her _piquante_ face more
alluring than ever to the eyes of the infatuated Boy who watched her. He
was fighting desperately for self-control, but if she should look at
him as she had looked sometimes--!
"I can't understand it!" she exclaimed. "I always knew I was capable of
being foolish--wicked, perhaps--for a _grande passion_. I could forgive
myself that, I think! But for a mere caprice--a _penchant_ like this!
Oh, Paul! what can you think of me?"
His voice was hoarse--heavy with emotion.
"Think of you, Opal? I am sure you must know what I think. I've never
had an opportunity to tell you--in so many words--but you must have seen
what I have certainly taken no pains to conceal. Shall I try to tell
you, Opal?"
"No, no! I don't want to hear a word--not a word! Do you understand? I
forbid you!"
Paul bowed deferentially. She laughed nervously at the humility in his
obeisance.
"Don't be ridiculous!" she commanded. "This is growing too melodramatic,
and I hate a scene. But, really, Paul, you mustn't--simply mustn't!
There are reasons--conditions--and--you must not tell me, and I must
not, _will_ not listen!"
"I mustn't make love to you, you mean?"
"I mean ... just that!"
"Why not?"
"Never mind the 'why.' There are plenty of good and sufficient reasons
that I might give if I chose, but--I don't choose! The only reason that
you need to know is--that I forbid you!"
She turned away with that regal air of hers that made one forget her
child-like stature.
"Are you going, Opal?"
"Yes!--what did I come out here for? I can't remember. Do you know?"
"To wish me good-night, of course! And you haven't done it!"
She looked back over her shoulder, a mocking laugh in those inscrutable
eyes. Then she turned and held out both hands to him.
"Good-night, Paul, good-night!... You seem able to do as you please with
me, in spite of--everything--and I just want to stay in your arms
forever--forever ..."
Paul caught her to him, and their lips melted in a clinging kiss.
At last she drew away from his embrace.
"The glitter of the moonlight and the music of the wind-maddened waves
must have gone to my brain!" She laughed merrily, pulled his face down
to hers for a last swift kiss, and ran from him before he could detain
her.
* * * * *
The next morning they met for a brief moment alone.
Opal shook hands with the Boy in her most perfunctory manner.
Paul, after a moment's silent contemplation of her troubled face, bent
over her, saying, "Have I offended you, Opal? Are you angry with me?"
She opened her eyes wide and asked with the utmost innocence "For what?"
Paul was disconcerted. "Last night!" he said faintly.
She colored, painfully.
"No, Paul, listen! I don't blame you a bit!--not a bit! A man would be a
downright fool not to take--what he wanted---- But if you want to
be--friends with me, you'll just forget all about--last night--or at any
rate, ignore it, and never refer to it again."
He extended his hand, and she placed hers in it for the briefest
possible instant.
And then their _tête-à-tête_ was interrupted, and they sat down for
their last breakfast at sea.
Opal Ledoux was not visible again until the Lusitania docked in New
York, when she waved her _companion de voyage_ a smiling but none the
less reluctant _au revoir_!
But Paul was too far away to see the tears in her eyes, and only
remembered the smile.