"Of what," said I, "are you thinking?"
"I was thinking," he replied seriously, "that the world is a very droll
place,--agreeable for the gay, but hell for those born without a sense
of humor."
*VI*
*MASTER AND MAID*
I had become tired of following Smith about and of trying to keep an eye
on Clelia. The little minx was so demure that it seemed difficult to
believe she deliberately offered Smith opportunities for philandering.
Otherwise my household caused me no anxiety; everything went smoothly.
Thusis waited on table and ran the place, Josephine Vannis cooked to
perfection, Raoul had started a garden and the bottling works; and no
tourists had bothered us by interrupting the regime and demanding food
and shelter.
Outwardly ours was a serene and emotionless life, undisturbed by that
bloody frenzy which agitated the greater surface of the globe.
Here in the sunny silence of our little valley ringed by snow peaks, the
soft thunder of some far avalanche or the distant tinkle of cow-bells
were the loudest interruptions that startled us from the peaceful
inertia consequent upon good food and idle hours.
Outwardly as I say, calm brooded all about us. True the Zurich and Berne
newspapers stirred me up, and the weekly packages of New York papers
which Smith and I received caused a tense silence in our rooms whither
we always retired to read them.
Smith once remarked that it was odd I never received any Chilean papers.
To which I replied that it seemed queer no Norwegian newspapers came to
him.
We let it rest there. As for my household I never saw Josephine Vannis
at all except by accident in the early evening when I sometimes noticed
her in the distance strolling with Raoul.
On Clelia, I kept an unquiet eye as I have said. Thusis I saw only on
strictly business interviews. And Smith thought it strange that there
was so much business to be discussed between us. But every day I felt
it my duty to go over my household accounts with Thusis, checking up
every item. In these daily conferences there were, of course, all sorts
of matters to consider, such as the farm and dairy reports from Raoul,
the bottling reports, daily sales of eggs, butter, and bottled
spring-water--a cart arriving from Zurich every morning to take away
these surplus items to the Grand Hotel, Baur-au-Lac, with which Thusis
had made a thrifty contract.
This was a very delightful part of the day to me,--the hour devoted to
business with Thusis, while Smith fumed in his room. Possibly Clelia
fumed with him--I was afraid of that--and it was the only rift in the
lute.
Every morning I tried to prolong that business interview with
Thusis,--she looked so distractingly pretty in her peasant garb. But
though her gray eyes were ever on duty and her winning smile flashed now
and then across the frontier of laughter, always and almost with malice,
she held me to the matter of business under discussion, discouraging all
diversions I made toward other topics, refusing to accompany me on gay
excursions into personalities, resisting any approach toward that little
spot of unconventional ground upon which we had once stood face to face.
For since that time when, for hours afterward, my hand remained
conscious of her soft, cool hand's light contact--since that curious
compact between us which had settled her status, and my own, here under
this common roof above us, she had permitted no lighter conversation to
interrupt our business conferences, no other subject to intrude. Only
now and then I caught a glimpse of tiny devils dancing in her gray eyes;
only at long intervals was the promise of the upcurled corners of her
mouth made good by the swift, sweet laughter always hidden there.
There was no use attempting any less impersonal footing any more; Thusis
simply evaded it, remaining either purposely dull and irresponsive or,
gathering up her accounts, she would rise, curtsey, and back out with a
gravity of features and demeanor that her mocking eyes denied.
Once, as I have said, I discovered a fishing rod in the attic, dug some
worms, and started out upon conservation bent. And encountering Thusis
digging dandelions for salad behind the garden, explained to her my
attire and implements. As it was strictly a matter of business she
consented to go with me as far as the brook. There, by the bridge in
the first pool, she caught the first trout. And, having showed me how,
retreated, resolutely repelling all suggestions that she take a morning
off, and defying me with a gaiety that made her eyes brilliant with
delighted malice.
"It was my duty to show you how Swiss trout are caught," she called back
to me, always retreating down the leafy path--"but when you propose a
pleasure party to your housekeeper--oh, Don Michael, you betray low
tastes and I am amazed at you and I beg you most earnestly to remember
the Admiral."
Whereupon I was stung into action and foolish enough to suppose I could
overtake her. Where she vanished I don't know. There was not a sound
in the wood. I was ass enough to call--even to appeal in a voice so
sentimental that I blush to remember it now.
And at last, discomfited and sulky, I went back to my fishing. But hers
remained the only trout in my basket. Smith and I ate it, baked with
parsley, for luncheon, between intermittent inquiries from Smith
regarding the fewness of the catch.
And now, it appeared, somebody had already told him that Thusis and I
had gone fishing together that day. Who the devil had revealed that
fact? Clelia, no doubt,--having been informed by Thusis. And no doubt
Thusis had held me up to ridicule.
So now, at the hour when our daily business conference approached,
instead of seating myself as usual at the table in my sitting-room, I
took my fishing-rod, creel, a musty and water-warped leather fly-book,
and went into Smith's room.
"Suppose we go fishing," I suggested, knowing he'd refuse on the chance
of a tete-a-tete with Clelia the minute I was out of sight.
He began to explain that he had letters to write, and I laughed in
derision and sent my regards to all the folks in dear old Norway.
"Go to the deuce," said I. "Flirt with my chamber-maid if you want to,
but Thusis will take your head off--"
"Isn't she going with _you_?"
"--When she returns," I continued, vexed and red at his impudent
conclusion. It was perfectly true that I meant to take Thusis fishing,
but it was not Smith's business to guess my intentions.
"You annoy me," I added, passing him with a scowl. At which he merely
grinned.
In the hallway I encountered Clelia in cap and apron, very diligent with
her duster.
"Clelia," said I pleasantly, "has Raoul brought the mail?"
"Yes, Monsieur."
"Where is it?"
"There was only a bill from the Grand Hotel for cartage."
"What!" said I in pretense of dismay, "no letter yet from Mr. Smith's
wife? And seven of his children down with whooping-cough!"
"W-wife!" stammered Clelia, her blue eyes becoming enormous. "S-seven
children!"
"Seven in Christiania," I explained sadly, "the other eleven at school
near Bergen. Poor fellow. His suspense must be dreadful."
I'm no actor; I saw immediately in Clelia's face that I had overplayed
my part as well as the total of Smith's progeny, for the color came
swiftly back and she shot at me a glance anything but demure.
"The other eleven," I explained, "were by his first three wives."
Clelia, dusting furiously, looked around at me over her shoulder.
"At least," she said, "he's done his duty by his country."
"W-what!" I stammered.
"The population of Norway is so very small," she added gaily. And went
on with her dusting.
"Minx," thought I to myself as I marched down stairs and out toward the
fountain where, from the servants' wing of the chalet Thusis could not
fail to observe me. And she did. She appeared, presently, account
books under one arm. Out of the subtle corner of my subtlest eye--the
left one--I observed her. And with surpassing cunning I selected a
yellow fly from the battered book and tied it on my leader.
"Monsieur!"
"Good-morning, Thusis. We're going fishing. So if you'll ask Josephine
to put up some war lunch for us--"
"Has Monsieur forgotten his daily business interview?" she inquired
smilingly.
"Not at all. But we're going to conserve time as well as food, Thusis.
We can fish and consult at the same time."
"But--"
"All waste must cease," I said firmly. "We mustn't waste even a minute
in the day. And if we can do two things at the same time it is our
economic duty to do them." I smiled at her. "I shall dig worms," said
I, "for two, while you prepare lunch for two. That is a wonderful way of
economizing time and labor, isn't it, Thusis?"
She smiled, bit her lip, as though regretting an indiscretion, looked up
at the cloudless sky, let her gray eyes wander from one snowy peak to
the next, glanced almost insolently at me, then smiled with that
delicious impulse characteristic of her.
"You know you have no business to take me fishing," she said. "Your
cleverness is not Machiavellian; it is Michael-valian. It doesn't
deceive me for one moment, Senor Michael!"