A fortnight later the passengers on board the steamer were
congratulating themselves on having accomplished half their journey, and
being within ten days' sail of England. The waters of the Mediterranean
surrounded them, clear and blue as the sky overhead, a healthful breeze
supplanted the calm, and the spirits of the travellers rose ever higher
and higher. Homeward bound is a very different thing from outward
bound, and every soul on board had some dear one waiting for them in Old
England, some one who had loved them faithfully through the years of
absence, and who was even now counting the days until their return. The
mothers boasted to each other concerning the doings of the children whom
they had left at school, and in the midst of laughter turned aside
suddenly to conceal their tears; the men thought lovingly of the wives
from whom they had parted years before; and one or two radiant
bridegrooms exhibited photographs of the brides whom they were going to
carry back to cheer their exile.
After a fortnight at sea the company on board this particular steamer
might be said to be divided into four distinct cliques--namely, members
of military and diplomatic services, Civil Service employees, second-
class passengers, and--Miss Mariquita Saville. The young lady must be
taken as representing a class by herself, because while each of the
other divisions kept, or was kept, severely to itself, Peggy mixed
impartially with all, and was received with equal cordiality wherever
she turned. The little person had made such a unique position for
herself that there is no doubt that if a vote had been taken to discover
the most popular person on board, she would have headed the list by a
large majority; but whether her unfailing affability was due more to
pride or humility, Hector Darcy, among others, found it difficult to
determine.
Major Darcy had attached himself to the Saville party with a
determination hardly to be expected in so languid a man, had even
lowered his dignity to the extent of asking the fellow-passenger who
occupied the coveted seat at table to exchange places with himself, so
that breakfast, lunch, and dinner found him seated at Peggy's side,
finding ever-fresh surprises in her society. Sometimes the surprise was
the reverse of pleasant, for Miss Saville was a prickly little person,
and upon occasion would snap him up in the middle of an argument with a
lack of respect which took away his breath. When any difference arose
between them, she never seemed to have a shadow of a doubt that she was
in the right, and as Hector was equally positive about his own position,
relationships frequently grew so strained that Peggy would rise from the
table half-way through the meal, and stalk majestically out of the
saloon. She invariably repented her hastiness by the time she reached
the deck, for dessert was the part of the meal which she most enjoyed,
so that when the major followed ten minutes later on, bearing a plate of
carefully selected fruit as a peace-offering, he was sure of a gracious
welcome.
"But you must never contradict me on Tuesdays, I can't support it!" she
said on one of these occasions, as he seated himself beside her, and
watched her raising the grapes to her lips with her little finger cocked
well in the air. "Especially when I am in the right, as you must
admit--"
"I admit nothing; but I pray and beseech you not to begin the discussion
over again. I am nine years older than you, and must surely be supposed
to know a little more."
"If you only realised it, that is just the reason why you don't. The
world advances so rapidly with every decade, that you of the last
generation have necessarily enjoyed fewer opportunities than myself and
my contemporaries, and are therefore behind the times. It's not your
fault, of course, and I don't advance it in any way as a reproach, but
still--"
Major Darcy stared at her, struck dumb by an insinuation of age which
was even more hurtful than that of inferior knowledge; but before he had
recovered himself sufficiently to reply, his companion had finished her
dessert, presented him calmly with the empty plate, and risen to take
her departure.
"Where are you going?" he queried in an injured tone; for it was one of
his pet grievances that the girl refused to be appropriated by himself
whenever he wished to enjoy her society. "Can't you sit still for an
hour at least? You have been rushing about all the morning. Surely now
you can take a rest!"
But Peggy shook her head.
"Impossible! I'm engaged straight away from now until tea-time. The
nurse of those peevish little Mortons is worn out, for the mother is
ill, and can't help her at all, so I promised to amuse the children for
an hour after lunch while she takes a nap. Then I have to play a game
of halma with old Mr Schute, and help Miss Ranger to dress and come on
deck. She thinks she can manage it to-day, and it will do her a world
of good to get some fresh air."
"But why need you fag yourself for all these people? Surely there is
some one else who can do it. Can you not send your maid to look after
the children, at least, and take that hour to yourself?"
Peggy smiled with complacent satisfaction.
"They would scream themselves hoarse. Of all the spoilt, bad-tempered
little ruffians you ever encountered, they are the worst, and there is
not a soul on board who can manage them except myself. Yesterday they
got so cross that I was almost in despair, and it was only by pretending
to be a wild buffalo, and letting them chase me and dig pencils into me
for spears, that I could keep them in any sort of order. When they grew
tired of the buffalo, I changed into a musical-box, and they ground
tunes out of me until my throat was as dry as leather. It kept us going
for a long time, however, for they all wanted to hear their own
favourite tunes, and were so charmed with the variations. I wish you
could have heard the variations! I was so proud of them. The scales
ran up and down just like a real musical-box, the tremolo and arpeggio
chords were fine, and as for the trills, they were simply entr-r-
rancing!" Peggy rolled the `r' with a self-satisfied enjoyment which
made Hector laugh in spite of his displeasure, and finished up with an
explanatory, "I could never expect Parker to pose as a wild buffalo.
She has far too much sense of dignity!"
"Oh, of course, I acknowledge that you have a wonderful knack with
children! Every one sees that," allowed Hector unwillingly. "It is
very kind and delightful of you to bother about other people as you do;
but what I complain of is the extent of your services, and--aw--the
nature of the recipients! Miss Ranger, for instance, is an impossible
person. What she calls herself I don't know, but she doesn't even begin
to be a lady. I heard her talking the other day, and she has a vile
accent, and not an `h' in her composition."
"She has enough responsibilities without them at present, poor soul, so
perhaps it's just as well. She has been ill ever since we started, and
has no friend nor servant to look after her. She fell on the floor in a
faint one day while she was trying to dress, and lay there helpless
until the stewardess happened to go in and find her. That sort of thing
sha'n't happen twice on board this ship, if _I_ can help it!" cried
Peggy with a straightening of the slim little back which seemed to add a
couple of inches to her height, and a toss of the head which convinced
Major Darcy that it was no use arguing further on this point. It was
astonishing how often he was forced to retire from post to post in
arguments with Miss Saville, and the consciousness that this was the
case gave him courage to enter yet a third protest.
"Well, at least, old Schute is hearty enough! There is no necessity to
pity him; and, really, don't you know, he is hardly the right sort of
friend for you. Do you know who he is? The proprietor of one of the
big drapers' shops in Calcutta."
"It was a very good shop," said Peggy reflectively. "They were most
obliging in sending patterns. Two of the assistants were in a class
mother held for English girls, and they said he was so kind and
considerate, and had even paid to send some of them to the hill, after
they had been ill. I've a great respect for Mr Schute."
"Quite so; but that's not exactly a reason why you should play halma
with him. I've a respect for him also, if what you say is true, but he
is not in our class, as he himself would acknowledge, and it's not the
thing for you to be seen talking to him. There are certain restrictions
which we must all observe."
"Excuse me--I don't observe them. I am Mariquita Saville. Nothing that
I can do can alter that fact, or take from me the position to which I
was born," replied Peggy, with that air of overweening pride in her
belongings which had a distinctly humorous aspect in the eyes of her
companion, for though a county name and some well-won decorations are,
no doubt, things to be valued, nothing short of a pedigree traced direct
from the Flood itself would have justified the ineffable assurance of
her manner.
He was not rash enough, however, to put such a reflection into words, so
he stood in silence until once again the girl turned to leave him, when
he found his tongue quickly enough.
"You are really going then?"
"Certainly I'm going!"
"You'll tire yourself out with those children, and get a headache into
the bargain in the stuffy cabins."
"I think it's extremely probable."
"Then why will you be obstinate, and go in spite of all I can, say?"
"Shall I tell you why?" Peggy raised her head and stared at him with
brilliant eyes. "I must go and help these poor people because _you_--
and others like you--refuse to do it! I can't bear to see them
neglected, but I should be delighted to share the work with some one
else. Major Darcy, will you do me a favour? Mr Schute is very lonely;
no one speaks to him, and his eyes are so weak that he can't amuse
himself by reading. He is a very interesting old man, and I assure you
his `h's' are above reproach. Will you have a game of halma with him
this afternoon instead of me, and so set me free from my promise?"
Haughty Hector's stare of amazement was a sight to behold. He, Hector
Darcy, play a game with a tradesman in the saloon of a steamship?
Associate on terms of intimacy with a member of a class who, according
to his ideas, existed for no other reason than to minister to his needs
and requirements? He was breathless with astonishment that such a
request should have been made, and made no concealment of his annoyance.
"Really," he said loftily, "anything in reason that I could do to assist
you would be too great a pleasure, but what you ask is impossible. You
must see for yourself--"
"You will not do it, then?"
"If you will think for one moment, you will realise that you could not
expect--"
Peggy threw back her head and surveyed him deliberately from the crown
of his head to the tip of his shoes, from his shoes up again until the
hazel eyes met his with a mocking light.
"I did not expect--I _hoped_; but I see that even that was a mistake!
Good afternoon, Major Darcy, and many thanks for your polite assurances!
It is gratifying to discover exactly how much they are worth."
She sailed away with her head in the air, leaving Hector to pace the
deck with a frown of thunderous ill-temper disfiguring his handsome
countenance. It was annoying to be worsted by an antagonist of such
small dimensions, but, astonishing as it appeared, he invariably got the
worst of it in a conflict with Peggy Saville!