"I see, you must have come in a hurry, eh?"
"Yes. But come now, old man, what's in that letter? I've got one of my
own here, done in the same hand, hers. I am under sealed orders--until
I shall have met you, which is now. So I suppose some sort of
explanation is due on both sides. We might as well have it all out
here, before we join the house party, so as to avoid any awkwardness."
"Oh, nothing in my letter to amount to anything," he replied. "Miss
Emory only wanted to know if I'd please have her trunks shipped out
here from New Orleans--only that; and she asked me please to bring her
a box of marshmallows, as hers were all gone. She's polite, always,
dear old Helena--she says, here, 'So pleasant is our journey in every
way, and so kind have you gentlemen been, and so thoughtful in
providing every luxury, that I can not think of a single thing I could
ask for except some more marshmallows. Jimmy, the young imp, my
nephew, you know, has found mine, though I hid them under both
cushions in the stateroom.'"
I had my hat off, and was wiping my forehead. A sudden burst of glory
seemed to me to envelope all the world. If there had been duplicity
anywhere, I did not care.
"I suppose Jimmy is the one with two guns and a Jap sword, eh?" asked
Davidson.
"No, the other one, God bless him! Is that all there was in the
letter, Cal?"
"Yes. What's in yours? What's the game--button, button, who's got the
girl? And can't you open your letter now?"
"Yes," said I, and did so. It contained just two words (Helena
afterward said she had not time to write more while Auntie Lucinda
might be in from the other stateroom).[A] "Well, what's it say, dash you!" demanded Cal Davidson. "Play fair
now--I told, and so must you!"
"I'm damned if I do, Cal!" said I, and put it in my pocket. But I
shook hands with him most warmly, none the less....
FOOTNOTE: [A] (Those interested may find them later in the text.[B])