EM EM : monthly magazine - 01.07.1941, Blaðsíða 31

Em Em
31
you aoing nere r~ sne' spöKe al-
most as though she were glad to
see me—and yet the last time I
had talked to hér, on the way home
from the ratty little Rico’s ball,
she had told me I was an unman-
nerly boor.
’ “X’m taking over the S-52 at
Coco Solo,” I said.
! She stood staring at me, frown-
'ing. “You mean—you are through
at Caimora?”
“Through. Finished Washed
up.” j
j She took my arm, without say-;
!ing a word, and we walked over!
|to the rail. I looked down at thei
'rush of water, bright with phos-
iphorescence, which slipped along
!the side of the smoothly speeding
jship. I felt her eyes on me, study-i
ling me, and I suddenly felt mean
and small and—and boorish. i
1 “You lcft Calmora,” she saidj
jsoftly at last, “without telling me!
ígoodby?”
I shrugged, without looking up.i
! “You seem to have left there—i
without telling me goodby.”
í “But I’m only going to Panamaj
for a week, One of my friends, a
igirl X knew in college is stationed
jat Coco Solo with her husband.
ÍPerhaps you know him. He’s a
jflyer. Lieutenant Achison.”
“Never hear of him,” X said un-
jgxaciously. “Didn’t your father
jtell you I was shoving oif on the
jAlderbaron? My orders came
jthrough a week ago.”
Her father, Colonel Baird, is
American minister to Andegoya.
I knew then, without glancing
up, that she had stopped looking
at me. Her voice seemed to come
from a Iong way off. "My father,
I imagine, supposed that you had
told me.”
“I didn’t think you’d care to
know.”
I stood there ieaning against the
rail, staring at the bright, rushing
foam. She seemed withdrawn
now. She seemed a million miles
away. X waited for her to speak,
but she didn’t say anything.
“Lnok here!” I said finally.
"After all, you know, it was my
dance.”
“Yes, it was your dance,” she
said clearly.
"Then why," I demanded, "did
you have to chuck me over and
give it to that greasy rat? Yes,
that dance and the next one and
the next. Why did you have to iet
yourself be mauled by that smirk-
ing—"
“You mean Senor Carretos?”
Mildred asked ealmly.
"Who else ? Oh, I know Car-
iretos is minister of flnance and
jrich as the devil and may some
av ba nresldent of Andepnva And
know the obligations -of the
Idaughter of the American min-
iister. But I don’t see why—”
. She broke in, iaughing coldly.
“All this, Ray, has a very familiar
ring.”
“I guess it has,” 1 said, fighting
to make my voice as cold as her
laugh had been. "Heavens knows,
we went over it enough on the way
home that night.”
“We covered the subject,” Mil-
dred said, “very thoroughly.”
“We did!” I retorted. “And then
you ask me why I didn’t come
around and tell you goodby.”
“I won’t ask you again, Ray,”
she said quietly. "I understand—
now.”
X looked at her. She was stand-
ing straight and still, one hand on
the rail, her chin high, her fin«
eyes staring far away across the
dark waters. X caught her arm
and swung her around. I made her
iook at me and I saw her teeth
slose on her lip.
“What do you mean by that?”
t asked. “Mildred! What do you
mean?”
Her small white teeth closed
more tightly on her lip. Her eyes
shone mistily in the dimness. X
shook her a little, but still she
did not answer me. At that mo-
ment the door of the smoking room
swung open. I dropped my hand
•from her arm as a broad beam of
jlight fell across the deck.
I waited. The door did not close.
Irritated, I iooked around finally
!and saw Francisco Carretos stand-
iing in the doorway. A good six
feet tall, with the broad shoulders
:and narrow hips of an athlete, he
made a handsome figure in his
ispotless white ducks. His dark,
bright, sardonic eyes were on us,
and he was smiling.
“Well!” he said, and came toward
us. "I ’ave been wondering w’at
happen to you, Mees Baird. The
dreenk, the absinthe frappe, ees
jpoured and waiting. . . . Good eve-
ning, Lieut. Leslie.”
I didn’t say anything. 1 felt
hurt and sick as I watched Mil-
dred. I knew that before Carre-
tos’ appearance she had been
shaken, by what emotion I could
not be sure. Now I saw her draw-
ing herself together, smiiing i
forced little smiie.
“Coming, Mr. Carretos,” she said
cheerily. And to me: "Good night,
Ray.”
I watched him put his dark
hand on her bare white arm and
guide her toward the door. I
wanted to iiit him. I wanted to
bury my fist in his smooth dark
face. But I didn’t do it, of course.
Isn’t there an article in the Navy
regulations about officers and
gentlemen ?
X knew tOQ aa avarv qiiæ ba
Caimora knew, tnax irrancisco
Carretos was seheduled to attend
(an important cabinet meeting to-
morrow. It must have been some-
thing very pressing, and very un-
jexpeeted, which brought him
aboard the Alderbaron, Panama
mnd, tonight.
Mildred Baird?
CHAPTER II
I wandered along the deck,
heartsick and depressed. For two
veeks X had been trying to forget
Mildred Baird, forget her fine dark
eyes and the way her hair waved
back over her temples, forget her
slim tanned hands and the curve
of her neck and throat. I said to
myself for the thousandth time:
"If she thinks more of Carretos
than she does of me—oh, the devil
with it!”
I recalled that Captain Eldridge,
when I came aboard, had asked
me to drop around and have a
drink with him. Tired of myself
and of my thoughts, I went for-
ward, climbed ,to the boat deck,
found his cabin abaft the bridge
and knocked on the door. I heard
a cheerful “Come in!”
I went in and found the captain
at his desk, his uniform coat un-
buttoned, his cap shoved far back
on his gray head. He was a small
man, and rather thin, but he
iooked hard and competent. I
liked the cut of his square jaw.
I liked the directness of his keen
gray eyes.
“Oh! Hello, lieutenant!” he
greeted me cheerfully, and waved
me to a seat on the transom set-
tee. “Well, how does it feel to
have a good deck under your feet
again?”
X sat down. His heartiness was
relaxing, cheering. The picture of
Mildred Baird began to fade a
little.
"It feels great,” 1 said.
“Understand you were stuck in
Caimora for two years.”
“Yes, two years.”
“A long time in that smelly
hole.”
“You said it, captain. Much too
iong a time.”
“Old Colonel Baird doesn’t seem
to mind it. Let’s see. It must be
15 years since he first took over
the legation. Don’t see how he
stands it ”
“He likes it. He’s interested in
the country and the people. He
had plenty of ehances for a better
post, but he’s turned them all
down.”
“Understand his daughter is
aboard.”
“Yes.”
“What does she think of the
country ?"
“Oh. I euess she likea U waU