In the first
place I know a great deal more about foreign hotels than you do, and
knew exactly what I might expect to encounter, and in the second, I
don’t mind it in the least--in fact, I like it, it amuses me, I think
the Baroness is quite a character, and look forward to cultivating her
acquaintance with the keenest anticipations.”

“O! _don’t_, Ralph, pray don’t!” exclaimed Miss Leyton, fastidiously,
“the woman is beneath contempt! I should be exceedingly annoyed if you
permitted her to get at all intimate with you.”

“Why not, if it amuses him?” demanded Margaret, laughing, “for my part,
I agree with Ralph, that her very vulgarity makes her most amusing as a
change, and it is not as if we were likely to be thrown in her way when
we return to England!”

“She is a _rara avis_,” cried Captain Pullen enthusiastically, “she
certainly must know some good people if men like Naggett and Menzies
have been at her house, and yet the way she advertises her boots and
shoes is too delicious! O! dear yes! I cannot consent to cut the
Baroness Gobelli! I am half in love with her already!”

Elinor Leyton made a gesture of disgust. “And you--who are considered to be one of the most select and
fastidious men in Town,” she said, “I wonder at you!”

Then he made a bad matter worse, by saying,

“By the way, Margaret, who was that beautiful girl who sat on the
opposite side of the table?”

“The _what_,” exclaimed Elinor Leyton, ungrammatically, as she turned
round upon the Digue and confronted him. “He means Miss Brandt!” interposed Margaret, hastily, “many people
think that she is handsome!”

“No one could think otherwise,” responded Ralph. “Is she Spanish?”

“O! no; her parents were English. She comes from Jamaica!”

“Ah! a drop of Creole blood in her then, I daresay! You never see such
eyes in an English face!”

“What’s the matter with her eyes?” asked Elinor sharply. “They’re very large and dark, you know, Elinor!” said Mrs. Pullen,
observing the cloud which was settling down upon the girl’s face, “but
it is not everybody who admires dark eyes, or you and I would come off
badly!”

“Well, with all due deference to you, my fair sister-in-law,” replied
Ralph, with the stupidity of a selfish man who never knows when he is
wounding his hearers, “most people give the preference to dark eyes
in women. Anyway Miss Brandt (if that is her name) is a beauty and no
mistake!”

“I can’t say that I admire your taste,” said Elinor, “and I sincerely
hope that Miss Brandt will not force her company upon us whilst you
are here. Margaret and I have suffered more than enough already in
that respect! She is only half educated and knows nothing of the
world, and is altogether a most uninteresting companion. I dislike her
exceedingly!”

“Ah! don’t forget her singing!” cried Margaret, unwittingly. “Does she sing?” demanded the Captain. “Yes! and wonderfully well for an amateur! She plays the mandoline
also. I think Elinor is a little hard on her! Of course she is very
young and unformed, but she has only just come out of a convent where
she has been educated for the last ten years. What can you expect of
a girl who has never been out in Society? I know that she is very
good-natured, and has waited on baby as if she had been her servant!”

“Don’t you think we have had about enough of Miss Harriet Brandt?” said
Elinor, “I want to hear what Ralph thinks of Heyst, or if he advises
our going on to Ostende. I believe Ostende is much gayer and brighter
than Heyst!”

“But we must wait now till Doctor Phillips joins us,” interposed
Margaret. “He could come after us, if Ralph preferred Ostende or Blankenburghe,”
said Elinor eagerly. “My dear ladies,” exclaimed Captain Pullen, “allow me to form an
opinion of Heyst first, and then we will talk about other places. This
seems pleasant enough in all conscience to me now!”

“O! you two are bound to think any place pleasant,” laughed Margaret,
“but I think I must go in to my baby! I do not feel easy to be away
from her too long, now that she is ailing. But there is no need for you
to come in, Elinor! It is only just nine o’clock!”

“I would rather accompany you,” replied Miss Leyton, primly. “No! no! Elinor, stay with me! If you are tired we can sit in the
balcony. I have seen nothing of you yet!” remonstrated her lover. She consented to sit in the balcony with him for a few minutes, but she
would not permit his chair to be placed too close to hers. “The waiters pass backward and forward,” she said, “and what would they
think?”

“The deuce take what they think,” replied Captain Pullen, “I haven’t
seen you for two months, and you keep me at arms’ length as if I should
poison you! What do you suppose a man is made of?”

“My dear Ralph, you know it is nothing of the kind, but it is quite
impossible that we can sit side by side like a pair of turtle doves in
a public Hotel like this!”

“Let us go up to your room then?”

“To my bedroom?” she ejaculated with horror. “To Margaret’s room then! she won’t be so prudish, I’m sure! Anywhere
where I can speak to you alone!”

“The nurse will be in Margaret’s room, with little Ethel!”

“Hang it all, then, come for another walk! Let us go away from the
town, out on those sand hills. I’m sure no one will see us there!”

“Dear Ralph, you must be reasonable! If I were seen walking about Heyst
alone with you at night, it would be all over the town to-morrow.”

“Let it be! Where’s the harm?”

“But I have kept our engagement most scrupulously secret! No one knows
anything, but that you are Margaret’s brother-in-law! You don’t know
how they gossip and chatter in a place like this. I could never consent
to appear at the public _table d’hôte_ again, if I thought that all
those vulgarians had been discussing my most private affairs!”

“O! well! just as you choose!” replied Ralph Pullen discontentedly,
“but I suppose you will not object to _my_ taking another turn along
the Digue before I go to bed! Here, garçon, bring me a chasse! Good-night, then, if you will not stay!”

“It is not that I _will_ not--it is that I _cannot_, Ralph!” said Miss
Leyton, as she gave him her hand. “Good-night! I hope you will find
your room comfortable, and if it is fine to-morrow, we will have a nice
walk in whichever direction you prefer!”

“And much good that will be!” grumbled the young man, as he lighted his
cigarette and strolled out again upon the Digue. As he stood for a moment looking out upon the sea, which was one
mass of silvery ripples, he heard himself called by name. He looked
up. The Gobellis had a private sitting-room facing the Digue on the
ground floor, and the Baroness was leaning out of the open window, and
beckoning to him. “Won’t you come in and ’ave a whiskey and soda?” she asked. “The Baron
’as ’is own whiskey ’ere, real Scotch, none of your nasty Belgian
stuff, ’alf spirits of wine and ’alf varnish! Come along! We’ve got a
jolly little parlour, and my little friend ’Arriet Brandt shall sing to
you!