Prince Charlie Part 36

"Hullo! I didn't see you come aboard. How do you do, old fellow? How do you do, Miss Chantrelle?... Let me introduce Mr. Masters to you." He knew his friend's real name now, and was rather proud of it. "Mr.

William Masters.... Yes, the novelist--Miss Chantrelle... Her brother, Percy Chantrelle."

They formed, more or less, a quartette on the voyage home. d.i.c.k saw he was in for it and could not help himself--easy-going d.i.c.k! Occasionally they paired off: Miss Chantrelle and d.i.c.k and the two men.

Masters prided himself on possession of an ability to read faces; he had no liking for the two new ones which had come aboard at Madeira. Miss Chantrelle's more especially repelled him. Not because he preferred her brother; rather that he set up a higher standard as necessary for women than men.

Human nature was a power Masters ever recognized. He could forgive a man being hard, calculating and selfish, but not a woman; in Miss Chantrelle's face he read all those attributes. Still, they were d.i.c.k's friends, more or less; so, in a measure, they became his.

Amy Chantrelle was equally quick in facial perusal; speedily read distrust in Masters'. She had not lived in the world without acquiring its knowledge; was wise enough to appreciate the power in others she possessed herself. She was a distinctly clever, shrewd, woman of the world.

Nothing would have arisen from all this, but for the rattling of Master d.i.c.k's tongue. He told of Prince Charlie's matrimonial intent: the possibility of friend merging into brother-in-law. At heart he was so proud of this possibility that he would have liked to proclaim it from the house-tops--masthead would perhaps have been a more suitable word.

Miss Chantrelle listened with interest; scarcely sympathetic interest, but the distinction was not obvious. It was un.o.bserved by d.i.c.k, and he felt himself encouraged to expound the subject he had so much at heart.

Was led on to so doing by skilfully-put questions such as only a woman would know how to frame.

Amy Chantrelle was greatly displeased; all her sympathy was a.s.sumed. The Chantrelles were poor. Both brother and sister were well-favoured; each looked to marriage as a little boat in which the storm of life might be weathered.

They inclined to the belief that Percy was a favourite with Mrs.

Seton-Carr. Now that she was a widow there was hope, a very strong hope too, in their hearts that she might be induced to change her name to that of Chantrelle.

As a matter of fact, they were coming to England for the very purpose of trying to induce her to do so; the Seton-Carr bank balance serving as the lodestone.

They had imagined her left fairly well-to-do, but when they saw in the newspapers the amount her husband's estate was sworn under, their breaths were taken away! They promptly packed and set out for England, home and beauty--not forgetting the aforesaid credit balance.

They were greatly disturbed by what they heard on the boat: when d.i.c.k told of the position Masters was hoping to fill. The disturbance rapidly shaped into indignation: they looked on it as an endeavour to take the bread from out their mouths. The pleasant voyage they had looked forward to was not without its unpleasant moments.

"Never mind, Percy." The sister speaking to her brother one day. "Given a clear field, you will go in and win yet."

"The clearness of the field is----"

"Leave that to me; I'll make it my business to see that you have a clear field."

The brother shook his head as he responded gloomily:

"Easier said than done, I fancy, Sis. I'm not overbr.i.m.m.i.n.g with hope."

"There is no need for despondency. We will arrange to go to Wivernsea right off. That young fool d.i.c.k is finger-twistable: I can make him do anything."

The brother needed more than mere words to convince him; observed sneeringly:

"Except propose marriage to you!"

An ugly light came into her eyes. His shaft had gone in up to the feather; she spoke bitterly:

"Yes. He is not of the impressionable kind. I don't suppose any woman will ever get him."

"Odds on that, Amy, if you fail to bring him up to the scratch."

"But I can make him arrange for us to visit there. His sister thinks everything of him.... Masters won't go there."

"Don't be so sure of that."

"I am. He is one of those thin-skinned, sensitive sort of beasts. There has been some misunderstanding--probably of his own creation--which he counts on being able to wipe away. But he has never stayed there; we have. He goes year after year to rooms in the place; he'll put up at the same rooms again."

"Think so?"

"Am certain of it. I can read the man as easily--well, as easily as his books are read."

"Yes, he's read. A popular writer like that must be earning pots of money in royalties. Might be worth setting your cap at, Amy."

He looked at his sister critically. She was a handsome girl. The face a trifle hard, perhaps, but not every man goes in for melting beauty; some look for character--so thought her brother.

Bitter laughter shaped on her lips at her brother's suggestion; a woman ever takes defeat badly; she replied:

"I am not his sort; I am not the kind of woman he writes about! He can dissect me, probably has done so, as easily as you can carve a pigeon.

Besides, he's dead gone on Mabel."

"Curse him!"

"By all means. But whatever you do, don't fear him. Outwardly he is as cold as ice; inside there is a raging volcano. Women don't hanker after that kind of love, if there's anything more outwardly tempestuous: like yourself. They are apt to judge of the surface."

"Thanks!"

"Oh! It's true; we don't want to mince words. That's where the average woman makes a fool of herself; where your chance comes in. Masters is worth fifty of you, but there are no scales to balance or register values of that kind."

"Thanks again!"

"Oh, we know it, you and I. We can speak to each other without putting foot on the soft pedal. He has a nature which would make him stick to a woman till, literally, death did them part. Yours is of the type which would prompt thoughts of a separation the moment the woman's bank balance ran out."

"And you?"

He could not resist the sneer; she had fingered a sore place. But he did not hurt her this time; she owned up at once:

"Cast in the same mould! I did not mean blame to you. My own gla.s.s-house prevents stone-throwing. I was merely stating facts; I would not have them otherwise. Men like Masters are profitless in this world. When virtue is its own reward, the reward is usually too small to be seen with the naked eye. I have a distinct preference for qualifications which are otherwise."

Percy smiled. Was full of admiration points for his sister. She was the stronger of the two: he ever recognized that; she continued bitterly:

"Virtue is all very well for woman: it may serve her purpose. For a man it is a useless luxury."

His own non-possession of it made him smile again; she went on:

"As you don't seem inclined to take the initiative I shall do so myself.

Before we reach Wivernsea, Mabel will have received a letter from me. I am going to write it ready to post at the first port we touch. It will go by the overland route."

It did.