Moreover, she
had greater confidence during this second transit over the exposed
portion of the deck. She felt Courtenay dragging her on irresistibly
until they gained the lee of the smoking-room. He let her rest there,
beneath the ladder leading to the bridge. Then a strange revulsion of
feeling came to him. He experienced an overwhelming desire not to be
parted from her; he had a sickening fear that he might never see her
again; so he shouted, very close to her cheek:
"Would you like to sit in my cabin a little while, if I bring Miss
Baring?"
She thought that would be splendid. Courtenay, if any one, would
succeed in calming Isobel. In order to make herself heard she, in
turn, had to put her lips quite near to Courtenay's face.
"Yes," she cried, "I shall be only too pleased. But be patient with
her; she is very frightened."
There is no accounting for the workings of a man's mind. Courtenay, at
no time a lady's man, most certainly had other matters to attend to
just then. Yet here he was thinking only of a woman's comfort. His
dismal forebodings were banished by a rush of absurd delight at the
thought that he would have an opportunity of speaking to her
occasionally.
Pages:
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87