Of course we want to see the decorations, cried Katherine with enthusiasm, and so bowing to the Captain and Mrs. Kempt, the Lieutenant led the young women down the deck, until he came to an elevated spot out of the way of all possible promenaders, on which had been placed in a somewhat secluded position, yet commanding a splendid view of the throng, a settee with just room for two, that had been taken from some ones cabin. A blue-jacket stood guard over it, but at a nod from the Lieutenant he disappeared.
Hello! cried Katherine, reserved seats, eh? How different from a theatre chair, where you are entitled to your place by holding a colored bit of cardboard. Here a man with a cutlass stands guard. It gives one a notion of the horrors of war, doesnt it, Dorothy?
The Lieutenant laughed quite as heartily as if he had not himself hoped to occupy the position now held by the sprightly Katherine. He was cudgelling his brain to solve the problem represented by the adage Two is company, three is none. The girls sat together on the settee and gazed out over the brilliantly lighted, animated throng. People were still pouring up the gangways, and the decks were rapidly becoming crowded with a many-colored, ever-shifting galaxy of humanity. The hum of conversation almost drowned the popular selections being played by the cruisers excellent band. Suddenly one popular selection was cut in two. The sound of the instruments ceased for a moment, then they struck up The Stars and Stripes for Ever.
Hello, cried Katherine, can your band play Sousa?
I should say we could, boasted the Lieutenant, and we can play his music, in a way to give some hints to Mr. Sousas own musicians.
To beat the band, eh?Sousas band? rejoined Katherine, dropping into slang.
Exactly, smiled the Lieutenant, and now, young ladies, will you excuse me for a few moments? This musical selection means that your Secretary of the Navy is on the waters, and I must be in my place with the rest of the officers to receive him and his staff with all ceremony. Please promise you will not leave this spot till I return: I implore you.
Better put the blue-jacket on guard over us, laughed Katherine.
By Jove! a very good idea.
Dorothy saw all levity depart from his face, giving way to a look of sternness and command. Although he was engaged in a joke, the subordinate must see no sign of fooling in his countenance. He said a sharp word to a blue-jacket, who nimbly sprang to the end of the settee, raised his hand in salute, and stiffened himself to an automaton. Then the girls saw the tall figure of the Lieutenant wending its way to the spot where the commander stood.
I say, Dorothy, were prisoners. I wonder what this Johnny would do if we attempted to fly. Isnt the Lieutenant sumptuous?
He seems a very agreeable person, murmured Dorothy.
Agreeable! Why, hes splendid. I tell you, Dorothy, Im going to have the first dance with him. Im the eldest. Hes big enough to divide between two small girls like us, you know.
I dont intend to dance, said Dorothy.
Nonsense, youre not going to sit here all night with nobody to speak to. Ill ask the Lieutenant to bring you a man. Hell take two or three blue-jackets and capture anybody you want.
Katherine, said Dorothy, almost as severely as if it were the elder sister who spoke, if you say anything like that, Ill go back to the house.
You cant get back. Ill appeal to the guard. Ill have you locked up if you dont behave yourself.
You should behave yourself. Really, Katherine, you must be careful what you say, or youll make me feel very unhappy.
Katherine caught her by the elbow, and gave it an affectionate little squeeze.
Dont be frightened, Miss Propriety, I wouldnt make you unhappy for the world. But surely youre going to dance?
Dorothy shook her head.
Some other time. Not to-night. There are too many people here. I shouldnt enjoy it, andthere are other reasons. This is all so new and strange to me: these brilliant men and beautiful womenthe lights, the music, everythingit is as if I had stepped into another world; something I had read about, or perhaps dreamed about, and never expected to see.
Why, you dear girl, Im not going to dance either, then.
Oh, yes, you will, Katherine; you must.
I couldnt be so selfish as to leave you here all alone.
It isnt selfish at all, Katherine. I shall enjoy myself completely here. I dont really wish to talk to any one, but simply to enjoy my dream, with just a little fear at the bottom of my heart that I shall suddenly wake up, rubbing my eyes, in the sewing room.
Katherine pinched her.
Now are you awake?
Dorothy smiled, still dreaming.
Hello! cried Katherine, with renewed animation, theyve got the Secretary safe aboard the lugger, and they seem to be clearing the decks for action. Here is my dear Lieutenant returning; tall even among tall men. Look at him. Hes in a great hurry, yet so polite, and doesnt want to bump against anybody. And now, Dorothy, dont you be afraid. I shall prove a perfect model of diffidence. You will be proud of me when you learn with what timidity I pronounce prunes and prism. I think I must languish a little at him. I dont know quite how its done, but in old English novels the girls always languished, and perhaps an Englishman expects a little languishment in his. I wonder if he comes of a noble family. If he doesnt, I dont think Ill languish very much. Still, what matters the pomp of pageantry and pride of raceisnt that the way the poem runs? I love our dear little Lieutenant for himself alone, and I think I will have just one dance with him, at least.
Drummond had captured a camp-stool somewhere, and this he placed at right angles to the settee, so that he might face the two girls, and yet not interrupt their view. The sailor on guard once more faded away, and the band now struck up the music of the dance.
Well, cried Drummond cheerfully, Ive got everything settled. Ive received the Secretary of the Navy: our captain is to dance with his wife, and the Secretary is Lady Angelas partner. There they go!
For a few minutes the young people watched the dance, then the Lieutenant said:
Ladies, I am disappointed that you have not complimented our electrical display.
I am sure its very nice, indeed, and most ingenious, declared Dorothy, speaking for the first time that evening to the officer, but Katherine, whose little foot was tapping the deck to the dance music, tossed her head, and declared nonchalantly that it was all very well as a British effort at illumination, but she begged the young man to remember that America was the home of electricity.
Where would you have been if it were not for Edison?
I suppose, said the Lieutenant cheerfully, that we should have been where Moses was when the candle went outin the dark.
You might have had torches, said Dorothy. My friend forgets she was wishing the sailors held torches on that suspended stairway up the ships side.
I meant electric torchesEdison torches, of course.
Katherine was displeased at the outlook. She was extremely fond of dancing, and here this complacent young man had planted himself down on a camp stool to talk of electricity.
Miss Kempt, I am sorry that you are disappointed at our display. Your slight upon British electrical engineering leaves us unscathed, because this has been done by a foreign mechanic, whom I wish to present to you.
Oh, indeed, said Katherine, rather in the usual tone of her elder sister. I dont dance with mechanics, thank you.
She emphasized the light fantastic word, but the Lieutenant did not take the hint; he merely laughed again in an exasperatingly good-natured way, and said:
Lady Angela is going to be Jack Lamonts partner for the next waltz.
Oh, said Katherine loftily, Lady Angela may dance with any blacksmith that pleases her, but I dont. Im taking it for granted that Jack Lamont is your electrical tinsmith.
Yes, he is, and I think him by all odds the finest fellow aboard this ship. Its quite likely you have read about his sister. She is a year older than Jack, very beautiful, cultured, everything that a grande dame should be, yet she has given away her huge estate to the peasantry, and works with them in the fields, living as they do, and faring as they do. There was an article about her in one of the French reviews not long ago. She is called the Princess Natalia.
The Princess Natalia! echoed Katherine, turning her face toward the young man. How can Princess Natalia be a sister of Jack Lamont? Did she marry some old prince, and take to the fields in disgust?
Oh, no; Jack Lamont is a Russian. He is called Prince Ivan Lermontoff when hes at home, but we call him Jack Lamont for short. Hes going to help me on the Russian business I told you of.
What Russian business? asked Katherine. I dont remember your speaking of it.
Dorothy went white, edged a little way from her friend, while her widening eyes flashed a warning at the Lieutenant, who, too late, remembered that this conversation on Russia had taken place during the walk from the bank. The young man coughed slightly behind his open hand, reddened, and stammered:
Oh, I thought I had told you. Didnt I mention the prince to you as we were coming here?
Not that I recollect, said Katherine. Is he a real, genuine prince? A right down regular, regular, regular royal prince?
I dont know about the royalty, but hes a prince in good standing in his own land, and he is also an excellent blacksmith. The Lieutenant chuckled a little. He and his sister have both been touched a good deal by Tolstoian doctrine. Jack is the most wonderful inventor, I think, that is at present on the earth, Edison notwithstanding. Why, he is just now engaged on a scheme by which he can float houses from the mountains here down to New York. Float thempipe-line them would perhaps be a better term. You know they have pipe-lines to carry petroleum. Very well; Jack has a solution that dissolves stone as white sugar dissolves in tea, and he believes he can run the fluid from the quarries to where building is going on. It seems that he then puts this liquid into molds, and there you have the stone again. I dont understand the process myself, but Jack tells me its marvelously cheap, and marvelously effective. He picked up the idea from nature one time when he and I were on our vacation at Detroit.
Detroit, Michigan?
The Detroit River.
Well, that runs between Michigan and Canada.
No, no, this is in France. I believe the real name of the river is the Tarn. Theres a gorge called Detroitthe strait, you know. Wonderful placetremendous chasm. You go down in a boat, and all the tributary rivers pour into the main stream like jets from the nozzle of a hose. They tell me this is caused by the rain percolating through the dead leaves on the surface of the ground far above, and thus the water becomes saturated with carbonic acid gas, and so dissolves the limestone until the granite is reached, and the granite forms the bed of these underground rivers. It all seemed to me very wonderful, but it struck Jack on his scientific side, and he has been experimenting ever since. He says hell be able to build a city with a hose next year.
Where does he live?
On the cruiser just at present. I was instrumental in getting him signed on as John Lamont, and he passed without question. No wonder, for he has scientific degrees from all sorts of German universities, from Oxford, and one or two institutions in the States. When at home he lives in St. Petersburg.
Has he a palace there?
Drummond laughed.
Hes got a blacksmith shop, with two rooms above, and Im going to stop with him for a few months as soon as I get my leave. When the cruiser reaches England we pay off, and I expect to have nothing to do for six months, so Jack and I will make for St. Petersburg.
Why do you call him Lamont? Is it taken from his real name of what-dye-call-it-off?
Lermontoff? Yes. The Czar Demetrius, some time about the beginning of the seventeenth century, established a Scottish Guard, just as Louis XI did in France two hundred years before, and there came over from Scotland Lamonts, Carmichaels, Buchanans and others, on whom were bestowed titles and estates. Prince Ivan Lermontoff is a descendant of the original Lamont, who was an officer in the Scottish Guard of Russia.
So he is really a Scotchman?
Thats what I tell him when he annoys me, as I am by way of being a Scotchman myself. Ah, the waltz is ended. Will you excuse me a moment while I fetch his Highness?
Dorothy inclined her head, and Katherine fairly beamed permission.
Oh, Dorothy, she exclaimed, when the Lieutenant was out of hearing, think of it! A real prince, and my ambition has never risen higher than a paltry count, or some plebeian of that sort. Hes mine, Dorothy; I found him first.
I thought you had appropriated the Lieutenant?
What are lieutenants to me? The proud daughter of a captain (retired) cannot stoop to a mere lieutenant.
You wouldnt have to stoop far, Kate, with so tall a man as Mr. Drummond.
You are beginning to take notice, arent you, Dot? But I bestow the Lieutenant freely upon you, because Im going to dance with the Prince, even if I have to ask him myself.
Shell toddle away, as all aver,
With the Lord High Executioner.
Ah, here they come. Isnt he perfectly splendid? Look at his beard! Just the color of a brand-new twenty-dollar gold piece. See that broad ribbon diagonally across him. I wonder what it means. And gaze at those scintillating orders on his breast. Good gracious me, isnt he splendid?
Yes, for a blacksmith. I wonder if he beat those stars out on his anvil. He isnt nearly so tall as Lieutenant Drummond.
Dorothy, Ill not allow you to disparage my Prince. How can you be so disagreeable? I thought from the very first that the Lieutenant was too tall. If the Prince expects me to call him your Highness, hell be disappointed.
You are quite right, Kate. The term would suit the Lieutenant better.
Dorothy, I believe youre jealous.
Oh, no, Im not, said Dorothy, shaking her head and laughing, and then Hush! she added, as Katherine was about to speak again.
The next moment the young men stood before them, and, introductions being soberly performed, the Prince lost no time in begging Katherine to favor him with a dance, to which request the young woman was graciously pleased to accede, without, however, exhibiting too much haste about her acceptance, and so they walked off together.
CHAPTER IV AT LAST ALONE
SOME one has taken the camp stool, said Lieutenant Drummond. May I sit here? and the young woman was good enough to give the desired permission.
When he had seated himself he glanced around, then impulsively held out his hand.