Page:'Twixt land and sea - tales (IA twixtlandseatale00conr).pdf/227

 In an instant the verandah, the whole carpetless wooden bungalow raised on piles, became filled with an uproarious, confused resonance. But through it all she heard, she felt on the floor the heavy, prowling footsteps of the lieutenant moving to and fro at her back. He was not exactly drunk, but he was sufficiently primed to make the suggestions of his excited imagination seem perfectly feasible and even clever; beautifully, unscrupulously clever. Freya, aware that he had stopped just behind her, went on playing without turning her head. She played with spirit, brilliantly, a fierce piece of music, but when his voice reached her she went cold all over. It was the voice, not the words. The insolent familiarity of tone dismayed her to such an extent that she could not understand at first what he was saying. His utterance was thick, too.

“I suspected. Of course I suspected something of your little goings on. I am not a child. But from suspecting to seeingseeing, you understandthere’s an enormous difference. That sort of thing. Come! One isn’t made of stone, And when a man has been worried by a girl as I have been worried by you, Miss Freyasleeping and waking, then, of course. But I am a man of the world. It must be dull for you here I say, won’t you leave off this confounded playing ?”

This last was the only sentence really which she made out. She shook her head negatively, and in desperation put on the loud pedal, but she could not make the sound of the piano cover his raised voice.

“Only, I am surprised that you should. An