Page:Anderson--Isle of seven moons.djvu/125

Rh "kidding," but after all he was capable of putting a legal face even on an illegal transaction—capable, too, of the wildest of "parties"—what did he have on his mind?"Yacht—yacht,"she shuddered—the voice of the medium again! Almost in a panic, she implored him

"For Gawd's sake, yuh ain't a-goin' to take me on no long journey

"Sea air would restore those roses," and rashly he pinched her cheeks, to the rude incarnadining of his fingers.

"Out damned spot," he mimicked, soaring again, "not all the perfumes of Araby"

"Mac, yuh make me sick, this is serious, an' the trains don't run all night. If we're goin to stage any little stop-em-at-the-altar game, we gotta get busy. But no shopliftin' any steam yachts for mine, d'y' understand? I'm not built for deep water, an I'd a sight rather skin live lobsters on Broadway than look at em in their nacheral joints."

"Well, we'll cross the bridge when we hit the coulee. As for the trains, I haven't overlooked any bets. There's a twelve thirty sleeper to Boston. Taxi home with your usual speed, pack and dress with more than your usual, and board her at a Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street."

The bobbed mane, the rose cape and the cuirass left the room.

The railroad schedule and their own movements dovetailed to a nicety, and at ten next morning they alighted at the Salthaven station. Here they parted, he repairing by unfrequented side streets to the Veldmann shack, she to the Preble House.