Page:Guy Boothby--A Bid for Fortune.djvu/41

Rh for knowing that half its members did not want me. However, it had its good side. I saw more of Miss Wetherell; so much more that I began to see her father did not quite approve of it. But, whatever he may have thought, he said nothing to me on the subject.

A fortnight or so later we were at Aden, leaving that barren rock about four o'clock, and entering the Red Sea the same evening. The Suez Canal passed through, and Port Said behind us, we were in the Mediterranean, and for the first time in my life I stood in Europe.

At Naples the Wetherells were to say good-bye to the boat, and continue the rest of their journey across the Continent. As the hour of separation came closer I must own I began to dread it more and more. And somehow, I fancy, she was not quite as happy as she used to be. You will ask what grounds I had for believing that a girl like Miss Wetherell would feel any interest in me—and it is a question I can no more answer than I can fly. And yet, when I came to think it all out, I was not without my hopes.

We were to reach port the following morning. The night was very still, the water almost unruffled. Somehow it came about that Miss Wetherell and I found ourselves together in the same sheltered spot where she had spoken to me before. The stars in the east were just paling preparatory to the rising of the moon. I glanced at my companion as she leant against the rails scanning the quiet sea, and noticed the sweet wistfulness of her expression. Then, suddenly, a great desire came over me to tell her of my love. Surely, even if she could not return it, there would be no harm in letting her know how I felt towards her. For this reason I drew a little closer to her side.