Page:McClure's Magazine volume 10.djvu/391

Rh "Mr. Verdenal," Miss Porter began, "Miss Armitage"

"Edith," he interrupted, with a radiant smile. "Of course, you know all about it. She told me she was going to consult you. She has the greatest opinion of your judgment, you know. Yes, I've just got her note," he rattled on, not noticing Miss Porter's start of surprise, for he seemed totally lost in a mist of amiable joyousness. "Edith said she would have it here by ten. I got here to the minute, but the note was nowhere to be found in the saloon. I was completely bowled over. You know she always keeps her word. Then I went up to my stateroom, and there I found her note. I was relieved, you can fancy. Tell Edith she can have no idea of the suspense I have been in to-night."

"She perhaps has just a faint idea of it," said Miss Porter.

"Well, possibly," Paul admitted. "And I am so glad that, when Edith consulted you in this little affair, your judgment didn't fail you, Miss Porter."

While Paul, in the excess of his gratitude, was shaking hands with Miss Porter, she suddenly gave his hand a most cordial pressure, and resolved, at that instant, that her duty for the night was over. She could not get the note. Cruel it might be to keep Paul Verdenal in ignorance of the truth, but it was Edith's, not her task to enlighten him. The only task that claimed her attention was the sufficiently difficult one of offering a plausible excuse for her singular appearance on shipboard at that hour of the night.

"It is getting late, Mr. Verdenal," she said, "and I must go. Good-by. You have my best wishes, and I am glad to have had this little glimpse of you. Edith was sure I would see you if I came here at this time."

"And you took all this trouble just to say good-by to me?" he said, looking both touched and amazed, as well he might, at this unexpected devotion on Miss Porter's part. "I was going to ask for you, this afternoon; but the truth is, I forgot all about it. You understand the—the agitation I was in made me forget much that I should have remembered."

He accompanied her with great ceremony down the gangway, and insisted upon sending her home in the cab which was waiting on the pier for his friend.

"Tell Edith," he said, just before the cab turned, "that I shall be up in the morning to see her. I don't sail until noon; so tell her if she has any musical engagements to cut them."

"It's very easy for Edith to change her plans," said Miss Porter, smiling grimly. "I shall deliver your messages."

When she reached home, she found that it would be necessary, before delivering any messages, to awaken Edith. That