A Gamble with Life Part 57

Madeline, having got among old friends, talked with a freedom and an abandon that she had not known since she left her native land. The grace of reticence was a virtue the Harveys had never cultivated. It was their boast that they had nothing to hide. Hence they discussed their domestic and business affairs with a freedom that would have staggered an Englishman of the old school.

Confidence begets confidence; and so in the seclusion of the yacht's library, with only Mr. and Mrs. Harvey and Kitty present, Madeline explained as far as she dared the peculiarities of her present situation.

Peter J. rose to the situation at once.

"My dear child," he said, "I guess there ain't no difficulty at all. I don't see none. It's just as easy as falling off a stool. There ain't no occasion for you to go back to their moth-eaten ancestral abode for five minutes. You just come along with us----"

"You mean----"

"I mean what I say," continued Peter J. "There's room for you in this small frigate and to spare, and there's a welcome as long as from here to the United States and back again."

"It would be just delightful," Madeline said, with dilating eyes.

"But----"

"Then let it be delightful," Mr. Harvey interrupted. "I guess we'd be as delighted as you would be. What say you, Kitty?"

"It would be just too fine for words," Kitty replied.

"It would be like a Providence," Mrs. Harvey chimed in, "so we'll consider it settled."

"But Sir Charles might object," Madeline said, with a half-frightened look in her eyes.

"You leave his lords.h.i.+p to me, my dear," Peter J. interposed. "I guess I know my way about, and if he cuts up nasty, I'll treat him to a chapter out of the gospel of Peter J. Harvey."

"But what excuse should I make?"

"You needn't make any excuse at all. I'll go across and see the General myself and explain things."

"But what would you say?"

"That we had fallen across you accidentally; that we were old friends; that I knew your father; that you and Kitty were chums at school; that we are cruising round this here little arm of the ocean for a week or two longer; and that we are taking you along with us just to give you a taste of sea-faring life."

"But he might not believe you."

"Then I would bring him across here and let him see for himself and hear your own wishes out of your own mouth."

"But he would not consent for me to be out of his sight for more than a day or two at the outside."

"Then to avoid trouble and hard words we will mention a day or two--wind and weather permitting."

"Oh! Mr. Harvey, if you could get me clean away from them without any unpleasantness, I should be more thankful than words can tell."

"I'll do it, my dear. And when Peter J. Harvey says he'll do a thing, why, that thing is done. Now give me the location of this Lord Tregony."

"Oh! he isn't a lord," Madeline laughed, "he's only a baronet."

"Well, it's all the same to me. He wouldn't alarm me if he were your Attorney-General."

"Don't you think I had better go back with you. I'm afraid they'll be getting alarmed at my long absence."

"I thought you tumbled across a page-boy belonging to the hotel and sent word by him that you would not be back till evening."

"I did send word that I would not be in to lunch. But those boys are so stupid that it's ten to one if he conveyed my message."

"Don't you alarm yourself on that point," Peter J. said, cheerfully.

"But if you think you can explain things better yourself, why we'll go along together. But mind you, we return together, even at the risk of an earthquake."

"Let Kitty come as well," Madeline said, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"All right, my dear. The more the merrier. I'll take the skipper and the crew if you think it might impress his lords.h.i.+p and make the way easier."

"No, I think the three of us will be sufficient," Madeline said, with a laugh. "But no hint must be given that I'm to be absent more than two or three days. Sir Charles had made all arrangements to leave for Paris on Monday."

"You leave that to P. J. H., my dear. If I'm not quite a full-blown diplomat it's only for want of opportunity. Now let us be off. If Lord Charles What's-his-other-name don't yield without a murmur, I shall be surprised."

Half-an-hour later they were walking up the steps of the hotel. Sir Charles was in the lounge, with a cigar in his mouth and his eyes towards the door. He was feeling much more anxious than he cared to admit. Gervase had gone by an early train to Monte Carlo and had not returned. Lady Tregony and Beryl were in their bedrooms.

Sir Charles sprang to his feet and heaved a big sigh of relief when the swing door was pushed open, and Madeline entered, radiant and smiling, followed by Kitty Harvey and her father.

"My dear Madeline," he said, reproachfully, "you have given us a fright.

We have been looking for you everywhere."

"Oh! I am sorry," she answered. "But I told one of the page-boys I met outside to tell you I was going to lunch with some friends."

"No such message was brought to me," he answered, severely. "It would have been better if you had left word at the office."

"I am sorry if I have caused you any anxiety," she answered, quietly.

"But I met some American friends on the promenade, and have been with them on their yacht to lunch."

At the word yacht Sir Charles p.r.i.c.ked up his ears, and a somewhat mollified expression stole over his face.

"Allow me to introduce my friend Miss Kitty Harvey," Madeline said, in her most engaging manner, "and this is her father, Mr. P. J. Harvey, of New York City, and a friend of my father's."

Sir Charles bowed very pompously, and muttered something under his breath about being delighted to meet them.

Peter J. had said nothing up to this point, but stood in the background--as a modest man should--chewing the end of a cigar.

"I can a.s.sure you, Colonel, the pleasure is reciprocated," he said, in his slowest manner, and with a twinkle in the corner of his eye. "The truth is my daughter and I have come along as a sort of deputation."

"Indeed! Will you not be seated?"

"Well, thank you. As it's as cheap to sit as to stand, and talking comes easier as a rule when you are sitting down, I guess I'll fall in with the suggestion."

Sir Charles waited for Mr. Harvey to proceed. Madeline and Kitty sat on a lounge side by side, the former feeling very uncomfortable. She saw in a moment that Sir Charles did not like the American's free and easy ways, and Mr. Harvey was dimly conscious of the same truth.

"Not to waste words over the business," Peter J. went on, "we want to take Miss Grover just for a little run on our steamer, and we came across to ask your consent. These formalities are considered proper I believe, and we fall in with them. Though as a citizen of the United States I presume the lady can just do as she likes."

"Well, no!" Sir Charles replied, pompously. "Miss Grover is my ward till she comes of age. At any rate, it amounts to that----"