Elsie bent forward to give the chatterer another cup of tea.
"And you promised to read Molière at least two hours daily!" she sighed
good-humoredly. Even the most sensible people, and Elsie was very
sensible, begin a long voyage with idiotic programs of work to be done.
"I mean to substitute a live Frenchman for a dead one--that is all.
And I am sure Monsieur le Comte Edouard de Poincilit will do our French
far more good than 'Les Fourberies de Scapin.'"
"Am I to be included in the lessons? And you actually know the man's
name already?"
"Read it on his luggage, dear girl. He has such a lot. See if he
doesn't wear three different colored shirts for breakfast, lunch, and
tea. And, if you refuse to help, who is to take care of le p'tit
Edouard while I give the captain a trot round. Don't look cross,
there's a darling, though you do remind me, when you open your eyes
that way, of a delightful little American schoolma'am I met in Lima.
She had drifted that far on her holidays, and I believe she was
horrified with me."
"Perhaps she thought you were really the dreadful person you made
yourself out to be. Now, Isobel, that does not matter a bit in
Valparaiso, where you are known, but in Paris and London--"
"Where I mean to be equally well known, it is a passport to smart
society to be un peu risqué. Steward! Give my compliments to
Captain Courtenay, and say that Miss Maxwell and Miss Baring hope he
will favor them with his company to tea."
Elsie's bright, eager face flushed slightly. She leaned forward, with
a certain squaring of the shoulders, being a determined young person in
some respects.
"For once, I shall let you off," she said in a low voice. "So I give
you fair warning, Isobel, I must not be included in impromptu
invitations of that kind. Next time I shall correct your statement
most emphatically."
"Good gracious! I only meant to be polite. Tut, tut! as dad says when
he can't swear before ladies, I shan't make the running for you any
more."
Elsie drummed an impatient foot on the deck. There was a little pause.
Isobel closed her eyes lazily, but she opened them again when she heard
her friend say: "I am sorry if I seem crotchety, dear. Indeed, it is no pretense on my
part. You cannot imagine how that man Ventana persecuted me. The mere
suggestion of any one's paying me compliments and trying to be
fascinating is so repellent that I cringe at the thought. And even our
sailor-like captain will think it necessary to play the society clown,
I suppose, seeing that we are young and passably good-looking."