Her eyes, as she turned them full upon me, were the
saddest, loveliest eyes I had ever seen, and even in that
brilliant, crowded room I felt their spell. They were
fixed in my memory indelibly,-mournful, dreamy and
wistful. In my absorption I forgot Larry.
"You're taking unfair advantage," he observed quietly.
"Friends of yours?"
"The big chap in the lead is my friend Pickering,"
I answered; and Larry turned his head slightly.
"Yes, I supposed you weren't looking at the women,"
he observed dryly. "I'm sorry I couldn't see the object
of your interest. Bah! these men!"
I laughed carelessly enough, but I was already summoning
from my memory the grave face of the girl in
black,-her mournful eyes, the glint of gold in her hair.
Pickering was certainly finding the pleasant places in
this vale of tears, and I felt my heart hot against him.
It hurts, this seeing a man you have never liked succeeding
where you have failed!
"Why didn't you present me? I'd like to make the
acquaintance of a few representative Americans,-I
may need them to go bail for me."
"Pickering didn't see me, for one thing; and for
another he wouldn't go bail for you or me if he did.
He isn't built that way."
Larry smiled quizzically.
"You needn't explain further. The sight of the lady
has shaken you. She reminds me of Tennyson: " 'The star-like sorrows of immortal eyes-' and the rest of it ought to be a solemn warning to you,
-many 'drew swords and died,' and calamity followed
in her train. Bah! these women! I thought you were
past all that!"
[Illustration: She turned carelessly toward me, and our eyes met for an instant.] "I don't know why a man should be past it at twenty-seven!
Besides, Pickering's friends are strangers to me.
But what became of that Irish colleen you used to
moon over? Her distinguishing feature, as I remember
her photograph, was a short upper lip. You used
to force her upon me frequently when we were in
Africa."
"Humph! When I got back to Dublin I found that
she had married a brewer's son,-think of it!"
"Put not your faith in a short upper lip! Her face
never inspired any confidence in me."
"That will do, thank you. I'll have a bit more of that
mayonnaise if the waiter isn't dead. I think you said
your grandfather died in June. A letter advising you
of the fact reached you at Naples in October. Has it
occurred to you that there was quite an interim there?
What, may I ask, was the executor doing all that time?
You may be sure he was taking advantage of the opportunity
to look for the red, red gold. I suppose you
didn't give him a sound drubbing for not keeping the
cables hot with inquiries for you?"