The Princess Aline | Page 8

been
everywhere, and for long seasons at a time, proved as alive as her niece,
and Carlton conceived a great liking for her. She seemed to be just and
kindly minded, and, owing to her age, to combine the wider judgment
of a man with the sympathetic interest of a woman. Sometimes they sat
together in a row and read, and gossiped over what they read, or

struggled up the deck as it rose and fell and buffeted with the wind; and
later they gathered in a corner of the saloon and ate late suppers of
Carlton's devising, or drank tea in the captain's cabin, which he had
thrown open to them. They had started knowing much about one
another, and this and the necessary proximity of the ship hastened their
acquaintance.
The sea grew calmer the third day out, and the sun came forth and
showed the decks as clean as bread-boards. Miss Morris and Carlton
seated themselves on the huge iron riding-bits in the bow, and with
their elbows on the rail looked down at the whirlin-blue water, and
rejoiced silently in the steady rush of the great vessel, and in the
uncertain warmth of the March sun. Carlton was sitting to leeward of
Miss Morris, with a pipe between his teeth. He was warm, and at peace
with the world. He had found his new acquaintance more than
entertaining. She was even friendly, and treated him as though he were
much her junior, as is the habit of young women lately married or who
are about to be married. Carlton did not resent it; on the contrary, it
made him more at his ease with her, and as she herself chose to treat
him as a youth, he permitted himself to be as foolish as he pleased.
"I don't know why it is," he complained, peering over the rail, "but
whenever I look over the side to watch the waves a man in a greasy cap
always sticks his head out of a hole below me and scatters a barrelful of
ashes or potato peelings all over the ocean. It spoils the effect for one.
Next time he does it I am going to knock out the ashes of my pipe on
the back of his neck." Miss Morris did not consider this worthy of
comment, and there was a long lazy pause.
"You haven't told us where you go after London," she said; and then,
without waiting for him to reply, she asked, "Is it your professional or
your social side that you are treating to a trip this time?"
"Who told you that?" asked Carlton, smiling.
"Oh, I don't know. Some man. He said you were a Jekyll and Hyde.
Which is Jekyll? You see, I only know your professional side."

"You must try to find out for yourself by deduction," he said, "as you
picked out the other passengers. I am going to Grasse," he continued.
"It's the capital of Hohenwald. Do you know it?"
"Yes," she said; "we were there once for a few days. We went to see the
pictures. I suppose you know that the old Duke, the father of the
present one, ruined himself almost by buying pictures for the Grasse
gallery. We were there at a bad time, though, when the palace was
closed to visitors, and the gallery too. I suppose that is what is taking
you there?"
"No," Carlton said, shaking his head. "No, it is not the pictures. I am
going to Grasse," he said, gravely, "to see the young woman with
whom I am in love."
Miss Morris looked up in some surprise, and smiled consciously, with a
natural feminine interest in an affair of love, and one which was a
secret as well.
"Oh," she said, "I beg your pardon; we--I had not heard of it.
"No, it is not a thing one could announce exactly," said Carlton; "it is
rather in an embryo state as yet--in fact, I have not met the young lady
so far, but I mean to meet her. That's why I am going abroad."
Miss Morris looked at him sharply to see if he were smiling, but he was,
on the contrary, gazing sentimentally at the horizon-line, and puffing
meditatively on his pipe. He was apparently in earnest, and waiting for
her to make some comment.
"How very interesting!" was all she could think to say.
"Yes, when you know the details, it is,----VERY interesting," he
answered. "She is the Princess Aline of Hohenwald," he explained,
bowing his head as though he were making the two young ladies
known to one another. "She has several other names, six in all, and her
age is twenty-two. That is all I know about her. I saw her picture in an
illustrated paper just