The Purchase Price | Page 5

a boy, confident in
your word. Now, you have banished sleep! Nodding and blinking, I
must henceforth watch you, nodding--and blinking, unhappy,
uncomfortable; whereas, were it in my power, I would never have you
know the first atom of discomfort."
"There, there! I am but an amanuensis, my dear Captain Carlisle."
He colored almost painfully, but showed his own courage. "I only
admire the wisdom of the Vehmgerichte. They knew you were
dangerous, and I know it. I have no hope, should I become too much
oppressed by lack of sleep, except to follow instructions, and cast you
overboard somewhere below Kentucky!"
"You ask me not to attempt any escape?"
"Yes."
"Why, I would agree to as much as that. It is, as you say, a matter of
indifference to me whether I leave the boat at Cairo or at some point
farther westward. Of course I would return to Washington as soon as I
escaped from bondage."

"Excellent, Madam! Now, please add that you will not attempt to
communicate with any person on the boat or on shore."
"No; that I will not agree to as a condition."
"Then still you leave it very hard for me."
She only smiled at him again, her slow, deliberate smile; yet there was
in it no trace of hardness or sarcasm. Keen as her mind assuredly was,
as she smiled she seemed even younger, perhaps four or five and
twenty at most. With those little dimples now rippling frankly into view
at the corners of her mouth, she was almost girlish in her expression,
although the dark eyes above, long-lashed, eloquent, able to speak a
thousand tongues into shame, showed better than the small curving lips
the well-poised woman of the world.
Captain Edward Carlisle, soldier as he was, martinet as he was, felt a
curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her, steady
gaze, her alluring smile; he could not tell what this prisoner might do.
He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially
that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as
this under handicap so hard. For almost the first time since they had
met they were upon the point of awkwardness. Light speech failed
them for the moment, the gravity of the situation began to come home
to both of them. Indeed, who were they? What were they to the public
under whose notice they might fall--indeed, must fall? There was no
concealing face and figure of a woman such as this; no, not in any
corner of the world, though she were shrouded in oriental veil. Nay,
were she indeed tied in a sack and flung into the sea, yet would she
arise to make trouble for mankind until her allotted task should be
complete! How could they two answer any question which might arise
regarding their errand, or regarding their relations as they stood, here at
the gateway of the remoter country into which they were departing?
How far must their journey together continue? What would be said
regarding them?
Carlisle found it impossible to answer such questions. She herself only
made the situation the more difficult with her high-headed defiance of

him.
Hesitating, the young officer turned his gaze over the wide dock, now
covered with hurrying figures, with massed traffic, with the confusion
preceding the departure of a river boat. Teams thundered, carts trundled
here and there, shoutings of many minor captains arose. Those who
were to take passage on the packet hurried forward, to the gangway, so
occupied in their own affairs as to have small time to examine their
neighbors. The very confusion for the time seemed to afford safety.
Carlisle was upon the point of drawing a long breath of relief; but even
as he turned to ask his companion to accompany him aboard the boat
he caught sight of an approaching figure which he seemed to recognize.
He would have turned away, but the keen-witted woman at his side
followed his gaze and paused. There approached these two now, hat in
hand, a gentleman who evidently intended to claim acquaintance.
This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed
striking. In complexion fair, and with blue or gray eyes, he was tall as
any Viking, as broad in the shoulder. He was smooth-faced, and his
fresh skin and well-developed figure bespoke the man in good physical
condition through active exercise, yet well content with the world's
apportionment. His limbs were long, his hands bony and strong. His air,
of self-confident assurance, seemed that of a man well used to having
his own way. His forehead was high and somewhat rugged. Indeed, all
his features were in large mold, like the man himself, as though he had
come