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He, pausing before the sleeping Barndale, blushed not, but poked him in the ribs with the end of his walking-stick, and regarded him with an eye of waggish joy, as who should say that to poke a sleeping man in the ribs was a stroke of comic genius whereof the world had never beheld the like. He sat on his stick, cocked Mr. Barndale's hat on one side, and awaited that gentleman's waking. Mr.
As he went he laughed to himself, and pulled out Barndale's pipe remembrancer of his mean triumph, since repaired by his own hands. He filled and lit it, smoking calmly as the sturdy caiquejee pulled him across the Golden Horn. Suddenly the caique fouled with another, and there came a volley of Turkish oaths and objurgations. The Greek looked up, and saw Miss Leland in the other boat.
The band was crashing away at the overture to 'Tannhäuser, the people were laughing and chattering as they circled, and not an eye but Barndale's regarded this drama in the corner. The Greek's hand was in his bosom, where it clutched something with an ugly gesture. His face was in the sideway glare of the footlights which illumined the orchestra.
On the day following Barndale's arrest and release, Lilian sat by her brother's bedside, when the door of the bedroom opened noiselessly, and two women stole in on stealthy tiptoe. One was Barndale's maiden sister, and the other was poor little Thecla Perzio. Lilian kissed them both; and Thecla said, in a tearful, frightened whisper. 'It is all my wicked, wicked fault.
The Greek listened until the measured beat of Barndale's sculls had lost itself in silence. Then he crept forward from the bushes, stepped lightly to the margin of the stream, laid both hands on a sturdy branch which drooped above the house-boat, and swung himself light as a feather to the after deck The door of the rear room, which served the inmates as a kitchen, was unsecured and open.
'You're going to-night of course? 'Of course. Nothing to stay here for. At the door of the hotel stood Barndale's servant, a sober-looking Scotchman dressed in dark tweed. 'Come with me, Bob, said Barndale as he passed him. 'See you in the coffee-room in five minutes, Jimmy. In his own room Barndale sat down upon the bedside and addressed his servant. 'I have changed my mind about going home.
There passed rapidly through Barndale's mind the remembrance of a disputed wine-bill, and the service of some legal document which he had thrown into the fire without reading. He connected the clean-shaven stranger with these things, and was tickled at the idea of being arrested for some such trifle as a hundred pounds. He was so far tickled that he laughed outright.
There was a woman in the question apparently, and it would seem that the friends were quarrelling concerning her. But the Greek soon heard enough to convince him that this woman was not Thecla Perzio. The voices grew louder, and some open breach of the peace seemed imminent. The friends were rehearsing their own especial scene in Barndale's comedy.
It's only one more good turn out of a million, Billy, but I shan't forget it. With that he arose and shook Barndale's hand. 'What did you do with the girl? asked Barndale. 'Took her home. The Bloke who had such strong objections to me is her sweetheart. He's engaged to her; but she says she hates him, and is afraid of him. She'll be more afraid of him now than ever, and with better reason.
Under other conditions you would find much to admire in him. Even now, if you have any taste for live statuary, you shall admire this upright six feet two inches of finely-modelled bone and muscle. If manly good-nature can make a handsome sun-browned face pleasant to you, then shall Barndale's countenance find favour in your eyes.
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