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White-limbed sycamores and tangled undergrowth went along with us, and sometimes inclined to take up more than their share of the narrow way. Brilliant berries gleamed on some bare, brown bushes, and the green leaves of the smilax pretended that they grew there too. Along the beach, tall bunches of reeds stood out against the brown of the river and the blue of the sky in their waving slenderness.
The reception, followed by a dinner-dance in the evening, was, according to the society columns, "one of the social events of the season. The handsomest house in town was a bower of smilax and hothouse roses." Everybody went to the reception, for everybody was more or less curious to meet the former celebrated actress.
Her domain comprises two very natural groups, that of the lily and that of the smilax, which, with the advance of science, has become the family of the Smilaceæ. In these two groups she recognizes certain genera the more numerous as her own; she refuses the others, which ought perhaps to be revised before being finally classified.
At this he arose with a subtle power that reminded me of a huge black leopard and began making our things into a pack. Never had I seen, anywhere from Newfoundland to the Rockies, a bundle of duffle more skillfully arranged, and I said with no small degree of admiration: "I'd take off my hat to you, Smilax, if the storm hadn't blown it away!"
Thickly-prickled stems of green-brier, the wild smilax, rise to the height of the choke-cherry shrubs and the branches lift themselves by means of two tendrils on each leaf-stalk to the most favorable positions for the sunlight. Under these broad leaves the catbird is concealed. Elegant epicurean, he is sampling the ripening choke-cherries.
Gods, but I was going back into the primitive by leaps and bounds! I wondered if that girl would trust herself to me, were she to know! "Me big fool," Smilax suddenly cried, smashing a fist into the palm of his hand. "What's the matter?" I sat up, asking. "Me ought to be in L'il Cove and make fresh signs. Me big fool!" It would have been a cute move, but now too late, and I told him so.
Perhaps, Cairns had pressed down a little too hard on the queer unhurt quality he was alleged to possess. In a word, Bedient sensed the humor of Mrs. Wordling, and could not yet know that she, of the entire company, monopolized the taint. The Smilax Club pleased him, and he had permitted Cairns to put him up there. That flame of a woman, Beth Truba, was the spirit of his every thought.
Kate Wilkes lived at the Smilax Club, as did Vina Nettleton, and, for the present, Mrs. Wordling. The actress was recently in from the road. Her play had not run its course, merely abated for the hot months. She was an important satellite, if not a stellar attraction. About noon, on the day following the party for Bedient, Mrs.
I asked, when everything was ready and each of us had our snack of food. "No," he answered. "Too hard to crawl like snake. They no see us to-day. We take l'il crack-crack." "Little crack-crack" meant an automatic revolver, greatly admired by Smilax and, since Tommy's coaching, handled by him with no mean skill.
Yet perhaps the truest reason why my nerves had turned to steel was the dominating thought of Sylvia. Twice I rehearsed before Smilax what I was to do. I stood apart and called: "Post One, nine o'clock, and all's-er-well!" to let him judge if my voice differed materially from the one we heard last night. This was most important, as the suspicion of the guard at post Three must not be aroused.
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