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She evidently intended to ignore Captain Bontnor systematically and completely. "You know," she said, "I am related to your father " "By marriage," put in Captain Bontnor, with simple bluntness. He was brushing his hat with a large pocket-handkerchief. "And I have pleasant recollections of his kindness in past years. I stayed with him at the Casa d'Erraha more than once.
They said that the English senorita up at the Casa d'Erraha had found a lover, and a fine, handsome one at that; else, they opined, why should this English sailor thrash his boat through any weather from Cuidadela in Minorca to Soller in Majorca, riding subsequently from that small and lovely town over the roughest country in the island to the Valley of Repose as if the devil were at his heels.
And in the Casa d'Erraha was enacted at this time one of those strange little comedies that will force themselves upon a tragic stage. Fitz deemed it correct that he should avoid Eve as much as possible, and Eve, on the other hand, feeling lonely and miserable, wanted the society of the simple-minded young sailor. "Why do you always avoid me?" she asked suddenly on the evening after the funeral.
It is a place a place one might easily become attached to. Do you know" he turned his back to her, busying himself with the silver teapot "Lloseta?" he added jerkily. "Yes. My father and I used to go there very often." "Ah " He waited handing Captain Bontnor a cup of tea in silence. But Eve was not thinking of Lloseta; she was thinking of the Casa d'Erraha.
"But," she said, "that is already something. It is often a great comfort, especially to women, to know that there is some one 'standing by, as you call it, in case they are wanted." She gave a little laugh, and then suddenly became quite grave. The recollection of a conversation they had had at D'Erraha had flashed across her memory, as recollections do at the wrong time.
She knew the working of the singular system on which land is to this day held in tenure in Majorca and Minorca, and there was no reason to suppose that there was any mistake or deception respecting the estate of the Val d'Erraha. A dramatist of considerable talent, who is not sufficiently studied in these modern times, has said that a man in his time plays many parts.
"Three generations ago two men made a verbal agreement in respect to the estate of the Val d'Erraha. To-day no one knows what that agreement was. It may have been the ordinary 'rotas' of Minorca. It may not. In those days the English held Minorca; my ancestor may therefore have been indebted to your great-grandfather, for we have some small estates in Minorca. You know what the islands are to-day.
He stood before her, dignified, eminently worthy of the great name he bore a solitary, dark-eyed, inscrutable man, whose whole being subtly suggested hopelessness and an empty life. She shook her head. "But I cannot accept the Casa d'Erraha on those terms." The Count drew forward a chair and sat down. "Listen," he said, with an explanatory forefinger upheld.
Hearing by chance that the navigating lieutenant of the Kittiwake was Henry FitzHenry usually known as Fitz Mr. Challoner had written to Minorca from the larger island, introducing himself as the Honourable Mrs. Harrington's cousin, and offering what poor hospitality the Val d'Erraha had to dispense.
"I think," he said, "you mistake the footing upon which I stand with respect to Miss Challoner. I shall be most happy to do all in my power; but I tell you frankly that it does not amount to much. I am indebted to her indirectly for some very pleasant visits to D'Erraha; her father was very kind to me. Hardly sufficient to warrant anything that would look like interference on my part."
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