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Updated: June 4, 2025
I am obliged to you all the same. Good-night!" "Say, Big Bear! Will you take me on the water?" Merefleet, lounging on the shingle with a pipe and newspaper, looked up with a start and hastened to knock out the half-burnt tobacco on the heel of his boot. His American friend stood above him, clad in the white linen costume she always wore for boating. She looked very enchanting and very childlike.
She laughed a little, but said nothing. "I want to know what makes you lonely," he said. "Don't tell me, of course, if there is any difficulty about it!" "No," she responded coolly. "I won't. But I guess I'm lonely for much the same reason that you are." "I have never been anything else since I became a man," said Merefleet. "Ah!" she said. "I might say the same.
Nevertheless there was nothing of despair in his face as he stooped over the girl who was crouching at his feet. "Glad you have been able to sleep," he said gently. "Don't get up! There is no necessity if you are fairly comfortable." She smiled up at him with the ready confidence of a child and raised herself a little. "Still watching, Big Bear?" she said. "Yes," said Merefleet.
"Do you know you make me feel a most objectionable cad?" said Merefleet. "Oh, no, you aren't that," she hastened to assure him. "I'm positive you aren't that. It was my fault. I spoke first. I thought you looked real sad. And I always want to hearten up sad folks. You see I've been there, and I know what it is." "You!" said Merefleet. Did he hear a sob in the darkness beside him? He fancied so.
"I'm getting old, Perry; and there's no one to take care of me. And I find that money is vanity." Clinton understood. "Better go round the world," he said. "That's the best cure for that." But Merefleet shook his head. "It's my own fault," he said presently. "I've chucked away my life to the gold-demon. And now there is nothing left to me. You were wise in your generation.
"I know a lot, Big Bear," she said. Merefleet watched her, well pleased with the sight. She stood rocking to and fro. Her gaze was fixed and tender. "I wonder what you see," Merefleet said, after a pause. Her eyes came back at once to her immediate surroundings. "Shall I tell you, Big Bear?" she said. "Yes," said Merefleet, marvelling at the radiance of her face.
She did not resist him, but neither did she welcome. Her lips were quivering painfully. "What have I done that you should run away from me?" Merefleet asked her very gently. She shook her head with a helpless gesture. "Mr. Merefleet," she whispered, "try try not to be cross any! I'm afraid I've made a big mistake." "My dear, we all make them," Merefleet said with grave kindliness.
Twenty-four hours earlier Merefleet would have deliberately hunched his shoulders, turned his back, and read his paper. But his education was in sure hands. He had made rapid progress since the day before. He leant a little towards his critic and said gravely: "Pray accept my apologies for the omission! To tell you the truth, I was not watching the progress of the cookery."
"I shan't mind dying now," Mab whispered, a little later. "I was real frightened yesterday. But now do you know? I'm glad glad. It's just like sailing into Paradise, isn't it? Are any of your people there, Big Bear?" "Perhaps," said Merefleet. "Won't you be pleased to see them?" she said, with a touch of wonder at the indifference in his tone.
Seton tossed away a half-smoked cigarette and rose. "In half-an-hour," he said, "I shall have left this place, and my cousin with me. I asked to speak to you because I detest all underhand dealings. You apparently have not the same scruples." Merefleet also rose. "You will apologise for that," he said, in a tone of conviction.
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