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'I don't like foreign sailors, said Smithson, looking perplexed and worried; 'and I have perfect confidence in Wilkinson. 'Which is as much as to say that you consider me a liar! Go to the bottom your own way, mon ami: ce n'est pas mon affaire, said Montesma, turning on his heel, and leaving his friend to his own devices.
Lesbia found that it was too warm to be on the deck when there were perspiring people, whose breath must be ninety by the thermometer, perpetually coming on board; so she and Lady Kirkbank sat in the saloon, and had the more distinguished guests brought down to them as to a Court; and the shrewder of the guests were quick to divine that no company beyond that of Don Gomez de Montesma was really wanted in that rose-scented saloon.
'That's what I should like to know, my lady. But I daresay Lady Lesbia and Mr. Montesma can tell you. They are both on deck. 'Montesma! Why, we left him on shore! 'Yes, my lady, but he came on board at five o'clock this morning. I looked at my watch when I heard him land, and he and Lady Lesbia have been sitting on deck ever since. 'And now it is ten. Five hours on deck impossible!
After breakfast, which was prolonged till noon, Montesma asked Smithson to smoke a cigarette on deck with him. 'I want to talk to you on a rather serious matter, he said. Lesbia heard the words, and looked up with a frightened glance. Could he mean to attempt anything desperate?
Cuba is one of my freshest memories; and I have a pretty tight memory for facts, names and figures. Never could remember two lines of poetry in my life. 'Did you ever hear of, or meet with, a man called Montesma Gomez de Montesma?
The world wondered a little, just as Lady Sevenoaks wondered, at Smithson's complacency in allowing a man so attractive as Montesma to be so much in the society of his future wife, yet even the censorious could but admit that the Cuban's manner offered no ground for offence.
'She will wait a long time, said Montesma, 'or fare ill if I go back to her. Lesbia, his lordship's story of the Octoroon is a fable an invention of my Cuban enemies, who hate us old Spaniards with a poisonous hatred. But this much is true. I am a married man bound, fettered by a tie which I abhor. Our Havre marriage would have been bigamy on my part, a delusion on yours.
Montesma came to her every now and then to explain what was being done; and by-and-by, when the canvas was all up, and the yacht was skimming over the water, like a giant swan borne by the current of some vast strong river, he came and stayed by her side, and they two sat making little baby sentences in Spanish, he as teacher and she as pupil, with no one near them but the sailors.
Smithson and Montesma on shore no one on board to exercise authority over those fearful men. Perhaps they had mutinied, and were carrying off the yacht as their booty, with Lesbia and her chaperon, and all their gowns. 'I am almost glad that harpy Seraphine has my diamonds, thought poor Georgie, 'or I should have had them with me on board this hateful boat.
'Do you mean to tell me that Lord Maulevrier's sister, a young lady under my charge, answerable to me for her conduct, is capable of jilting the man to whom she has solemnly bound herself, in order to marry you? demanded Lady Kirkbank, turning to Montesma. 'Yes; that is what I am going to do, answered Lesbia, boldly. 'It would be a greater sin to keep my promise than to break it.
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