"Yes, thanks," replied Miss Watts. "So glad you are staying at our hotel. We'll see you later," she added, and they rode off, leaving him smiling after them, bare-headed in the sunlight.
"Most charming man I ever met!" exclaimed Miss Watts.
It was like a miracle to step out on to the terrace of the hotel, after dinner that night. To have left New York on a cold, raw fall day, and in two days to find oneself in this warm, odorous night air. The band played, and white-clad figures walked, danced, sat in groups over coffee. Everywhere relaxed, happy, laughing people.
It was not the season on the island but so many English officers came to recuperate here, so many Americans, shut out of Europe, came down from New York for a week or so, that it was unusually gay.
Mrs. Darlington and Captain O'Leary were dancing when Miss Watts and Isabelle entered the large gallery at the edge of the platform. Mrs. Darlington was regal in evening dress, and the pair attracted much attention as they danced. The Captain bowed as he passed and evidently spoke to his partner about them, for she glanced back at them. She shrugged her shoulders, and he led her in their direction.
"Lovely night, isn't it? Mrs. Darlington, Miss Watts and Miss Bryce," he said.
"I tried to meet Miss Bryce on the boat, but she snubbed me," laughed Mrs. Darlington, making Isabelle feel very young and crude.
Isabelle frowned and made no denial, so Captain O'Leary remarked:
Isabelle glanced at Miss Watts, who looked uncomfortable.
"Isabelle is not out yet. Her mother wishes her to be inconspicuous here," she began.
"Imagine Isabelle inconspicuous," laughed Mrs. Darlington again.
"But it's different out here--it's not a ball room, ye know. It's just dancin' round," said the Irishman.
"Yes, that's true. Oh, I think it would be all right," agreed Miss Watts, unable to deny him the moon, if he asked for it.
He went away with his partner, who was decidedly bored with the conversation.
"Surly little thing," she remarked, audibly.
"She is certainly a beautiful woman," Miss Watts remarked, looking after them.
"Beautiful? Oh, yes, if you like a vamp."
They strolled about, drank in the rich tropical perfume of the night, and looked off to where the sea lay--huge, mysterious, and musical--lipping the beach. There was a moon and the stars hung low and yellow in a deep blue velvet sky.