Flotsam [pp. 46-52]

Flotsam. I
And simultaneously there flashed
through his mind the thought,- Was
Lilly, with her delicate face and dainty
ways, one of their kind?
The next day, although Christmas eve,
was mild and bright. They went down
the river, as Lilly had planned; there
was no wind, so Doctor Vane and Flot sam rowed, and the boy noted with sur prise the masterly fashion in which the
city man handled his oar. Lilly had
the tiller; she was in gay spirits, and
chattered nonsense all the way. They
landed at a grove where the thick green ery was enriched by clusters of vivid
scarlet berries; they had brought a
basket to carry these home, and were
soon busily gathering the spoils. Vane
kept at Lilly's side,pulling down branches
that were out of her reach, and moving
all chance obstacles that she encount ered.
" I'm tired," she said at last. "Come
with me and I'11 show you our house;
it's just a little way farther on."
"Our house?" he echoed interroga tively.
"George's and mine. We built it to gether, when we were little things 0,
ever so long ago! At least, he built it
and I looked on; and it has been growing
and growing ever since, until it has be come quite a mansion. Yousee it is made
of trees, with vines for the curtains, and
there are windows and a door; it is really
quite beautiful inside. See, here it is.
Why, George has been working here
t lately, I do believe, getting it all ready
for me! How good of you, George!"
She turned with a glowing face to
thank him, but he was not in hearing
distance. Doctor Vane walked forward
into the trim arbor and looked around.
"Very pretty very artistic," he re marked. "Your ah- young friend
does not appear to be very sociably in clined."
"He is shy, I suppose," said Lilly
rather absently, plucking off a twig.
Vol. XV-4.
They lingered a minute or two, then
strolled back to the landing. Flotsam
was sitting in the boat with the basket
of berries between his knees; he looked
around unwillingly as Lilly called to
him.
"Come, George, we are going to have
our lunch; it's time."
"I don't want any, thanks," he answered curtly. "I ain't hungry."
So the Doctor and Lilly shared the
repast, and made merry over it; and
Flotsam sat in the boat with his back
towards them, and nursed a dull pain in
his heart.
They rowed homeward more silently
than they had come; a gray mist had
engulfed the sunshine, and Lilly, drawing her shawl around her, shivered and
complained of the cold.
"Cold! after New York!" said Vane
j estingly.
"One expects to be cold in New York.
Here it is different. Somehow things
don't seem to be exactly as they were
when I went away," said Lilly, half pettishly.
Doctor Vane smiled at her in a friendly, indulgent way, but she would not
meet his eye. Something had gone
wrong; what it was she did not know,
but the brightness of the day was over.
Christmas passed quietly, then one or
two days more, and still the visitor lingered, urged by the Captain, who said
"he might as well stop right along; there
war n't no hurry so long as his business
didn't need him." What the nature of
this was nobody inquired; Flotsam surmised that his one object in coming to
California was to "fool round Lilly."
This youth regarded Vane with a dark
jealousy and suspicion of which the others had no inkling; but Lilly noticed his
changed demeanor, and felt annoyed that
he should behave with such incivility to
a guest.
She was sitting with the Doctor one
day on the balcony, discussing the feasi
1890]
49