A Hawaiian Expedient [pp. 10-18]

Overland Monthly
her dining-table and sideboard and the
telephone, and then a doorway with a
Japanese po,rtiere of bamboo leading to
the rest of the house, such as it was; for
the lanai was living-room, dining-room,
veranda, parlor, in fact, everything but
bedroom and kitchen.
She lay there looking with lazy enjoyment at the reflection of the sun on the
blue waters that glistened like myriads of
diamonds. Some Kanaka boys were surfriding, and,she watched the canoes as they
were skillfully mounted on the crests of
SKulanl's -ouse
the biggest waves, which, when they curled
and broke, sent the light crafts bounding
in with a fascination of speed equal to that
of the toboggan-slide. Soon the stately
Monowai, with mail and passengers and
importations from the Coast, came sailing
along, and farther out, near the horizon,
were some smaller white-sailed ships. The
happy, joyous voices of the surf-riders
were wafted to her on the faint winds. At
last her book slid to the floor and the attractions of Waikiki, of which perhaps she
was not the least, were lost to her. Her
dark lashes rested on her softly-flushed
cheeks, her pretty chestnut hair, half falling, was carelessly tossed back against the
luxurious multitude of neutral-tinted,
cool-looking pillows, and her rose-pink
hololcu, falling in graceful folds over the
side of the hammock, added a bright touch
of color to the picture.
Mrs. Sterling was a widow, and a young
one, but nobody knew how young, or, for
that matter, how old; for she had been
wise in her generation and had not told
her age when she had come to Honolulu,
some years before, as a bride. But she
always prefered to "get around" a difficult subject rather than tell a fib, however
white; so when asked the number of her
years she would explain that of course she
did not mind telling her age now, but she
always looked into the future, and she
could see that the time might come when
she might regret the confidence of her
youth.
"I think it is terrible, the way every one
knows everything about every-body in
Honolulu," she would say with a little
shudder. "I've been here only a short
time, and I know the ages of all the
women in the town - and the men too,
more shame to them! It's an injustice to
oneself; really, it is."
She had a convincing way. Hearing,
her talk on the subject, one quite forgot,
until afterwards, that it did n't make any
difference how old one was, and that "A
woman is as old-" and all the rest of the
very soothing proverb.
Yes, Mrs. Sterling was convincing.
Sometimes she even convinced herself.
When repeating a conversation she built
up, as it were, her replies therein, and,she
had no idea that in the original talk she
had not sparkled to the extent that she did
in recalling it. But after all, what was the
difference whether it was said first or last?
There was no "what might have been' in
her vocabulary. With her, sooner or later,
what might have been was, and in this
she was to be envied. But there was
not always necessity for elaboration of
her remarks, as she was not lacking in
either quickness or daring. An irascible
old gentleman had once cohfided in
her his disappointment in his son. He
was fond of confidences, for everybody
sympathized with him. He was rich,
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