"He was a circumspectious man, yon Grant," said Ewing with approval. "A good Scot and vairy intelligent."
"He was right, Madame," agreed Ching. "It is not the brown skin but the unstable half-blood which is the peril. We must keep away drink and white women from—his young lordship."
It was a tremendous concession from a man like Ching. The "Moor" whom he detested had become the "young lordship" from whose stumbling footsteps must be withdrawn the perilous rocks of offence.
"But can we?" enquired Madame Gilbert anxiously. "He is a boy and very masterful. We cannot hold him in leading strings. Already my influence over him is waning. The seductions of John Clifford are more potent than the friendly, almost maternal, warnings of Madame Gilbert. I could, if I pleased, by working on his boyish virile passions, make him crawl at my feet and eat out of my hand. But to what end, and for how long? I should but hasten the process of corruption which the Hedge Lawyer has begun. From me, unassailable, he would flee to others less obdurate. And they are never far away even in the Straits of Torres. I cannot play with Willatopy. We must do what we can, but it is already borne in upon me that we seek to achieve the impossible. Already, these two days since, Willatopy has gone in the yawl with Clifford. It was for that reason I summoned you, and announced the surprise which our Alexander had so completely anticipated. I have grave fears lest even now John Clifford has drawn Willatopy away to Thursday Island, thence to take ship for England."
"For my part," declared Ewing, "I doubt the accuracy of Madame Gilbert's prognostications. They do not carry conviction to my astute mind. The change over is too sudden. That he will ultimately be prevailed upon to depart for his English lordship I make no manner of doubt. But not yet. He is a good boy. He has a great respect and affection for you, Madame. He worships you, Madame, as a gracious white goddess. As we all do, we all do. We are weak men, but there is nothing sinful in our love for you. Ching here, says little though he thinks a lot; and I say, maybe, more even than I think. But, believe me, Madame, we both of us love you from your bonny red hair to your dainty feet—which twinkle so sweetly over the sand when you come from your bath—and we would lay down our lives to presairve you from har-r-m. Willatopy would not have gone away to England without asking for your leave and bidding you farewell."
Ching, of the inflexible tongue, murmured assent.
Madame Gilbert, to whom the hearts of men had so often been as toys, was moved.
"My dear friends," said she gently, "I believe you, and I thank you. I have never played with your honest hearts, and I am proud that you should have given them so freely to me." She stretched forth a hand to each man, and first Ewing and then Ching touched with his lips her white fingers.
"And if not to Thursday Island whither then has Willatopy gone?" asked Madame.
"I do not say that he has not gone to Thursday Island," replied Ewing. "Port Kennedy, with its tin houses and bare dusty streets, is the one town in the Straits with any number of white folk. Clifford has played on the boy's white blood, and carried him off there to flaunt his lordship before the populace. As a preliminary canter, so to speak. If the brown Lord of Topsham meets with favour in the Island, I doubt he will aspire to wider fields of conquest."