Topham found his tongue. “I never really saw ‘her’ till today,” he said, hypocritically, with a smile and a bow. “Now that you have come—”
“Oh! nonsense! Walter! You never did know how to flirt. None of your family ever did. Their directness in love is a tradition in Virginia. You never were in love with me, really. So”—with a sudden change of tone—“so you only ‘really’ met her today, did you? I suppose you’ll ran off with her tomorrow—as your father did. But there! I won’t tease you. Are you going back to God’s country soon?”
Topham drew a breath of relief. Most navy and army officers are professional squires of dames and either flirt, gossip, or drivel whenever they come into touch with a petticoat. But Topham, as Miss Byrd had suggested, did none of these. Women, especially the empty-headed ones who talked only personalities, thought him heavy. Just what Miss Byrd thought did not appear.
“Not for a year, at least, I think,” he answered. “I am on my way now to Tokio. My ship leaves Brindisi day after tomorrow and I must leave tomorrow night to be sure to catch her. I came overland from Hamburg and stopped over here to see Rutile, the secretary of our embassy. He and your chief, Risdon, were both in my class at the naval academy.”
Miss Byrd listened carelessly. “So you are going to Japan, are you? That means San Francisco sooner or later, of course. You’ll probably be back in the United States before I am.”
“How long will you stay in Berlin?”
“No time at all. I go to England tomorrow, and sail for Brazil in a month. Now that I’ve seen you and learned that you’ve found another and are her’n, there’s nothing more for me to do here!” And Miss Byrd laughed, not quite genuinely, perhaps.
Topham, however, noticed nothing amiss in her tones. “It’s superfluous for me to say that I’m sorry you’re going,” he answered; “seeing that I won’t be here myself. May I call and say good-by tomorrow?”
Miss Byrd hesitated. “You probably wouldn’t find me,” she declared frankly. “I’m a working woman now and I’ve got to go and interview two or three fussy old diplomats. I don’t know when I’ll be at home. But I’m going to be at the American embassy some time in the afternoon, and I’ll probably get a chance to say ‘auf wiedersehen’ there. Now, good-night! Here we are at Lord Maxwell’s.”