Jerome had failed with Stella; she had thrown him over for another man; now he had found Lili—had almost desperately, without quite realizing it, seized upon her. He needed her—that is, his ego needed her. It wasn’t an aggressive or egregious ego; certainly there was nothing of a Don Juan about it! But it was a decently masculine ego, and stood possessed of a salient sense of dignity. Under the circumstances, even had Lili’s spell been less rare and beautiful, it could have required no prodigious effort to convince himself that he loved her. As time went on and his brave new life unfolded, what elements of sheer convenience in it all there might be obtruded less and less.
Her wonderful eyes, her gay manners, never failed. He couldn’t help himself—didn’t want to—idealized her lavishly because he really loved her, though behind that, subtly, because his ego loved her. Had he pried down deep into his heart—ah, but this was no time for prying; it was a time for living! He loved, and laid long plans into the future, and more or less realised, underneath all his reverses, that it was proving the happiest and most consistently advancing period of his life—even if Lili did keep holding off.
And indeed he didn’t, after all, have time to sit down much and brood over his troubles; for entirely aside from matters of heart interest he was a full fledged business man, now, with problems to work out, increasing responsibility, tricky accounts to keep straight. Jerome was proving to Mr. Curry that much of the business of contracting for cargo could be entrusted to him. He was getting first-hand information about everything connected with shipping and insurance; worked right along with the broker—who might be a little inclined to chuckle over occasional evidence of a rather unusual naïveté, but who soon perceived he was dealing with nobody’s fool when it came to figures.
The impresario looked on with a glow of thanksgiving and relief, and was very glad indeed, as things had turned out, that Tony and Alfredo had put the clerk in the supply closet. “Lord, Lord! It’s wonderful the progress that boy is making!”
Yes, Jerome found the world a great place. And the most valuable lessons of all were lessons of contact with men—of all sorts, yet nearly all prepared to get the better of their fellows if possible.
II
But through everything ran the thread of his queer courtship. Lili baffled him, yet lured him on and on. And he wanted to be lured. He couldn’t understand her, but he certainly couldn’t give her up, either; did a man ever give a woman up because he couldn’t understand her?
Perhaps the worst of it was that Lili kept going places with that same wretched soldier. Where had she ever picked him up, and who did he think he was, anyhow? Jerome brooded murder. He brooded almost everything conceivable, between sessions with the broker, and when he wasn’t checking up with the house manager. Sometimes he would stoutly decide never to speak to her again. But the next day she would so overwhelm him with her beaming and her loud, determined sweetness that contrary impulse would melt away. Jerome was simply a lump of putty in her hands.
But of course Lili didn’t by any means always treat him so badly. Sometimes for long stretches she would be quite lovely. On Sundays—all but one, when she disappeared in company with the miserable meddling soldier—Lili and Jerome took excursions about the island, sometimes alone and sometimes with a gay party of their friends. Oh, the skies were not by any means altogether leaden.
The prosperous season in Honolulu closed on a Saturday night, and the Skipping Goone was scheduled for departure the following Monday. Jerome and Lili went on a final jaunt, this time a bit more ambitious than any of the others. They found they could take an early morning boat over to Hilo and return late at night.