"These London gaieties are too much for you, my dear," he said, anxiously; "you are not used to late hours."
"Oh, I am quite well," answered Carmela, with assumed gaiety; "it is only a little fatigue; you must not hurry me away just when I am enjoying myself."
"Fancy calling this sort of thing enjoyment!" said Bell, contemptuously; "I'm sick of these miles of streets, and crowded dances, and conceited men; give me the country, with a bright sky and a good horse."
"We'll go down soon, then," said Carmela, kissing her; "I only want to stay in town another week, and then I shall be at your disposal."
The fact was, Carmela was cherishing a hope that Ronald would see her, and explain away the discord which seemed to have arisen between them. But though he called occasionally he made no sign, but retained the same reserved demeanour, the reason of which she could not guess.
Ronald, as a matter of fact, was torturing himself over the position of affairs. Was Carmela the sister of Mrs. Verschoyle? If so, she must have been in love with Verschoyle, as his dead friend had clearly said so. In this case he--Ronald--was not her first love, and he felt that such a position was very unsatisfactory.
Another thing was, if Carmela had been standing beside her sister on the night of departure, she also must have recognized Verschoyle, and therefore, when the murder was committed, she must undoubtedly have connected her sister with the crime. And suppose she knew all about it, and was silent in order to shield her sister. Well, he could not blame her for that; but if she were doing this, she was, in a certain way, an accomplice: and could he marry a woman who was not only cognizant of such a crime, but was closely related to the person who had committed it?
Ronald used to lie awake at night, and worry over these things till he thought he should go out of his mind. He was madly in love with Carmela, but still he had a certain amount of self-restraint, and determined not to ask her to be his wife until the mystery which environed the death of Verschoyle was cleared up satisfactorily. Therefore he kept away from her, as he dared not trust himself in her presence without giving way and marrying her without taking anything into consideration.
And so these two young people were in a singularly unhappy position--both in love, yet both living at cross purposes; Carmela wondering at Ronald's sudden change of demeanour, and Ronald trying to solve the doubts which had arisen in his mind concerning the woman he loved.
As to the rest of the "Neptune's" passengers, they were scattered far and wide. Pat Ryan had gone off to look after his Irish estates, which mainly consisted of acres of bog inhabited by evil-minded tenants, who refused to pay the rent, and as Pat was too kind-hearted to evict them, his income was growing beautifully less every day. Kate Lester and her mother had gone down to Hampshire, on a visit to a rich bachelor uncle, who had fallen in love with Kate, and determined to make her his heiress, a proposal not at all distasteful to that pleasure-loving young lady Mrs. Pellypop was down at Marlow with her son-in-law, the Bishop and his meek little wife, and was already exercising over the entire household her despotic rule, until the whole house nearly arose in rebellion. The only one left in London who refused to leave it till Carmela took her departure was Vassalla, for that astute gentleman, seeing there was an estrangement between Carmela and the Australian, determined to turn it to his own advantage, and was always whispering insinuations against Monteith, until, one day, she turned round and asked him what he meant?