‘Yes, she is,’ was the reply; ‘but I can’t say I’ve seen much of her. She seems very different from what she was in England last year. But I think she hates this country, and—’
‘Dunn, this is my friend Captain Norton; allow me to introduce you. Mrs Norton is Miss Anstruther’s cousin, Dunn; he has come on board expressly to meet her.’
‘Oh yes, of course; very happy, I’m sure,’ said Mr Dunn; and in consequence no farther allusion was made to Miss Anstruther’s likes or dislikes.
Meanwhile I found the captain, and got him to introduce me to the young lady. It was a proud cold face which she turned towards me as my name was mentioned to her, and the hand she offered lay very passive in my grasp; but she said all that was pleasant and polite, and intimated that her luggage was ready to be put into the boat, and she to follow me at any time, so that there was no reason for delay; and after I had assured her how eagerly Janie was on the look-out for her arrival, and she had bidden adieu to the captain, we prepared to return to shore. We were obliged to have two boats on account of the luggage; and what was my surprise to see Forster slip down after us into the second, as though he were one of the party.
‘You have deserted the company of your friend Dunn very quickly,’ I remarked to him. ‘The Ostrich does not leave for another hour. I thought you were going to breakfast on board.’
‘I thought of doing so,’ he answered carelessly (he had been talking of nothing else on our way there); ‘but perhaps it’s better not—might miss the boat, you see, which would be awkward. Will you introduce me to Miss Anstruther?’
I went through the required formula; but after the customary acknowledgment of it, Miss Anstruther took no further notice of Mr Forster or myself, and the conversation, after several ineffectual attempts to draw her into it, was kept up between us alone. Meanwhile, I could not help stealing an occasional glance to where my wife’s cousin sat, calm and silent, gazing on the bright glancing waters, and answering the occasional remarks directed to her with a smile which was almost too faint to be called so. Only once did I see the expression of her face change; and that was when the cross-current caught the boat and drove it all slanting and edgeways, like a bird across the bay, with a velocity which, for the moment, considerably unsettled each of us. She grew a little paler then, and I saw her hand (rather a nice hand, by-the-bye) grasp the seat which she occupied; but still she said nothing.
‘Don’t be frightened, Miss Anstruther,’ I interposed hastily; ‘there is no real danger. The native boatmen are so skilful that it is very seldom a boat is upset here.’
‘Thank you,’ she murmured, in answer to my information, and for a moment her eyes met mine (she has fine eyes, certainly); and the next time the boat was driven out of her course I saw, by the unmoved expression of her face, that she remained at ease.
I suppose it was very courageous, and all that sort of thing; but I don’t think I liked her any the better for it. A woman, in my idea, is a creature to be protected, and not to take care of herself. I remember how Janie shrieked and screamed and clung to me when I brought her on shore in one of those very boats; and I think I should have liked it better if Miss Anstruther had exhibited a little more fear. However, everybody is not like my Janie. When we landed at the fort, Forster, who is our adjutant, was obliged to leave us, and allow me to take my guest home in a carriage; but though she talked a little more when we found ourselves alone, she was anything but sociable; and I was thankful when we had turned into our own compound, and I could tell her to look out for Janie on the steps. There was my little bird, of course; all fluttering with pleasure at the delight of meeting her cousin again; and as soon as Miss Anstruther had reached the porch she flew into her arms, and her happiness found vent in a burst of excited tears. I expected to see the stranger follow suit, knowing that women often cry most when they are most pleased; but not a drop fell from her eyes. She clasped my wife very closely to her, it is true, and I saw her lip and nostril twitching; but she showed no further signs of emotion, though Janie did tell me that, after they had passed into the bedroom together, her cousin indulged in what she technically termed ‘a good cry.’ However, of this I knew nothing. The two girls (Janie is but eighteen, and Miss Anstruther a year older) remained closeted together for more than an hour; and when they reappeared at the breakfast-table they looked as fresh as their muslin dresses, and as far from tears as the day was from rain.