"If Miss Barclay only had some money of her own with which to buy her release from that unspeakable father of hers," I began.
"That would break the combination easily," he said. "And she did have money once; half of her mother's fortune was left to her—with her father as trustee. It went the same way as Barclay's own half, and the Vancourt trust fund."
With Conetta's voice in my ears I couldn't think straight enough to help him much. What I said was more an echo of my own growing determination regarding Conetta than anything else.
"I'd fight for my own, Bonteck; and I'd do it with whatever weapon came handiest," I declared; and then the return of the steersman whom Van Dyck had relieved put an end to the confidences for the time being.
With the sea routine resumed, and the Andromeda once more steaming free and footloose, a night and a day elapsed before I again had private speech with Van Dyck. As before, it was after dinner in the evening, and Van Dyck had sent one of the cabin stewards to ask me to join him in his stateroom. It was a matchless night, and I was lounging with the younger members of the ship's company on the after-deck when the steward came and whispered to me. We were all singing college songs with Billy Grisdale's mandolin for an accompaniment, and I was able to slip away unnoticed.
I found Van Dyck sitting at his table, stepping off distances on a spread-out chart with a pair of compasses, and somehow I fancied that the air of the luxuriously fitted little den was surcharged with the electricity of portent.
"You sent for me?" I queried.
"Yes; sit down and light your pipe," and he motioned me to a chair. "What are the others doing?"
"The young people, with the Greys, are on the after-deck, caterwauling with Billy, as you can hear. There is a bridge table in full blast in the saloon, with Mrs. Van Tromp, Aunt Mehitable, Holly Barclay and Ingerson sitting in. The Sanfords have disappeared—gone to bed, I imagine; and the major is in the smoking-room, guzzling hot toddies."
"Good!" was the brief rejoinder. "Everything quiet up forward?"