“Then your father has been occupied lately,” he remarked.
“Yes; he is often away. He goes to Adexe and is generally busy in the evenings. People come to see him and keep him talking in his room. Our friends no longer spend the evening in the patio.”
Dick understood her. She wanted to convince him that Kenwardine was a business man and only gambled when he had nothing else to do. Indeed, her motive was rather pitifully obvious, and Dick knew that he had not been mistaken about her character. Clare had, no doubt, once yielded to her father’s influence, but it was impossible that she took any part in his plots. She was transparently honest; he knew this as he watched her color come and go.
“After all, I don’t think you liked many of the people who came,” he said.
“I liked Jake,” she answered and stopped with a blush, while Dick felt half ashamed, because he had deprived her of the one companion she could trust.
“Well,” he said, “it isn’t altogether my fault that Jake doesn’t come to see you. We have had some accidents that delayed the work and he has not been able to leave the dam.”
He was silent for the next few minutes. Since Clare was eager to defend Kenwardine, she might be led to tell something about his doings from which a useful hint could be gathered, and Dick greatly wished to know who visited his house on business. Still, it was impossible that he should make the girl betray her father. The fight was between him and Kenwardine, and Clare must be kept outside it. With this resolve, he began to talk about the dancing, and soon afterward Jake came up and asked Clare for the next waltz. She smiled and gave Dick a challenging glance.
“Certainly,” he said with a bow, and then turned to Jake. “As Miss Kenwardine has been put in my charge, you must bring her back.”
Jake grinned as he promised and remarked as they went away: “Makes a good dueña, doesn’t he? You can trust Dick to guard anything he’s told to take care of. In fact, if I’d a sister I wanted to leave in safe hands——” He paused and laughed. “But that’s the trouble. It was my sister who told him to take care of me.”
Dick did not hear Clare’s reply, but watched her dance until Don Sebastian’s wife came up. After that he went away, and presently strolled along the highest deck. This was narrower than the others, but was extended as far as the side of the ship by beams on which the boats were stowed. There were no rails, for passengers were not allowed up there; but Dick, who was preoccupied and moody, wanted to be alone. The moon had now risen above the mountains and the sea glittered between the shore and the ship. Looking down, he saw a row of boats rise and fall with the languid swell near her tall side, and the flash of the surf that washed the end of the mole. Then, taking out a cigarette, he strolled towards the captain’s room, which stood behind the bridge, and stopped near it in the shadow of a big lifeboat.