“Prevaricator! You’ve thought: ‘What sort of a silly madcap is this girl!’ I know it. Well, I guess you’re right. It was a foolish thing to do; it’s foolish to be glad at the prospect of adventure. Other girls wouldn’t do it. They wouldn’t think of it. They’d think a girl queer who did. That proves it’s foolish, doesn’t it? It isn’t done. I can’t help it, though; I’ve needed something like this.”
“It is the day of restlessness among American women,” I said fatuously.
“Restlessness? Is it? Yes, I suppose it is. But my restlessness doesn’t take the regular, honest truth road, you know. Lots of my girl friends have felt they wanted to do something, but they’ve wanted to go suff’ing, or paint, or write, or teach folk-dances, or something like that. I didn’t, not any more than I wanted to be considered a doll in pretty clothes all my life.
“I wanted to break away. Well, I did. Here I am. And, scandalous as it may sound, I’m enjoying every minute. Now, Mr. Pitt, there’s my whole confession. I have acted foolishly, and I know it, but really, I feel as if I had broken loose from something that had held me down. I feel as if it was the beginning of a new life for me—of my real life.”
“A new life?” I said. “Why, that’s what Captain Brack said last night.”
She looked away.
“Yes, so he did,” she said slowly.
And I thought she shivered a little.
I am afraid I cursed poor George Chanler in unchristian fashion during the rest of that run up to Kalmut Fiord. For during those days Captain Brack wooed Miss Baldwin steadily. At each meal he sat at her side; his eyes were upon her, his magic words were for her alone. And even while he spoke to her I saw in his eyes that terrible, ruthless look I knew so well.
“What does the hidden country of Kalmut Fiord hold?” he speculated one evening. “Ah, Miss Baldwin, if we knew our interest would be discounted. It is a primitive spot, surely; a primal piece of earth. Let us pray that it holds Romance, without which there can be no beginning of a new life.” Once more he repeated: “Hidden country! There’s some in all of us, and until we explore it we don’t live.”