“She dreamed under a sky studded with stars”
Then all the voices were lost in the siren’s wailing, long drawn out. The steamer shook itself gently, and issued from the port, leaving Ethel in a reverie.
“Reigning duchess! Queen of Antioch! Lady Knight of Malta!” All this—she acknowledged it to herself—had already passed through her brain. It had even amused her to see how timid the duke was in her presence. She had to say but a word,—not even that,—merely to encourage him with a smile, to see him at her feet. But the newspapers were in too great a hurry. They spoke of something that was not yet decided. She would see; she had never so well appreciated her power as since her departure from Marseilles. Everybody in the world seemed to know her. True enough, across the Red Sea and India and Japan,—everywhere, to the other side of the earth, as far as ’Frisco, it would have been just the same.
The voyage continued tranquilly. Villages at the foot of the rugged Calabrian cliffs saw the yacht passing by, white upon the blue sea, or at night shining with lights like a meteor.
At that hour, most of all after dinner, it was pleasant on the bridge. Will walked backward and forward, and smoked his cigar. Grandma, half asleep, looked at the sea, which reminded her of her Western prairies. At her side, to give her pleasure, Phil picked his banjo. Caracal was bored; he had verified the fact that no one had yet opened his book.
Ethel had other things to do. Stretched out in her bamboo chair, she dreamed under a sky studded with stars.
CHAPTER II
ETHEL’S VICTORY
Phil, ever since the day of the hunt, had also been living in a dream.
He was sure that Ethel knew nothing of his past. He even suspected the events to which she had alluded, for he knew Will’s story well. Moreover, she had since then shown herself more amiable than ever to him. He might have thought himself more encouraged than ever to pay her court and to forget Helia more and more. But just the contrary happened. Within himself he felt a passion storm going on, with sudden illumination of vivid lightning flashes. Then all sank back into shadow.