Anthony sat down, a frown upon his face.
"I hadn't expected that," said he. "But, then," with a laugh, "under the circumstances, what reason had I to expect anything."
Whitaker discoursed philosophically upon the ways of women—upon the vagaries of young ones in particular. Anthony endured it silently; then, so it happened, the door through which the girl and her father had passed was opened once more, this time widely. Anthony saw a group of people—men and women; there was a table loaded with food and drink, and Mademoiselle Lafargue was talking earnestly with a handsome young man whose dress showed him to be a person of fashion.
"Well, dash me!" exclaimed Whitaker. "There's Bob Tarrant!"
The girl's attitude seemed one of pleading; she was asking something of Tarrant, and he seemed reassuring her with courtly grace. And, as Anthony watched, the man turned to another, him who stood holding the door open, and nodded. The man at the door laughed; Anthony shot him a look, and recognized the big young man who had thrown the saddle-bags from the deck of the New York packet. Then the door slammed shut, and the young man, a quizzical look upon his face, strode through the public room.
He stopped at the table at which sat Anthony with Whitaker.
"Good evening," said he to Anthony, his even teeth gleaming good-naturedly. "Well met, sir. I'd thought to see you again, but I did not expect it to be under conditions like these."
Anthony looked at him quietly, while Whitaker was plainly astonished; all who sat in hearing distance were slued about in their chairs, their food neglected while they listened.
"Well?" said Anthony.
"Time alters things sadly," said the big young man, "and apparently it requires no great space to do it, either. Only the other day I would have said you were creditably placed in a certain young lady's favor; and I'd had good reason, for you took up that little matter of my making with promptness, and stood to it nobly." He dragged a chair to the table and sat down. "But to-day," he said, "I see you displaced. She has turned her back upon you; and not only that, but she has taken into her confidence one who sends me with a rather grave message."