Chapter Eleven A LONE-HAND GAME
On the morning after his return Jerry rose at an hour comfortably late, took a swim, shaved, and having finished his breakfast, sat down to write a short note to Jack. As the captain might put in an appearance at any moment now, Taberman did not wish to go away from Naples without leaving some explanation and a hint as to his whereabouts. He found the letter somewhat difficult to write, since to give Jack a satisfactory reason for his errand to Pæstum, especially in brief space, was no easy task. He had been more or less troubled ever since his preposterous promise to Mr. Wrenmarsh; but now that he was confronted with the difficulty of making his course appear rational to Jack, he felt himself so completely a fool that he groaned as he wrote, and then tore up the note, with a curse. On the whole, he decided to say no more than that he had gone to take a short run down the coast, as he was bored at Naples.
He went ashore with the note himself, and leaving the cutter at the quay to wait for him, he set out on foot for the Hôtel du Vesuve, where Jack was to report on his arrival. The morning was already well advanced, and the heat was becoming fervent; but Jerry, freshened by his recent swim, went blithely on his way. At the hotel he said to the porter that he wished to leave a letter for a gentleman who was soon to arrive, and produced his note. The official glanced at the superscription, and observed that the traveler was already there.
Jerry stared at him dumfounded.
"Arrived?" he gasped. "When?"
"He came on the night train from Rome," replied the porter, whose English was almost as good as that of Taberman. "He came on the train that gets in at half-past eight in the morning. He is escorting two ladies. They are now at breakfast."
Tab stood for a moment plunged in perplexity. This unexpected arrival of Jack made his scheme of aiding Wrenmarsh dreadfully difficult, and perhaps even impossible. He felt himself pledged, however, and he reflected that whatever were Jack's plans the captain would hardly hinder him from keeping a promise which he had made on the strength of the supposition that the Merle was to be in his hands a full month. Jack had come back before his time, but Tab said to himself that this would surely make no difference in his fulfilling his obligations to the archæologist.
He asked for the breakfast party, and was shown into the carefully shaded dining-room where they were seated. Hearty greetings followed, and he sat and talked with them while they finished their repast.
All three looked a bit fagged. Even Mrs. Fairhew, accustomed as she was to European travel of all sorts, had dark circles under her keen eyes. She was dressed, not according to her wont in black, but in a soft gray which well set off her brilliant complexion, so that in spite of the look of fatigue she appeared much as she had when the travelers had met at Nice. Jack was clad in a suit of white linen, with a collarless jacket such as is worn by naval officers in hot climates. His hair had been recently cut, and in such a manner as to cause each separate spike along the parting to stand up in stiff defiance. Jerry politely told him he looked more like a criminal than usual, but Miss Marchfield protested rather indignantly. In Katrine Jerry seemed to detect more alteration than in the others. Her air had grown more sedate, as if the widening of her mental horizon had, even in these few weeks, given her a new maturity and self-poise. The heat had perhaps told on her more than on the others, but in spite of some appearance of fatigue she had an air of joyous alertness which showed her buoyant and happy.