"That's the way she was. She liked me to hold her and kiss her just as long as I acted like a big brother, but, criminy, when I felt that soft little thing in my arms, I didn't feel like a big brother; I loved her like hell.... She was awfully sweet," he added regretfully; "I wish she wasn't so cold."
"Hard luck, old man," said Carl consolingly, "hard luck. Guess you picked an iceberg."
For a few minutes the room was quiet except for the crackling of the fire, which was beginning to burn low. The shadows were creeping up on the boys; the flames were less merry.
Carl took his pipe out of his mouth and drawled softly, "I had better luck."
Hugh pricked up his ears. "You haven't really fallen in love, have you?" he demanded eagerly. Carl had often said that he would never fall in love, that he was "too wise" to women.
"No, I didn't fall in love; nothing like that. I met a bunch of janes down at Bar Harbor. Some of them I'd known before, but I met some new ones, too. Had a damn good time. Some of those janes certainly could neck, and they were ready for it any time. Gee, if the old lady hadn't been there, I'd a been potted about half the time. As it was, I drank enough gin and Scotch to float a battle-ship. Well, the old lady had to go to New York on account of some business; so I went down to Christmas Cove to visit some people I know there. Christmas Cove's a nice place; not so high-hat as Bar Harbor, but still it's a nice place."
Hugh felt that Carl was leaving the main track, and he hastened to shunt him back. "Sure," he said in cheerful agreement; "sure it is—but what happened?"
"What happened? Oh—oh, yes!" Carl brought himself back to the present with an obvious effort. "Sure, I'll tell you what happened. Well, there was a girl there named Elaine Marston. She wasn't staying with the folks I was, but they knew her, so I saw a lot of her. See?"
"Sure." Hugh wished he would hurry up. Carl didn't usually wander all over when telling a story. This must be something special.
"Well, I saw lots of her. Lots. Pretty girl, nice family and everything, but she liked her booze and she liked to pet. Awful hot kid. Well, one night we went to a dance, and between dances we had a lot of gin I had brought with me. Good stuff, too. I bought it off a guy who brought it down from Canada himself. Where was I? Oh, yes, at the dance. We both got pie-eyed; I was all liquored up, and I guess she was, too. After the dance was over, I dared her to walk over to South Bristol—that's just across the island, you know—and then walk back again. Well, we hadn't gone far when we decided to sit down. We were both kinda dizzy from the gin. You have to go through the woods, you know, and it's dark as hell in there at night.... We sat down among some ferns and I began to pet her. Don't know why—just did.... Oh, hell! what's the use of going into details? You can guess what happened."