He would have none of the pills she tried to force upon him, but promised, if he could be allowed to spend the evening at Williams’s Billiard Parlor, watching the games, to take it when he came home in the event of his not feeling better by then.
So, immediately after the meal was over, Henry put on his hat and escaped from the oppression of domesticity into the freedom of the great outdoors. But he did not go to Williams’s Billiard Parlor. Instead he turned sharply, as soon as he was out of sight of his home, and headed in exactly the opposite direction.
Now you can readily understand that in this state of mind it was inevitable that sooner or later Henry should meet the other woman. That is in no way peculiar; but it is rather surprising that in Henry’s case she came into his life this very first evening.
There is a little lake near Rosewood, which during the summer months is ideal for canoeing. It was toward this lake that Henry bent his steps. The night was warm, but not unpleasantly so, for there was a stiff breeze blowing. Almost a full moon hung overhead, with scudding, low-flying clouds passing swiftly across its face at intervals. Henry jammed his straw hat down firmly on his head and strode forward with rapid steps into the wind.
Not that Henry was particularly interested in canoeing. Mr. and Mrs. Jones had, in fact, never been in a canoe together. Henry had never been in one in his life, for he was an indifferent swimmer in spite of his fleshiness, and the obvious frailty of this form of boat held no appeal for him; and if his wife had ever been in one he did not know it. She had never suggested it except once—soon after they were married—and that he had long since forgotten.
Henry struck the lake near its upper end, where it was wildest. He was glad to find himself quite alone; be laid his hat on the ground and sat down close beside the shore, facing the wind that blew strongly toward him from across the water. The lake was rough, and the sound of its little angry waves beating against the pebbly beach at his feet thrilled him. After a moment the moon came from behind a flying cloud and the water was lighted with silver. Henry sighed rapturously.
For perhaps ten minutes he sat motionless. Then abruptly coming from up the lake he saw a lone canoe. It was hardly more than two hundred feet off shore, and was heading downward, across the wind. Henry could see it plainly in the moonlight—a canoe with a single occupant, a girl, seated in its stern and paddling with a single paddle. The empty bow of the canoe rose high in the air.
Henry watched it with furiously beating heart as it rose and fell on the silvery waves. The girl was paddling desperately, and evidently with waning strength to keep its bow from blowing around toward the shore.
The wind increased with a sudden gust, and all at once the girl stopped paddling. The bow of the canoe, acting almost like a sail, swung rapidly around. The canoe rode more quietly now, but drifted steadily shoreward. After a moment the girl started paddling again, and came slanting across the waves in a direction that Henry realized with a start would land her almost at his feet.
Another gust forced her to increase the force of her strokes, but still she could not hold her own. She was almost opposite Henry, and hardly fifty feet off shore, when she gave up again; this time evidently for good, for she held the paddle idle across her knees.