Everest made no answer whatever. A silence that seemed thick in its intensity followed, and then Sybil broke into a laugh. She knew already that Everest had no admiration for her character, no confidence in her word. She was not relying on those things, or this speech of her brother's would have been a serious matter. She relied solely on the perfect lines of her face, and these were the same whether she lied or otherwise.
"I am sorry Merton has been so injudicious as to tell you the truth," she said lightly. "It's such a stupid habit of his. I am always trying to correct him. We got your wire, of course, but I knew you wouldn't mind when we were really here."
Everest looked down upon her in the ray of gold light.
"Brothers and sisters should agree, especially about the lies they are going to tell," he answered, laughing too. "Good-night," and he stepped into the saloon, holding wide the door for Regina, and they both went up to their room.
As soon as they were inside, and the door locked, he came up to her and drew her into his arms. She was a beautiful vision in her pale silk, with her soft waving hair and the pearls gleaming on her firm stainless breast.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am about all this, because it delays our marriage," he said, in a low tone of passionate annoyance; "we can't simply do anything now about it, can we?"
"Oh no; certainly not," she replied impulsively, "and—and I could not marry you now—just yet—before——" She could not finish her sentence. She burst into tears, the advent of these others was so hateful to her, she was so disappointed and excited and strained, she lost control of herself for the moment and bent her face down sobbing on his arm. He stroked all the rich, lustrous hair gently.
"Sweetest, nothing matters; I don't care about anything except for the pleasure of knowing you belong to me and of giving you any advantage that there is in marriage. But now you see we can't call these people to witness that we've been together all this time without it. Unconventional as I am supposed to be, nobody would stand that, and it would be so unsatisfactory for you afterwards. We could not marry quietly here now—Sybil would be sure to find out."
Regina's tears had ceased: she looked up.