Victory: An Island Tale

I won't say to the girl, but to the girl's fate. He was the same man who had plunged after the submerged Morrison whom he hardly knew otherwise than by si

en the date of that evening and the morning of the flight. Truth to say, Heyst was not one of those men who pause much. Those dreamy spectators of the world's agitation are

e spoke to him of her miserable past, in simple terms, with a sort of unconscious cynicism inherent in the truth of the ugly conditions of poverty. And whether because he was humane or

s of various poor lodging-houses had attended casually to her abandoned childhood. It was never positive starvation and absolute rags, but it was the hopeless grip of poverty all the time. It was her father who taught her to play the violin. It seemed that he used to get drunk somet

no one to care if I make a hole in th

only a question of getting out of the world. She looked at him with special att

ot the right word. She had never had a friend before; and the sensation of this friendliness going out to her was exciting by its novelty alone. Besides, any man who did not resemble Schomberg appeared for that very reason attractive. She was afraid of the hotel-keeper, who, in the daytime, taking advantage of the fact that

r seen anything like that before. If she had, perhaps, known kindness in her life, she had never met the forms of si

repeated, sometimes recklessly, but more of

ite idea where she was on the surface of the globe. The orchestra was generally taken from the steamer to some hotel

is place again?" sh

tch the discouragement at the outlandish sound com

ictated this advice, not his conviction. She had never heard of the animal or of its uses. A consul! What was it? Who was h

fail her even in whispering-that Heyst seemed to see the illusion of human fellowship on earth vanish before the naked truth of her exis

no other memories but of the stones in the streets her childhood had known, in the distress of the incoherent, confused, rudim

't begin, did I? It was you who came along and spoke to me when I was standing over there.

oice had hardly risen above a breath. It was clamorous enough to be noticed. Heyst, on

n, by saying 'command m

less stare, and a quiet fin

speaking with an extraordinary detached grin, "even

s though these words had a hidd

aid rapidly, "and tr

o wonder, it flashed through his mind, women can deceive men so completely. The faculty was inherent in them; they seemed to be created with a special aptitude. Here was a

omo followed, with his great, pendulous dyed beard and short mess-jacket, with an aspect of hang-dog concentration imparted by his drooping head and the uneasiness of his eyes, which were set very close together. He climbed the steps last of all, turned about, displaying his purple bea

d the dead stillness of the forests at the back of Geelvink Bay, perhaps the wildest, the unsafest, the most deadly spot on earth from which the sea can be seen. Oppressed by his thoughts, he sought the obscurity and peace of his bedroom; but they were not complete. The distant sounds of the concert reached his ear, faint indeed, but still disturbing. Neither did he feel very safe in there; for that sentiment depends not on extraneous circumstances but on our inward conviction. He did not attempt to

ter its noisy labours, showed not a gleam of light. Heyst suddenly felt restless in all his limbs, as this reaction from the long immobility would not be denied, he humoured it by passing quietly alon

ting, and seductive; accustoming his mind to the contemplation of his purpose, in order that by being faced steadily it should appear praiseworthy an

ere could be no mistake. He was vexed at being detected roaming like this in the middle of the night. Who could that be? It never occurred to him that perhaps the girl, too, would not be able to sleep. He advanced prudently. Then he saw the white, phantom-like apparition again; and the next moment all his doubts as to the state of her

and the trembling of all her limbs, in the closeness of his embrace, seemed to enter his body, to infect his very heart. While she was growing quieter in his arms, he was becoming more agitated,

ith a tone of conviction, speaking into her ear, an

ry good effect. He heard a light sigh o

at evening. I knew it would be all right, if you only cared to make it so; but of course I could not tell if you meant i

had been a serious

ee you were angry with that beast of a woman. And you are clever. You spotted something at once. You saw it in my face, eh? It isn't a bad face-say? You'll never be sorry. Listen-I'm not tw

She choked, and then exclaim

t? What's

ttle. "Is it my fault? I didn't even look at them, I tell you strai

own, with Schomberg the hotel-keeper. The vaporous white figure before hi

mured. "I think I saw somebody on the path

e ever was one. His compassion was as genuine as his sh

er head. She was

yself now that I know you care for me. A girl can always put up a fight. You believe me? Only it isn't easy to stand up for yourself when you feel there's nothing and nobody at your back. There's nothing so lonely in the world as a girl who

and was silen

lf, but you would have done a thousand times worse than killing a body. You told me you had been always alone, you had never had a dog even. Wel

tirring before her in the profo

of anger and despa

sort that men turn their backs on-and you ought to know it, unless you aren't made like the others. Oh, forgive me!

an appealing ghost. He took her hands, and was affected, almost surprised, to find them so warm, so real, so

d," she whisper

e was sobbing without a sound. Sustaining her, he lost himself in the profound silence of the nig

re of that somebody you

whisper, and answered that ve

d aloud, "it wouldn't have been anyone b

rg," Heyst sa

hat beast doesn't even try to keep it from her. If she had only the least bit of spirit! She knows how I feel, too, o

hispering gently to the girl, he tried to explain to her that as things stood, an open withdrawal from the company would be probabl

Meantime it would be fatal to be seen together at night. We mustn't give ourselves away. We had better part at once. I think I was mis

ose hold while he talked, and now stood fre

im. And she isn't as silly as she looks. She wouldn't give us away. She knows a trick

e situation," said Heyst, and received a

her was not such an easy matte

efore they separated, "I

er name you choose. Yes, you give me a name. Think of one you would like the sound of-something quite new. How I should

not forbidden. I understand that women easily forget

now I'm not much account; but I know how to stand by a man. I stood by father ever since I could understand. He wasn't a bad chap. Now that I can't be of any use

said. "Your voice is enough. I am

hile, as if rendered breath

anted to

name, and expected the question to be put to him

o smile this evening in the co

t a table next but one to us, drinking with some Dutch clerks from the town. No

. It never came

oo-very readily, as if you h

h. It was the first time for years I may say that I felt disposed to smile. I'v

harmingly-in a perfec

more with the stillness of extreme del

had smiled for the purpose of dazzling me. I felt as if I had never seen a sm

her voice, unsteady, g

not have come out here tonight," he said, with his

rkness of the house seemed to swallow it. Heyst waited a little before he went the same way, round the corner, up the steps of the ve

There he had spoken the truth to her; and about

t himself steadily. It was not a new-born vanity which induced this long survey. He felt so strange that he could not resist the suspicion of his personal appearance having changed during the night. What he saw in the glass, however, was the man he knew before. It was almost a disappointment-a belittling of his recent expe

withdrawal with its silence and immobility, but by a system of restless wandering, by the detachment of an impermanent dweller amongst changing scenes. In