Fiction > Book editions > London, 1885 - Dynamiter

142 NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS.
brightening, with a quick upward glance, into a smile,
' you do it, O, so badly ! English gentlemen, I used to
hear, could be fast friends, respectful, honest friends ;
could be companions, comforters, if the need arose, or
champions, and yet never encroach. Do not seek to
please me by copying the graces of my countrymen. Be
yourself : the frank, kindly, honest English gentleman
that I have heard of since my childhood and still
longed to meet.'
Harry, much bewildered, and far from clear as to
the manners of the Cuban gentleman, strenuously dis-
claimed the thought of plagiarism.
' Your national seriousness of bearing best becomes
you, Senor,' said the lady. ' See ! ' marking a line with
her dainty, slippered foot, ' thus far it shall be common
ground ; there, at my window-sill, begins the scientific
frontier. If you choose, you may drive me to my forts ;
but if, on the other hand, we are to be real English
friends, I may join you here when I am not too sad ; or,
Avhen I am yet more graciously inclined, you may draw
your chair beside the window and teach me English
customs, while I work. You will find me an apt scholar,
for my heart is in the task.' She laid her hand lightly
upon Harry's arm, and looked into his eyes. ' Do you
know,' said she, ' I am emboldened to believe that I have
already caught something of your English aplomb ? Do
you not perceive a change, Senor 1 Slight, perhaps, but
still a change ? Is my deportment not more open, more
free, more like that of the dear " British Miss," than
Avhen you saw me first 1 ' She gave a radiant smile ; with-
drew her hand from Harry's arm ; and before the young-
man could formulate in words the eloquent emotions
that ran riot through his brain — with an ' Adios, Sefior:
good-night, my English friend,' she vanished from his
sight behind the curtain.
The next day, Harry consumed an ounce of tobacco
in vain upon the neutral terrace ; neither sight nor
sound rewarded him, and the dinner-hour summoned him
at length from the scene of disappointment. On the next,
it rained ; but nothing, neither business nor weather,